10/16 Toggin' in Fisher's Island Sound

Possum · 10-16-2008, 07:33 PM

ARCTEKJim, JustMako and myself headed down to Mystic this morning, to both pull REBOOT for the season and head out for a little Toggin' aboard BONEY. It was a damn good thing I pulled her too, as the auto bilge pump float switch had apparently fried, and I had 300+ gallons of water in the bilge (estimated as it took both pumps, which are 800 GPH, 15 minutes to clear the water). Holy shit is all I can say.

Well, with the full moon high tide, loading REBOOT onto the trailer was a piece of cake at the ol' Shaffer's Marina ramp.

While Jim and I were pulling my boat, JustMako (Justin) headed out with Seahunt202 to the Toggin' spot.

After pullin' the boat and getting her parked, Jim and I waded out to BONEY (as the main dock was under about 2-3" of water from the tide), and off we went, about 30 minutes being the other guys.

When we got to the spot (burning about 0.5 gallon in fuel) they already had 3 in the box. The water was nice, about a 1' tight chop and light wind, with seasonable temps. We anchored up on our first stop, only to boat a couple of milkdud Togs, so we moved a bit, and began the crab destruction.

Well, about 1.5 hours in, Jim and I limited out with our 8, and headed back to the dock, leaving Seahunt202 and Justin to get their final fish (they had 7 in the box). Nothing huge today, but respectable fish none the less.

Mark (Seahunt202) had some smoked Bluefish he shared with us, and let me tell you, that stuff is the shit (in a good way).

Back at the docks, cleaned up the fish, bagged, gabbed, and locked down REBOOT for the trailer back to Clinton.

All in all, a great day (albeit, somewhat sad to pull the boat, but very glad I did today).

Now for a nice canvas top (forward extension from the arch) for the ol' girl this winter, which'll make fishing out in the beating sun much more comfortable for both my family and friends.

No pix today, too lazy.

AlloyToy · 10-16-2008, 08:58 PM

Nice job with the tog guys

seahunt202 · 10-16-2008, 09:59 PM

It was a good day out with members of the site! The true meaning of "life is good". Thanks guys. Gotta do it again. Justmako is welcome on my boat anytime!

Andy · 10-17-2008, 07:43 AM

Lucky stars shine on the Possum good thing you went and to find only 300+ gallons of water in the bilge

i have seen many boats sunk at the dock with the motors submerged makes for a very bad way to end the season...

Nice job on the Togs

stripey · 10-17-2008, 09:53 AM

Nice job on the TOG! Good to hear. How many feet of water? I'll be going out of Barn Island on Sunday.

Scup · 10-17-2008, 06:01 PM

For what it is worth, today at the wholesaler, Gambardella, a solitary commerical fisherman (whom I did not recognized) brought in a cooler full of the biggest togs I ever saw around 1030. I did not stick around but he must have had something over a 100 pounds of fish with most of them still kicking. Actually not that many fish, it was just that they were so large. While he could have used pots or fish traps, I would guess that he hooked and lined them since most of the fish would not have been able to get through a pot's entrance. He could not have been a dragger since the catch was too small for a dragger, the cooler only had togs in it, and the cooler was brought in by vehicle. In other words, he was a commerical pin fisherman. Assuming he left at daybreak, that means it would have given him less than two hours of fishing time considering he had to get to the grounds, catch the fish, get back in, and finally get his catch to the wholesaler. Somewhere in close, there are some of the biggest togs one can ever imagine and they were hitting on the incoming tide and just as soon as one's line hit the water. Normally, and contrary to popular belief, Togs are not heavily targeted by the commerical community since usually there are more profitable and easy fish out there to catch such as Scup. The recreational community usually accounts for the majority of the Togs caught. However, with just about everything else being closed down, the commerical pin fishermen will now likely target the Togs and at least one of them is pretty dam good at it. I would be embarrassed to post pictures of my Tog catches after seeing what this solitary guy did. Just when you think you are a pretty hot shit, someone comes along and totally bashes your ego.

Possum · 10-17-2008, 08:28 PM

We were fishing 20-22' of water. Started at near flood slack and fished into the moving ebb tides.

