April Fish - Tog

[Redfish12]

This was one of the more expensive fishing trips I've ever been on. More to follow on that... I got a call from ComeOnFish on Friday to see if I wanted to go fish CBBT First Island. I was going to fish the flats but the water and wx report was looking bleak so I made the call to take the long run down with him. We've been trying to go since last year and everything finally lined up...

We knew it was going to be windy at CBBT in the morning but it looked like it was going to settle down in the afternoon so headed down there with Kipto as the back up. We went to Ocean's East 2 and met Kayak Kevin. He gave us some very important tips and we bought some fiddlers & blue crab. He checked the wind and said we'd be better off going to kipto as the wind would be right in our face at the launch, he was right! As we drove over it looked like it would have been a rough launch and a long miserable paddle in that wind. Thanks again for the tips Kevin! We needed them.

We fished from 11:30-9. Tog are hard to catch. ComeOnFish/Friday caught one almost immediately. I let him borrow my muskie rod and I was able to actually see when he got bites which was funny sometimes because I could share in his frustration. We struggled on the outside of the ships for awhile and fished rubble where we found it, but the bite had died off. We moved inside some ships and ran into a few other kayakers, one of whom I knew from home oddly enough. Small world.

We fished hard but it wasn't until the tide slacked again that we really started to pick up some fish. I finally got the skunk off and put 2 keepers in the boat and caught four others. One was probably a keeper but I tried to swing it and lost it. It was intense bait fishing and very humorous/frustrating.

On the way out in the dark a piece of metal sticking out spiked my fish finder right in the screen. Why I had it out there I have no idea, I didn't need it. Anyway, I was glad it was the fish finder and not my thigh. I turned around and went out a larger hole. Joe was behind me and as I heard muffled oh no oh no and then a snap I knew that was the end of the muskie rod. Ouch. Concrete ships 2, us 0.

I got a speeding ticket on the way to meet him, didn't realize it was major enforcement day at 5:45 am. Add in gas and some food and this was one for the records!

Worth it.

[mytmouse]

Damn sucks about the FF, rod, AND ticket! But hey at least you caught 2 keepers!! Great report!

MYT

[ictalurus]

Yikes! Where was the metal spike from? That could've been hairy. I guess the muskie rod worked well. At least they're not expensive. Also, now you can justify an upgrade to a down-imaging fishfinder. Congrats on catching some tog.

[Redfish12]

It will make more sense when you see the video that Friday is making. The Muskie rod was excellent, very sensitive. One thing Kevin said that made sense, cork grips will allow you to feel the light tap tap that they give better than foam.

I got my April fish and a new species on the list... I wish we had them up here! Prfc says min is 14" so maybe they come in sometimes. I guess we should start poking around rocks more.

[ictalurus]

Kimbro (I think) reported catching one recently while jigging for stripers. It might be worth checking out some of the WW reef out front of St. Jerome's. DNR reported seeing some on the Gooses reef (I think) when diving on them, so I don't see why there wouldn't be any tog on the ones by St. Jerome's. It would probably take a team effort to find them, though.

[Redfish12]

I'm up for some recon.

Here's some picutures I took the next morning. I was too tired to clean them when I got home around 1:30 am.

[Memory Maker]

Ouch ........ thems some expensive fish .......... sorry to hear about the bad luck but it's great you got some tog ......

Where did you get the ticket .......... those southern shore barney's are bad ........ the ones on VA eastern shore will nail ya for 5 miles over and love out of staters ........... the stretch between Salisbury area and Pocomoke City has the most agressive state cops I've seen ............

[Redfish12]

66, I guess I never drive it with out 1000 people using it as a parking lot. He was nice enough, I was speeding, not much more to say about that.

[mytmouse]

You had the cheaper of the 2 muskie rods that BP makes right??

[mmanolis2001]

You are very lucky that metal didn't find your body. That would have been a mess with all the rust and seagull crap. Sorry to hear about the loss of equipment. The sound of a rod snapping will always bring a tear to my eye

Gratz on the Tog's. They are tough buggers to catch but soo good on the plate. Ummmm

Now you have the perfect excuse to build that new blank and get a color/GPS fish finder.

[Redfish12]

MyT, yeah the graphite series 7ft 15-30. I think the xh may be better to keep from scratching the tip.

MM- gps fish finder maybe, not sure about color, but most likely. Is there anyway to reuse the components from the Muskie rod?

[mytmouse]

Whew... I was afraid that you had that expensive one... that would hurt a lot more... LOL

[mmanolis2001]

MyT, yeah the graphite series 7ft 15-30. I think the xh may be better to keep from scratching the tip.

MM- gps fish finder maybe, not sure about color, but most likely. Is there anyway to reuse the components from the Muskie rod?

You can get the guides of easy enough. Heat gun (Not too hot) to soften up the epoxy and a razor slice down the guide foot. They will pop right off after that.

The reel seat will require more work to remove. I have cut the blank above and below the reel seat and drilled out the mess inside before to salvage a seat.

The grips could be salvaged but you will have to drill the blank out and that would be tough. If the rod currently has split grips that would make the process easier.

Where did the rod break?

[tj06sti]

Sorry about the expenses and losses, but congratz on the tog! Cool you got to fish the ships and meet Kevin, sounds like it looked in the DVD's with all the sharp bits of metal jutting out everywhere.

[surfdog]

aahh redfish nice catch but sorry for your rod breakage and ff and ticket that a long string of bad juju.

i think some of joes bad luck transfered to you

ff, thats why i dont drop major $$$ on a ff for the yak, color is real nice though the color one i got last year is real nice and you can find the thermocline while hunting hybreds.

did the rod shatter or just break? if shattered salvage the eyes reel seats and grips are pretty cheap. if 5' of the rod is still good you might be able to make a 2 piece out of it.