eastern boat

Some of the rockpiles in shallow water are full of short fish,one inshore spot produced nearly 50 fish with 2 keepers,other locations very decent fish up to 8 lbs.with quick limits in a few hours or less.deeper water may be my next trip to see if the the''white chinner'' tautog are active,any results from latimer out there?

Scup

Eastern Boat,

I think I might know you if you are that pleasant individual that fishes alone out of an Eastern boat, holds a commerical license, and pulls anchor by running over it at an angle. When I arrived at one of my favorite reefs yesterday (my novice friend wanted to try his hand at fishing and it was such a beautiful day) there were several boats there all doing lousy. I was told by those there that someone in an Eastern boat caught a zillion shorts, got disgusted and went elsewhere. I fished the last of the outgoing tide and did likewise. Things did not change much with the changing tide, but my friend did start to learn the basics by catching undersized togs. Secretly, I was thinking I should have taken off to the Dumplings, where I am sure I could have limited out in short order, but could not believe there would be no fish at these close-in reefs. In short, I did not want to spend the fuel to run out to Dumplings if all I had to do was trade time for fuel to limit out. My idea worked. It sure as hell took time, the better part of five hours, but there were very good sized fish there and the day was so pleasant that I could have enjoyed myself by staying out there even if I did not have a fishing rod in the boat. One had to catch at least a dozen fish to get one keeper. You should have heard my friend howl when I made him throw back a fish that was 1/8" short of being a keeper. The end result was we reached 8 keepers with the biggest going around 10 pounds. We had a 8 pound tog in the mix as well. Of course, the biggest fish on never got caught as he put up just too much of a fight an got away. Both Stripped Bass and small Taylor Blues are in the area as several times they created havoc on the surface as they went tearing by our anchored boat. Upon reaching shore, I found out my friend likes to catch togs, but does not like to clean them. I do not like to clean togs until the ice has had a chance to kill them and firm up the meat so that is it easier to fillet them. In addition, I just cannot put a knife into a living tog as it does bother me. The next time out, there will be some very clear ground rules set up between my friend and I concerning the aftermath of tog fishing, or else!

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"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather

seahunt202

I was out yeasterday, and yes, a gazillion shorts and a few keepers in the shallower waters, I think you're right Skup, the bigger togs might be in the deeper waters.