# OC/IRI Tog Report 21 Oct 05



## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Tog are biting from shore

Caught my MD limit of 5 first and then 
headed up to IRI DE and caught another 
5 to round off a DE limit. Tog were
actually biting a lot better in MD and 
the size was actually slightly better
than IRI for me which was very suprising.
Fish were picky, sometimes wanting 
fleas and at other times wanting crabs.
During slack tide they wanted half crabs
with legs and no shell. When the current
was moving they wanted half crabs with
no legs. shell on or off did not matter.


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

*Wait a minute!*

I must have been following your your trail. I fished at OC inlet on Friday from 8:00-11:00am. Uummm, that wasnt you and your father on the front of the jetty was it? Man, it was too windy and I quit and went to the bulkhead. Got the OC skunk.

On Saturday, I went to IRI and got 4 keeper tog. Packed it in at 5:00, then headed to CHSP from 6:00-8:00pm and caught 5 croakers (released 3).


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

TunaFish, 

Nope, was not me you saw on the jetty. 
I was in OC from 8-1pm but I fished a 
different spot.  It was actually kind of 
cool, I got a chance to fish with some 
of the local legends down there.
Guys who have been fishing for tog/rockfish
for 30 or 40 years. Learned a lot. They
were all tog fishing and staying out of the
wind.

Then I headed to IRI from 2 - 5 pm and 
fished near the bridge area. I was wearing
an orange and yellow guy cotton bibs
with a black hat.


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

*Oh I see..*

Were you on the north side of IRI? I was on the south, and it was packed!!!

I too noticed the way how togs would switch from fleas to crabs. They would flip-flop between the 2 after few hours. Really weird... Oh, it was one of my most bloody tackle day ever. In IRI alone, I lost around 10 sinkers and went through a whole pack of hooks (a pack of 25).


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

That sounds about right for a day of
togging at IRI. Should only get better
as the weather gets colder. Now that 
I have found my tog holes, I will be
hitting them again in a few days.


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## Big Rad (May 19, 2003)

*I'm ready to go....*

When will you be going? How is the footing? Gotta know if these old wheels of mine can handle it.....

Thats if you don't mind fishing next to an Eagles fan.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

I am going to try to get down during one
of the next two weekends. I need to 
save some of my vacation days for 
all the Tog Charters that I will be 
taking in Nov/Dec  These 14.5 - 18" tog
are OK for now, but there is nothing like
fighting those bulls out at the wrecks.
I had to go out and buy a pair of scissors
to cut the crabs in half....we always use
them whole on the boat....  

Fishing at the OC bulkheads requires you
to be able to stand on your feet for hours
on cement. You can try to use a chair, 
but you will not be very successful. Tog
fishing required active participation at
all times or you will miss bites and or get
hung up. Standing on your feet all day
tog fishing and then driving back home
for several hours is brutal on your back/legs, 
etc.

At IRI you can do "OK" fishing from the 
rail during high tide, but you will be at
a huge disadvantage. Plus for that type 
of fishing, a huge surf rod is required to 
get out over the rocks and cut down the 
angle somewhat so you will not loose 
all your fish in the rocks. It is best to find
a nice flat/semi flat rock with access
to a good area to bring the fish in once
you get them hooked. I usually just wear
my sneakers since I never go out on the 
jetty, but I am going to buy some of those
korkers. It was real slippery on the rocks
during low tide last Friday and I made a 
mental note to get some.


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## Otter (Jun 18, 2004)

*Talapia*

Do you think I/we could get the 'readers digest' version of how you tog out there? Hook size/type, Rigs etc.

I've seen people using spark plugs for sinkers, presumabley cause they're rounded and don't hang up. Besides that all I know is that they like crustaceans and are hard to catch. 

Thanks in advance man. Tog are on my 'things to catch' list.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Otter, 

You could write a 5 page article on how
to catch tog using dozens of different 
methods and they would all be correct
as long as they catch you fish  

Usually if I am fishing for tog, chances are
about 99% that I am on a headboat or 
charter boat. So I will start with that:

Toggin from a headboat:

One of the most overlooked fishing 
opportunities from a headboat during the summer/fall is togging from a headboat 
while it is fishing for seabass. Chances
are that if Monty or someone else has
you over a wreck, that there are tog 
there...

Do not believe that tog do not bite
well in the summer. I catch just as
many in the summer as in the fall or 
winter. (Bring Green Crabs!)

Basically any setup that you would use
for seabass will work for tog. I have two
outfits that I always bring a 7' rod rated 
for 15 - 30 and a slightly stiffer 7'6" rod
rated 20 - 40 that can handle bigger 
weights and fish.

I use the smallest size conventional 
reel that I can get away with since I 
like to palm the reel when fishing. 
The reel has to be able to lock down
all the way...that is a must for me. I had
been using 50 braid but have recently 
switched over to 65 for ease of handling.

