Kiptoskunk 4/13

[chex]

My dad and I fished for tog in Kiptopeke today (saturday 4/13). We were on the water by 7:30am and left around 5pm.

During all that time, we fished every hole in every ship, at least once. We were both using tandem rigs with shrimp and fresh blue crab. I have previously caught tog on both baits at Kipto. We did not get a single bite. Not a single tap tap. Nothing. Bait was replaced periodically to keep it fresh, not because it was stolen.

We saw a good 20 kayakers come and go and several boats were fishing the ships. I saw 1 guy catch a short tog on blue crab. One guy told me some other guy had caught 4. And another guy told me he had 3 keepers in his cooler. 6 or 7 other people I talked to told me they'd caught 0 after several hours of fishing.

The water was beautiful... clear and blue-green. 55 degrees at the southern set of ships and 54 at the northern (I thought it was strange that there would be a difference, but I saw it every time i went back and forth between sets). The weather was also beautiful... both sides of the ships were fishable, though it was noticeably rougher on the far side.

Most of my pics are of pelicans... sigh....

[Sun]

That water looks beautiful!

Sorry about the skunk, but I bet that was a great time with your dad. My parents are visiting in June, and I am hoping that we'll have time to go on a father-son fishing outing. Too bad the grandson is still too young....

[AbuMasgouf]

Hey Mike!

Man I had no idea that you were out there. Joe (comeonfish) and I ended up going there instead of CBBT. Would have been nice to catch up!
Sorry about the skunk. It was a tough day.

Joe will post all the details later, but Joe caught a 13" and I caught two 14" early in the day. It was by total chance as we were drifting by the ships. The bite shut off completely afterwards. It was my first Tog experience and it was an amazing memory that I will cherish!

[tufnik]

Tough luck, Chex. You certainly worked hard at it, and it looked like a nice yak fishing day. You'll get' um next time. Thanks for the report.

[chex]

Sun: Yeah, totally worth it to take dad to the surreal place that is kiptopeke, with those huge concrete sunken ships.

Mustafa: Oh man, what time were you guys there? Congrats on the first togs! Glad you caught some. Aren't they great? I would have paid good money for a diver to stick a tog on my dad's line so he could feel the power.

Tufnik: I'll get them next time for sure... and that may be sooner than is reasonable I hope to get a chance to fish the CBBT with you one of these days too. I may have to move to virginia to make the day trips more manageable.

[ComeOnFish]

Kiptopeke Tautog and Rudee Inlet Speck - April 13, 2013

Kiptopeke Tautog and Rudee Inlet Speck - April 13, 2013

Mustfa (Abumasgouf) and I went to CBBT (Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel) for tautog. As we noticed while driving on HRBT, the wind forecast was off. The waves caused by the easterly wind was the border line of the safe kayak launch. We might be able to launch the kayaks, but it didn't seem like the wind would calm down in the afternoon as forecasted

So we went to Kiptopeke. We caught few tog under sized on fresh shrimp and blue crab. We were right about the wind. The wind didn't calm down at all whole day

In the evening we fished for speck at Rudee Inlet for possible specks as we planned. We caught 1 speck @18.5" and a redfish @15"

The fishing Log:

[MetroMan]

Nice going guys, and nice vid. I like the underwater shot of the tog!

[AbuMasgouf]

Yeah Mike they fight real hard! And the anticipation of the tap tap is intense lol! I now fully understand the passion for tog! Totally worth getting up at 3am and driving close to 4 hours just to feel the tap tap! LOL
It's a drug.... I've been dreaming about it all day yesterday!


The best part is I had an awesome teacher to show me the ropes! Everything from rigging, to drifting, to describing the tap tap. I owe so much to Joe. God bless you Joe!

I took the keeper Spec you gave me to my Mom's house for dinner. Of course I roasted it Masgouf style...













and the finish...



The whole family loved it!

[M_Duong60]

Looks good what did you season it with?

[ComeOnFish]

Holy ....!
I like the series of the pictures of AbuMasgouf. It seems that AbuMasgouf is perfect for me because I don't put stuff with high calories. First of all I got to get a big striper this coming weekend for that.

By filleting fish, I wasted a lot of meat... Tsk, tsk, tsk...

Joe

[HokieDJ]

That's an interesting way to de-bone the fish. I like them deep fried myself

Nice little setup for the rotisserie. Where did you get the iron rack thing that holds the rod?

[chex]

Nice, guys! Thanks Joe and Mustafa for putting some fish in this thread!

I learned something too... I never actually drifted along the sides of the ships... I always just sit in front of the holes. Thanks for the tip.

[sparky1423]

Sorry about the skunk Mike, good day with the Pop's, I am sure. Man, that water is beautiful. My new tog setup got to see some blue cats this weekend so I am satisfied. I am already losing sleep over the Jamboree, I fished the flats a few times already....but it's going to be a blast with all the other members.

Great video Joe...and Mustafa, great job on the fish! You should have gotten Joe to autograph your kayak, that's my plan if I meet the legend.

[AbuMasgouf]

Looks good what did you season it with?

I usually don't season it with anything except for salt. The smoke from the charcoal and wood adds a lot of flavor. My mom wanted to add more seasoning, and I learned not to say no to mom I always bring fish home to mom! She loves fish and a HUGE part of the joy I have bringing fish home is to be able to give it to her!

She just put a cajun spice rub she got from Whole Foods and an Iraqi/Middle Eastern "secret ingredient," bitter orange (known in arabic as Narinj). Some specialty Iranian grocery stores have it, and the Korean grocery store may. It adds a nice sweet/sour flavor.

That's an interesting way to de-bone the fish. I like them deep fried myself

Nice little setup for the rotisserie. Where did you get the iron rack thing that holds the rod?

Walmart of all places! It's in the camping section and supposed to be for hot dogs (shrug). The funny thing is I was extatic when I found it. You see this is a modified version of the traditional method that makes it easier to set up. The traditional way is to make slits in the fish to put stakes in and stick it in the ground (you can see it on my profile pic and in the video of my first attempt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHAEdb3K0so). This method takes some skill and time. So I thought about putting a skewer through the fish and hanging it but I wasn't sure how. I thought about having two rods on the side with slots so I can raise and lower the fish. I was totally going to pay a blacksmith (you know the ones you see at folk festivals) to build one for me and then one day I was at walmart and I see these rods. Dude at $7 they were like a gift!

Great video Joe...and Mustafa, great job on the fish! You should have gotten Joe to autograph your kayak, that's my plan if I meet the legend.

LOL! He kind of did through the concrete ships! But you know, now that you mention it, I will ask him to sign it!

Holy ....!
I like the series of the pictures of AbuMasgouf. It seems that AbuMasgouf is perfect for me because I don't put stuff with high calories. First of all I got to get a big striper this coming weekend for that.

By filleting fish, I wasted a lot of meat... Tsk, tsk, tsk...

Joe

We definitely have to this weekend Joe!!

[AbuMasgouf]

Nice, guys! Thanks Joe and Mustafa for putting some fish in this thread!

I learned something too... I never actually drifted along the sides of the ships... I always just sit in front of the holes. Thanks for the tip.

Yup another great lesson from Joe! Drift close to the ships, if you feel the tap tap try to set the hook. If you miss go in front of where you got the hit and drift back again. We ended up narrowing down the spot we got hits to about 10 feet and kept on going back and forth and alternating like a conveyor belt.