my firdt attempt at cbbt

[dson05]

Water temp was 45 degrees and the weather as amazing. Met joe out there. Using green grabs and shrimp we got on some fish but I only managed one short. Not many bites on the day for me. In the last hour of fishing on my way back in to catch 1 keeper at 21". Great first experience for me and I can see why there is such a hype about the place. I also understood why a few of Joes words to me after seeing me that morning was, "GET AN OUTBACK!" Haha.

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[tufnik]

Congrats on your first trip, and you got a pretty good size male tog at that!

I think your report is for Friday, right?

How did you do on Saturday? Also, was that echo5 fishing with you on Sat? I spoke to him but forgot his name.

[dson05]

Yes. The report was for Friday. I didn't fish with echo. Not sure if I've met him yet.

Congrats on your first trip, and you got a pretty good size male tog at that!

I think your report is for Friday, right?

How did you do on Saturday? Also, was that echo5 fishing with you on Sat? I spoke to him but forgot his name.

[ComeOnFish]

Danny,
Your 21" is a great new to me this morning. I didn't know you caught the big one because you were ahead of Jay and me, and I stayed one more hour to hit some new pilings. (and I think I found a new piling near the piling I caught an eel) So both of you had fresh fish for dinner.
Did you catch the 21" at the same piling we fished early morning or a random piling? What was the bait, shrimp or green crab?

Jay (Danny's friend) caught a few throwbacks. And we saw a big one (assuming) came off the Jay's arched rod. I caught some throwbacks and an 18". Some came off while preparing the camera. I caught a 3.5' eel.

Yes, it was a perfect day for togging except the water clarity. The current was slower than usual, and the wind was mild. Since this was the virgin voyage for Danny and Jay, we made to the First Island while hitting some hot pilings. I think a virtual CBBT Fishing certificate is given to whom reached the First Island.
This was a very good trip because none was skunked in the end of December and we could hit the several productive pilings. I think Danny and Jay will catch many next time when they are pursuing their own game plans.

I talked with 4 other yakers. One caught 3 keepers, and there other 3 were skunked. No stripers was caught (by yakers and boaters) as far as I know.

Pinch and Slob caught and released several keepers I believe.

I learned that I need to find more honey holes. So I will be concentrating on finding holes from now on - after catching 1-2 tog regardless the size, move on to the next piling.

Joe

[tufnik]

Joe,

I think he may have caught the 21 incher at the spot you and I fished a few weeks ago. I saw them fish the same spot on Saturday, but they didn't catch any togs there. I talked to other yakers too, and they did not catch any togs. It seemed very slow, so I think none of the boaters caught stripers. I had a few marks on the FF at various depths so I jigged for what I thought were stripers. Nothing.

One thing about honey holes. You can't rely on them. They won't necessarily produce fish. Just because you catch fish today doesn't mean you'll catch fish the next time. So, I end up searching for new holes anyway. That means you can catch fish anywhere.

[ComeOnFish]

Joe,

One thing about honey holes. You can't rely on them. They won't necessarily produce fish. Just because you catch fish today doesn't mean you'll catch fish the next time. So, I end up searching for new holes anyway..

Yes, that's why I mentioned I need to find more holes. I am going to explore the 15 pilings of the north bridge across the holes we caught togs. I just ordered a Garmin with Down Scan (Garmin Echo 301dv Worldwide with Transducer) only for this purpose.

Joe

[tufnik]

Yes, that's why I mentioned I need to find more holes. I am going to explore the 15 pilings of the north bridge across the holes we caught togs. I just ordered a Garmin with Down Scan (Garmin Echo 301dv Worldwide with Transducer) only for this purpose.

Joe

Curious to see if it works. I think Dave used a down-scan FF to explore the bottom, but the FF went bananas when it was near a piling.

[ComeOnFish]

Curious to see if it works. I think Dave used a down-scan FF to explore the bottom, but the FF went bananas when it was near a piling.

I know that the screens of all my FF become completely black indicating bottom (the bridge column) when sonar hits the bridge column. I usually use narrow angle beam and keep a reasonable distance from the column.

I think the down scan image will do the same when I get too close to the column. I think I have to stay away from the column.

What I am interested at CBBT is the structures around the column. The structures such as broken bridge columns, rocks, debris of construction materials, that are 10-30' away from the column.

My theories to be proven:
I noticed that (by dragging sinkers), there are some large structures near by productive columns. I think togs live under/by the large structures usually. And Togs like particular columns (1-2 columns). Perhaps there are small structures connecting the particular columns and the large structures. When togs notice baits or activities around a particular column out of 6 columns (3 columns on each piling), togs will come to the column to feed.
So, I will be scanning around the pilings for large structures. Once a large structure is found, I will be fishing the columns near the large structure.
There is a productive column near the First Island about 20' away from a large structure. The large structure definitely holds togs. When I tried the large structure, I lost many rigs. So I stayed with the productive column and wait for togs came to the column from the large structure. One thing I found about this column and the large structure was that I could catch togs when the current is flowing from the column to the structure or during slack tide. But not when the current is flowing from the structure to the column.

I am thinking that direction of the current has something to do with togs behavior (biting my baits). It seems that some columns are productive during incoming tide and some others are productive during outgoing tide.

These are only theories. But, I stick with my game plan that is based on my theories.

Joe

[tufnik]

I think your Joe-theory sounds promising. Look out togs!

[JohnE]

Great job guys. Really missing the cbbt trips lately.

[Romo]

This is exactly what I did to catch about 10 flounder there my first and only trip. Lost a few bucktails to those rubble piles but they were loaded with flounder and I assume would be loaded with tog this time of year.

I know that the screens of all my FF become completely black indicating bottom (the bridge column) when sonar hits the bridge column. I usually use narrow angle beam and keep a reasonable distance from the column.

I think the down scan image will do the same when I get too close to the column. I think I have to stay away from the column.

What I am interested at CBBT is the structures around the column. The structures such as broken bridge columns, rocks, debris of construction materials, that are 10-30' away from the column.

My theories to be proven:
I noticed that (by dragging sinkers), there are some large structures near by productive columns. I think togs live under/by the large structures usually. And Togs like particular columns (1-2 columns). Perhaps there are small structures connecting the particular columns and the large structures. When togs notice baits or activities around a particular column out of 6 columns (3 columns on each piling), togs will come to the column to feed.
So, I will be scanning around the pilings for large structures. Once a large structure is found, I will be fishing the columns near the large structure.
There is a productive column near the First Island about 20' away from a large structure. The large structure definitely holds togs. When I tried the large structure, I lost many rigs. So I stayed with the productive column and wait for togs came to the column from the large structure. One thing I found about this column and the large structure was that I could catch togs when the current is flowing from the column to the structure or during slack tide. But not when the current is flowing from the structure to the column.

I am thinking that direction of the current has something to do with togs behavior (biting my baits). It seems that some columns are productive during incoming tide and some others are productive during outgoing tide.

These are only theories. But, I stick with my game plan that is based on my theories.

Joe