4 keeper Tautog at CBBT (Jan 27, 2019)

[ComeOnFish]

I finally hit CBBT (Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, VA). Because of snow and strong wind, I stayed home for 21 days.
The water temp was 38-42F. I hit 10 pylons between the first SBC (small boat channel) and the First Island.
I had about 10 bites. I landed 5 togs. Four were keepers at 17-19"

Video Fishing Log:

Thanks
Joe

[brianisoutside]

Looks like some fun fish catching.
I wish I lived closer to the cbbt


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[M_Duong60]

Haven't fished for tog in years, hope to try out with jigs in the spring. Great job out there!

[ComeOnFish]

Haven't fished for tog in years, hope to try out with jigs in the spring. Great job out there!

It was a lucky day. Are you done with school?

Joe

[ComeOnFish]

Looks like some fun fish catching.
I wish I lived closer to the cbbt


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Me too. I wish I live close to VA Beach. Driving 7 hours for 5 hours on the water doesn't make any sense (to my wife). Because I do hook & cook, I want to hook fish I can keep.
Also, someone has to prove that togs bite when the top water temp is as low as 38 F. Previously it was 39 F in my record book.

Joe

[M_Duong60]

It was a lucky day. Are you done with school?

Joe

Not yet I got a little more to go since I changed my major to IT.

[Slobber Bob]

Kudos! That is a fantastic tog day for those water temperatures! It just goes to show you can't catch them unless you try.

How deep was the water where you were getting bites? I'd all but given up on inshore tog around OC, but now you have me wondering if I should try again for the heck of it?

[ComeOnFish]

Kudos! That is a fantastic tog day for those water temperatures! It just goes to show you can't catch them unless you try.

How deep was the water where you were getting bites? I'd all but given up on inshore tog around OC, but now you have me wondering if I should try again for the heck of it?

Bob,
I didn't get a bite in deeper water 40' -60' at all last two times. There is a place called "'Yancy" near the first island. Under 6-7 sets of 3-leg bridge pilings is full of large structures, the depth here is 40’-50’. Some structures are as high as 10’. But I didn’t have any bites here.

I got good bites in 27-38' of water back to back at 8 different pylons. These pylons are 1-1.5 miles before the First Island. All these pylons are near medium size structures. The structures are as tall as 4-7' from the bottom. Structures seem parts of concrete beam, not just rock/gravel piles.

Based on the locations of underwater structures, I have a set of pylons during the incoming, and another set for outgoing current.

I am trying to understand tog behavior when the top water temp is below 44F.
These are my notes about togs:

• Because stripers in Lake Anna are very active chasing baitfish in 34F water, I think togs will do the same if they smell scent of delicious food because they are still cold water fish. Lake Anna stripers are well fed in the cold water, so are togs in the cold water.
• Togs won’t travel against strong current. So, I fish during the mild current. Always think that togs are 4-5 ‘ away from the pylons I select.
• Mild current takes the scent of the bait to togs in cracks/holes.
• Togs don’t like sudden water temp change during the cooling trend. So, don’t fish immediately after the cold front moved in. Wait for 5-7 days so that togs get used to the colder water.
• Chum during the dead slack tide, only for 5 minutes before the current starts. Chum brings togs

I think OC inlet water temp changes too rapidly or too sudden every 6 hours. I don't know when the water is warmer, incoming or outgoing tide. At CBBT it is better when incoming changes to outgoing in general

Thanks
Joe

[ronaultmtd]

The USS Yancy, a USN Amphib ship cut the bridge into when a storm broke its anchor loose.. the bridge debris is referred to as the Yancy wreck

[Slobber Bob]

Good info, Joe. I don't fish the CBBT so I don't follow the water temperatures there, but OC temperatures can fluctuate anywhere from 2 - 6 degrees on the tide change. Temps have been steady hovering around 40. I'm skeptical I'd find any tog willing to eat though.

There is a pretty hardcore tog fishing community that fish from the RT. 50 bridge and inlet rocks. They are my true barometer for success. If I see them fishing then I know at least some tog must be biting. And I haven't seen any of them for awhile now.

Good job on the keepers again!

[ComeOnFish]

but OC temperatures can fluctuate anywhere from 2 - 6 degrees on the tide change.

FYI, the same water temp fluctuations appear in Rudee Inlet. The good fishermen can predict the best time for puppy drum and specks on a given day based on water temp prediction in early spring and late fall.

Joe

[ComeOnFish]

The USS Yancy, a USN Amphib ship cut the bridge into when a storm broke its anchor loose.. the bridge debris is referred to as the Yancy wreck

Thanks for the info. I didn't know the history. Now I know the history, I will look for more large pieces of concrete structures over mounds of small debris.

Joe

[Jene]

There is a pretty hardcore tog fishing community that fish from the RT. 50 bridge and inlet rocks. They are my true barometer for success. If I see them fishing then I know at least some tog must be biting. And I haven't seen any of them for awhile now.