ReelCrazySportfishing · 10-17-2008, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scup

For what it is worth, today at the wholesaler, Gambardella, a solitary commerical fisherman (whom I did not recognized) brought in a cooler full of the biggest togs I ever saw around 1030. I did not stick around but he must have had something over a 100 pounds of fish with most of them still kicking. Actually not that many fish, it was just that they were so large. While he could have used pots or fish traps, I would guess that he hooked and lined them since most of the fish would not have been able to get through a pot's entrance. He could not have been a dragger since the catch was too small for a dragger, the cooler only had togs in it, and the cooler was brought in by vehicle. In other words, he was a commerical pin fisherman. Assuming he left at daybreak, that means it would have given him less than two hours of fishing time considering he had to get to the grounds, catch the fish, get back in, and finally get his catch to the wholesaler. Somewhere in close, there are some of the biggest togs one can ever imagine and they were hitting on the incoming tide and just as soon as one's line hit the water. Normally, and contrary to popular belief, Togs are not heavily targeted by the commerical community since usually there are more profitable and easy fish out there to catch such as Scup. The recreational community usually accounts for the majority of the Togs caught. However, with just about everything else being closed down, the commerical pin fishermen will now likely target the Togs and at least one of them is pretty dam good at it. I would be embarrassed to post pictures of my Tog catches after seeing what this solitary guy did. Just when you think you are a pretty hot shit, someone comes along and totally bashes your ego.

Gambardella is from east haven. Alot of the commercial guys in my area sell to him and he runs the fish to the wholesalers, most of the time New york. Most of the smaller tog, under 5 pounds go to the asian resturants. So dont feel you were out fished. those togs came from at least 5 guys limits and no one local wanted the beasts

Brad and Jim great Job on the tog.

And if you get a free day, my boat will be in the water till thanksgiving, So lets go fishing

Scup · 10-18-2008, 12:52 AM

The Togs I saw were very much alive. Do not think they could have had a ride in from New Haven to Stonington considering the first ones boated had to be several hours old before they even got off the boat. It is possible that there could have been more than one person in his ride, or even several persons in several rides, and I am suspicious that even on my greatest tog days there have always been a few Togs going under five pounds. I would estimate that there was nothing in the cooler under eight pounds with some in the 12 to 15 pound range. Connecticut has modified its commerical fishing laws; if someone holds a commerical ticket, and fishes out of a commercially registered boat, that boat will be allowed a maximum of 25 Togs. Anyone else in the boat can be considered crew and can assist even though he or she does not hold a commercial license. There is even a place in ones log for the number of crew members. However, if there would be say eight people in your ride, technically you still would be only be allowed 25 fish and not 32 fish. Of course, if 32 fish were brought in over the side, it would still be legal to land them as a recreational catch. Once ashore, as you said, they could have culled out the small ones and had one guy with a commerical ticket drive the monster togs up to Stonington (not exactly legal, but there is no practical way for a CO to intervene if this is what happened.) A few years ago, some recreation anglers wanted me to go out with them when Black Sea Bass were going for $4 per pound. They would obtain a commerical boat registration ($50) and fish under my license as crew as none of them held a commerical ticket. There were three of them and they had been coming back legally with more than 100 pounds of Black Sea Bass (many in the four pound range). They were catching them near Block Island. I turned them down; while there seemed to me to be nothing illegal about what they were intending to do I would not be in control of what would actually happen. For example, with four of us aboard, I would never be able to convince them to stop at 25 fish (the commerical limit for Black Sea Bass in CT.) Once they would go over 25 fish, it would be illegal to sell even one fish and if they did it would be on my ticket. If I am to get a summons, it is going to be for something that I did.
In any event, this has to be the best year I have ever seen for Togs in both size and numbers. I have been fishing for them as a recreational angler (hook and line) and filling my freezer, since the commerical season had been closed until Oct 15. Right now, I am having Tog traps built to accommodate these larger fish as they have been running so big it is impossible for them fit through my current trap's entrance. Probably the DEP will closed down the commercial Tog season even before I get my modified traps built and in the water.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Ads Do NOT Show To Registered Members