My standard rig is a basic hi-lo rig with
two dropper loops that I pre-tie myself
and keep in zip lock bags. I like to use
60 pound test line, the range seems to be
between 40 - 60. Don't usually care 
what brand as long as it is stiff, so the
dropper loops will hang out away from
the main line a bit. I tend to use shorter
leader lengths...generally about 5 to 6 feet.
Just my preference. I carry weights in
8, 10, 12 and 14 ounces, but you can just
about always find a 12 ounce weight on
my rigs. I use several styles of hooks, 
Virginia's in #2, Owner or Gami in #4 or 5's.
They all work great for me.

As far as how to hook the crab....

You will need to experiment. I usually 
start by using a whole crab. If the crab
is quarter or silver dollar size, I will put a 
whole one on each hook and crush the 
shell with the sinker and send them down.
You will catch some huge seabass this way
as well. If the tog hammer those crabs, 
then I will find the biggest crab I have in
my bucket and put one hook through each 
side with the hook coming out the back 
meaty areas. (you want the hook point
out of the crab). Then I will take the sinker
and smash the shell a bit and lower it down
to them. There are other rigs to use
for large crabs (snafu) but that is for 
another day plus green crabs generally 
do not get big enough where you would
have to use that rig. You want to get the 
fish out of the wreck as fast as possible, 
if you get a real big one, you will want
to ease off on the drag once you get it 
up a little way. (I still have problems doing
this). The big ones will make several 
strong runs and you want the drag to give
rather then the hook to bend/break or the 
hook to break free if you have him barely 
hooked.

Toggin from Shore:

Since I hardly tog from shore take 
this with a grain of salt.

Number one: Use one hook rigs. I use
a single dropper loop right above the 
sinker. Most of the sharpies use a 
stout spinning rod/reel combo. I just 
use my longest/stoutest boat combo 
and they work fine for me. The only 
place where you will need/want to 
cast out a bit for toggin will be at IRI 
during ebb/slack tide to reach the base 
of the bridge. (hammer time) The basic 
idea is to be able to get your 
presentation up and over a lot of the 
rocks and obstacles and be able to lift 
the fish up and out when you hook them. 
I saw a lot of regulars using in-line weights 
from 1-4 pounds on their leaders with a 
snelled hook on the end. They did very 
well. Since the fish from shore tend to be smaller I downscale my hooks....mainly 
using the #2 VA's. I also downscale my 
baits, using 2-3 fleas on a single hook or 
half a crab with the shell on/off. If the 
current is moving I will cut the legs off 
to keep the crab from spinning in the 
current. At the OC bulkheads you want 
to find the holes with structure in them 
to catch on a regular basis. Once you 
find these holes, fish the front ends 
right up against the bulkhead during 
fast currents and throw out and fish the 
deeper back ends during slack/ebb tides. 
At IRI it is basically the same thing. 
During fast currents I try to find large rocks/boulders that create a pocket 
and bounce my bait off them and let 
them settle in. You should be able to 
feel your bait slide down into the pocket. 
Try to find large rocks that overhang 
deep drop offs. These are right at your 
feet usually. I caught all my fish
right off the first rock out of the water 
on my last IRI trip. It was overhanging 
about a 3 foot drop off but you could 
not see it from above the water. 

I tend to go with heaver mono and 
would probably not go lower than 40.
4 ounce weights are the highest that 
I had to go. I am sure that some 
others will jump in and add their .02.


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## vbengr01 (Apr 2, 2005)

*Thanks!*

The short time that I've been around this board, this is probably one of the best written posts. I appreciate you taking the time!


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Double Ditto's on that one !!


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Here are some pics from a tog trip 
we went on this summer.


http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/12247Tog_Trip_4.JPG 

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/12247Tog_Trip_5.JPG 

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/12247Tog_Trip_2.JPG 

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/12247Tog_Trip.JPG


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## punkineeeter (Aug 30, 2004)

wow  
that's alotta nice fish
nice post too. thanks


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

*Dayeumm!!!!!!*

Thanks for sharing the pics...That's some awesome looking fish there!! I bet they could swallow the togs at IRI..


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## Otter (Jun 18, 2004)

*much appreciated man*

I'll let you know how I do, when I get out there.


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## Espresso (Mar 18, 2005)

How big do togs normally get? Those things look huge compared to most of the tog pics I seen.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Depends on the spot really. I would 
say on an average inshore spot you should
should see an average fish of around 2-3
pounds with a few 5-7 thrown in every 
now and then.

Monty has some spots that the average 
size jumps up to around 5 - 7 pounds
with some 10+ fish thrown in for 
good measure. 

Every now and then you will get lucky
on a charter boat and hit a spot
where the average size is 7 pounds
plus. Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb are great
times to catch the real slobs.


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## Otter (Jun 18, 2004)

*and then sometimes..*

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishingreport/fishingrptArchive/frarchives2005/0221ocean.html


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

That's Brian Rim up top. He is a regular
togger on the Morning Star also.


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