Posted on January 21st, 2017
If you’ve ever been tautog fishing you know how difficult it can be. They use their rubbery lips to gently pull bait into their mouths, crush it up for the goodies and then quickly spit the discard. They are super sneaky and sometimes difficult to hook. An old Captain friend of mine said that when you’re trying to catch a tog you’ve got to set the hook just before the fish bites…..get it?! I’ve been on private boats with just a few guys where everyone hooked everything and I’ve been on party boats full of anglers where the guy next to me comes tight bite after bite while I swing for the fences all day long with zilch. This elusiveness combined with the tastiness of the meat is what draws tautog anglers to icy water in the middle of winter.
Captain Monty Hawkins was out on the rip today for one last go at it before the wind starts to blow for several days and reported exactly what I spoke of above. A few anglers on board, along with Captain Monty, were headed to Food Lion at the end of the day while other anglers absolutely lit them up. Overall Captain Monty reported that they “nicked away at them all day” and ended up with several keepers in the box including some limits of four fish for some anglers. Captain Monty says that the crew of three in the second photo from New Jersey put on a clinic today.
