Morning Star Report 3.11.07

[LongIslandtoMD]

All:
There is too much to type in a report right now. I am far too tired, but will work on it. I will say this though, this was the best day of tog fishing I have had in my life. When you are tagging and tossing back 10lb fish because they are small....well...thats just a good day. Im gonna skip to it and give you guys the pictures.

The fish you see are 14lbs 8oz, and 15lbs even.
Had them weighed at AKE marina. Two citations are on the way.

Some guy with a "fly reel" may or may not have taken the cake today, making my fish look small.

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/8209/dsc02809qw6.jpg

[LongIslandtoMD]

Because I am vain, I am gonna go and post an overload of pics.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/643/dsc028292vd4.jpg

[LongIslandtoMD]

Last one for now

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/6752/dsc02828za4.jpg

[LongIslandtoMD]

Im probably gonna just do it in pieces.

Hooks:
3/0-5/0 Gami Octopus hooks. Most of the fish came on the smaller, 3/0 hooks.

Leader:
about 14 feet of 50lb Ande Mono Leader

Rigging:
I used a snafoo, and/or a pinhooker rig.
Most fish were caught on the snafoo rig. The hooks were tied with 40lb test. Add a small red & green bead.

Bait:
I used green crabs. If Sam was on the boat, he may/or may not have used whiteleggers.

Rod arsenal:
Lamiglas 7030C (off the rack) with a newell 229
Lamiglas MB 1143f Cut to a size 12 tip, newell 332. (Built by ralph scaglione)
Lamiglas BT 963 M, Cut to a size 10 tip, newell 220 (Built by RS also).


95% of the fish I caught were on the 963M.

Sinkers:
I use flat bank sinkers. Anywhere from 6 to 10 oz.

Why the smaller hooks? Most of the crabs on board were smaller....

[SeaSalt]

dang, nice bulldawgs there... impressive.

[Talapia]

Nice job! Looks like me and Brian
missed the best days. Friday and
Sunday were apparently off the
hook! We went on Saturday and
did OK.

[LongIslandtoMD]

Three at once. Ha! I can barely handle one rod at a time. I thought i would post the information about the "rod arsenal" as an attempt to be more informative for those who might want to try their hand at tog fishing. Or to brag. I dont know which quite yet.

What the best tog rig to use is subject to great debate. Im not gonna get into all that here.

The biggest advantage of the pinhooker rig, (taken from guys who commercially fished for tog (they were called pinkhookers)), is its simplicity. Its quick and easy to tie when your hands are frozen. Also, it doesnt involve any hardware (snaps, swivels, crimps, etc.)

If you are using braid, I am assuing you use a shock leader. Well, to the end of the shock leader, tie your hook directly to the line. I snell it to the end, but thats just me. About 8 inches up, tie a dropper loop. That dropper loop is for your sinker. You can quickly and easily adjust the length of the leader, by the placement of your drooper loop. So, if you want a longer leader, make your drooper loop about 10 or 11 inches from your hook. If you want it shorter, make the loop closer to your hook. Like everything else about to fishing, the length of the leader changes from day to day. Sometimes a long leader is what will work, sometimes a shorter leader. Sometimes a trimmed bait, sometimes an untrimmed bait. It goes on and on.

I tie a modified pinhookers rig too. Same basic set up as above, but i leave the tag end on my inital snell really long. To that long tag end, I snell a second hook. A quick, easy way to tie a snafoo.

One of the drawbacks of the "original snafoo" is that if one of the hooks pops out of the crab, you are left with a long leadered, dangling hook, which is likely to get hung up in the wreck. My modified version eliminates that problem. I am not sure about how it effects the presentation of the crab though. I think that the original snafoo affords a more natural presentation.

I have posted how to tie a snafoo on other threads, so you can search it out there. But the basic idea is that you have a better shot at hooking the fish with two hooks, not one.

[Big Worm]

Those are some nice Azz fish man!!!