Train bridge tog

Fished the train bridge in the manasquan mon and thur last week (8-23-10 and 8-26-10). Fished the last hour of incoming thru an hour of the out both days. Caught tog, tiny sea bass, and bergals almost drop and reel fishing. fist day had 5 tog over 14", kept 1(1 fish limit sucks). second day brought my buddy Hollywood and of course the fishing was slower. Still caught some fish. As we ran low on fiddlers, tog'n picked up. managed 1 keeper, a double header, and joe boated a few just short. A few garbage fish, a 17" fluke(yes on a fiddler crab), worth the couple hours of vacation time. I would guess this fishery is going on inside most nj estuaries rear structure. Anybody scoring?

Nice report. I haven't been out in a couple of weeks myself. but I'm chompin at the bit!

Fished train bridge again 9-4-10 and 9-9-10. First day slow, maybe due to hurricane. Caught two tog 13'' and 14'' and two seabass 12'' and 4'' in two hours. Thur caught two 18'' stripers on popper at sunrise, and a dozen tog when the incoming tide slowed down. Kept one 16'' fish. My buddy Hollywood also had a dozen tog to 16'', but he got me at the scale, 2.9lbs to my 2.7. That last hour of incoming the tog bite has been hot.

I know the spot you're talking about. I like it up there. Great hole too. Keep on keepin on!

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pair we kept. Joe's weighed more only because he fed it so many crabs![img][You must be registered and logged in to see this image.][/img]

Nice job guys! I'm hoping the wind lays down long enough to hit the jetties here. Congrats!

Those are some nice tog. The tog bite up here is slowing down - especially on the LI Sound - the fish are moving to deeper water.

I hope that you guys get a few more weeks out of it.

This was the first year I tried tog fishing and I absolutely loved it. It reminded me of fishing for sheepshead in Florida, only more difficult technically.

Have any of you guys tried jigs for them? It is really awesome.

I don't think that I've ever heard of jigging for Tog. How? When? Help? LOL!!!

I started using a plain jighead for tog after reading an article in ON THE WATER. Rather than having one hook on a dropper and a sinker, why not have the weight have a hook in it also? I use the same dropper rig I use for stripers, but replace the teaser with a 1/0 octopus hook. I'll use 3/4-1 1/2 once plain jig heads depending upon current. This is usually enough to fish vertical in 20' of water(30lb braid). Fishing two crabs like this sometimes means burning through the bait, but I like getting two cracks at them, and thats usually not enough. I fish the rig still for a minute, then slowly "walk" the crabs a few feet and repeat. This is an awesome technique for the yak. I caught tog into December last year in the point pleasant canal(from shore) and I'm hoping to get at least a few more weeks from them this year.

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I started using a plain jighead for tog after reading an article in ON THE WATER. Rather than having one hook on a dropper and a sinker, why not have the weight have a hook in it also? I use the same dropper rig I use for stripers, but replace the teaser with a 1/0 octopus hook. I'll use 3/4-1 1/2 once plain jig heads depending upon current. This is usually enough to fish vertical in 20' of water(30lb braid). Fishing two crabs like this sometimes means burning through the bait, but I like getting two cracks at them, and thats usually not enough. I fish the rig still for a minute, then slowly "walk" the crabs a few feet and repeat. This is an awesome technique for the yak. I caught tog into December last year in the point pleasant canal(from shore) and I'm hoping to get at least a few more weeks from them this year.

That sums it up perfectly. In fact, even better, as I never thought about using a dropper hook on it.

There are some jigs designed specifically for tog now (Tidal Tales manufactures some) - they are designed differently than other jigs - narrow, thin, with a round head to avoid getting hung-up on the bottom. Most of them are orange, as it appears as though tog are attracted to orange for whatever reason - the color does make a difference - some guys even tie bright orange bucktails onto their hooks.

Using the jig for tog has a couple of advantages. Firstly, you increase your hook-up ratio substantially, because you won't be lifting the weight a few inches off the bottom before you can set the hook. You can feel the tog gently take the crab in its mouth after hitting it a few times allowing you to time your hook set more accurately. Additionally, the jig ensures that the crab is on the bottom and not floating a few inches off the bottom. It also gets hung-up less than conventional rigs.

I couldn't agree with you more about the size. Ideally, I like to use 1/2 ounce jig - it has a smaller hook which makes it easier to hook them in their small mouths. It will work in water to 20' deep. If there is current, I will go up to 1 ounce. If you fish anything heavier than this, the hook is much bigger and it is tough to hook the fish - they will steal your bait all day.

Definitely give this technique a shot - I can't tell you how great it is to pull a nice tog off structure on light tackle using a jig - a great fight.

Thank you both! I hope to get out this weekend and give it a shot.

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