Catching Rock Crabs/Toggin on MS

[Talapia]

Last Thursday night I went down
to my crabbing spot in DE/MD and
set my traps out at around 5pm. The
wind was blowing crazy that night so
I had to add 3 ounce sinkers to my
traps to keep them from flying all
over the place. I baited up with
chicken legs this time rather than
old bunker. The traps were not in
the water for more than 15 min before
I pulled one up to see what's up.
I almost fell out when I saw at least
10 rock crabs in the net! These are
the best winter tog bait around.
I checked the other nets and they
were all loaded. What a great night,
and to top it off, the hard wind had
kept everybody else off the spot that
night...I had the place to myself.

I filled up my 5 gallon bucket...3 times
(filled a 48 qt cooler) in 2 hrs and then
I called it an early night. The Morning
Star had been booked for weeks due
to the Veterans Day holiday but I
figured I would just show up that
morning and see if anybody else had
cancelled.

Got to the boat around 6:30 and sure
enough the boat had a very light crowd.

Monty stayed tight against the beach
for the most of the morning, probably
somewhere off the AI from my guess.
The shoreline looked close enough to
touch. He tried following birds for a
while to see if we could get into some
rock or blues, but that did not work
out. He then proceeded to an inshore
wreck in the same area to try for tog.
My original plan was to use my rock crabs
aka "white leggers" all to myself and
hammer the tog :D , but since the crowd
on the boat was so lite, I decided to
share with the boat. The first drop was
a slow pick. I caught 2 keepers here.
We stayed for a little while and then
picked up and went to another wreck
about 8 miles off the beach....HAMMER TIME!

They would hit and hit hard as soon as you
dropped the crabs in. They wanted the
whole crabs. 1 or 2 guys kept cutting the
crabs in quarters and they were not getting
anything while the rest of us were using
whole crabs and getting instant hard bites.
They eventually changed over and caught
as well as everybody else. We all caught
our limit. I kept the first 5 keepers I caught
and tagged and released another 9 or 10
keepers (some in the 5-6 pound range).

We finished up the day catching some sea
bass at another spot until the dogfish
showed up and killed the bite.

Sorry this picture is not very clear, but
that is Monty's bait barrell that I filled up
with crabs. To give it some perspective
that is my minnow bucket next to it.

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/1224714_24A.JPG

One of the 8 pounders caught.
http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/1224711_21A.JPG

Trip Out
http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/1224708_18A.J

[RuddeDogg]

Ya had a great time. I have only caught one tog in my life and could not believe what sneaky bastards they can be. The one that I caught didnt realy have any size to maybe a pound but it was fun.

[catman]

T you're an awesome dude. :) What a great show of sportsmanship to share the wealth. A lesser person would have kept the crabs to himself and screw the rest. I'm looking forward to fishing with you this Winter. :) :)

[Talapia]

T you're an awesome dude. :) What a great show of sportsmanship to share the wealth. A lesser person would have kept the crabs to himself and screw the rest. I'm looking forward to fishing with you this Winter. :) :)

Thanks for the kind words. I will definitely
enjoy that trip.

[LiteTackleChamp]

will the togs run all winter or atleast through decemeber

[Talapia]

will the togs run all winter or atleast through decemeber

From shore, the tog should be around
until sometime in early to mid dec, depends
on the weather. They like it cold but not
freezing. The boats that are catching
right now are fishing in the DE Bay or
inshore ocean. When it starts to get
really cold (Jan/Feb/Mar) the tog will
head offshore and that is when you can
really experience tog fishing heaven.
In the Bay and inshore waters they
are scattered all out over all the
structure, when they head offshore
there are not too many wrecks and
pieces so they really bunch up.

This is a charter fishing only thing.
Headboats will not be running.
Monty on the MS might have a few
special tog trips in Jan but those
will be very few and far between.

This winter fishery is very specialized,
there is only one charter boat I know
of in MD or DE that goes offshore for
tog in the middle of winter.

[TunaFish]

Thanks for sharing and always enjoy your posts/pictures. I have some questions. How much do those charters normally charge? Since it's winter, what about the baits? Where would you get the crabs? Does the charter boat provide it?

[Talapia]

The charter should run about $550 - $600.
They can take up to 6 people so that
breaks down to close to what Monty
charges. Bait is real hard to get after
Dec. Green Crabs and Fleas are not sold
anymore. The charter boat will supply
bait, as it is part of the charter cost.
Sometimes he can get real nice crabs
from the conch potters sometimes he
will have a bushel of clams and some
live blue crabs. They all work. If
you can manage to score some hermits,
rock crabs, or conch, they all work
great.

[catman]

I talked to Monty Friday evening and he said he will be running tog trips this winter. These will not be scheduled or advertised trips so if anyone is interested please email him and let him know you're interested. Winter off shore fishing seperates the men for the boys. :D With the wind chill hovering at ZERO of less, ice on the deck, ice on your guides, and seas just a little rougher than in the Summer, you really have to dress warm. Well insulated boots and bibs are definitely necessary along with a couple extra pair of wool gloves. Dress in layers and stay dry and you're in for some exciting fishing. :D Man I can't wait. :D :D

[Talapia]

Yeah, he mentioned that he would like
to keep it to a real small crowd.
Probably around the size of a large
charter operation. (6-12 folks)

[catman]

I wouldn't mind kicking extra $ for a trip or two like that. :D

[TunaFish]

the info. Ummmmm!!!! :rolleyes:

[Talapia]

I wouldn't mind kicking extra $ for a trip or two like that. :D

I would imagine that the price will be
around $100. He was asking me what
the "other" charter boat charged and
I told him that it broke down to around
$100 a person and he seemed to think
that was a fair price. From the way he
was talking, I think that these will be
low profit trips...basically he wants
to enjoy himself and go tog fishing with
friends after a long hard season. He
will definitely be looking for folks who
enjoy catching but also enjoy tagging
and releasing tog. This last trip was a
great example....here we are hammering
the tog and two guys were constantly
complaining the whole time that they
wanted seabass not tog...just sucked
all the joy out of that great bite for
Monty. You could tell that he wanted
to stay and tag fish while looking for
that trophy. Then you have the guys
who get greedy, trying to find a way
to get around the 5 fish limit. As much
as Monty enjoys catching tog that is
how much he hates putting a boat load
of people over a good group of them
and taking huge amounts out of the ocean.

[catman]

T, I was thing along the lines of $125.00 so $100.00 would be fantastic, more tip for the mate. I don't mind tagging and releasing fish but I also expect to take what I'm allowed for the supper table. I agree tag the larger fish and put the smaller ones in the box. However if they're all larger tog Monty can't expect the rail to finance his research by tagging and releasing. There's a lot of guys who only get a chance to fish may 3 or 4 times a year so naturally they want to load up but to try and get around your limit is wrong. I don't think he has to worry about those types on the winter trips.

[Talapia]

Yeah, I keep my 5 fish limit also.
He may ask you if you want to tag
a real large one, but if you say na, I
want it, he always drops it. A good
example of his "boat" regs would be
his summer tog limit of 3 per person
with only one female over 20". It is
kind of a voluntary thing as he
never really enforced it if someone
REALLY wanted to keep more.

[catman]

No matter what I'm fishing for, all big females go back. Sometimes it's a little hard to do when your 1st fish of the day is a cow and you don't know what the rest of the day will bring but that's the future of our fishery. ;) Besides, there's a special good feeling you get everytime you release one.