Well, blackfish, also known as tog, are finally in season. Technically they have been in since July 17, but you could only harvest one keeper. From now till the end of December you can keep six fish. Fifteen inches remains the length. With sea bass around, bluefish still present, stripers slowly arriving and colder temperatures here, the fall fishing run seems to be steadily kicking in. Speaking of kicking in, why don’t we get started?
Captain Chuck and his son Chris of the Sea Star III are back snagging sea bass. They did a little deer hunting during a break recently. Chris had a good hunt while Chuck was stalking a trophy buck. Now they are back on the water hunting sea bass while awaiting the arrival of the main body of striped bass.
“Sea bass fishing is still good” as the action continues with many keepers being caught on each trip. Three recent pool winners took home the money with a sea bass. Winners, with weights in pounds, were Gary Agness (2.25), Christy Piotrowski (2.75) and Vinnie Sallustio (2.8).
Captain Chuck reports that water temperatures fell quite a bit over the past week. With that, the “spiny dogfish showed up.” Due to that, Chuck feels that “stripers should not be far behind.” Until their arrival, the Sea Star III will continue to fish for sea bass.
Word from marina-mate the Miss Chris says that anglers have been getting plenty of sea bass as they “are still biting.” They also report that “lots of bait has moved into the area, along with cooler temps.” They finish by saying that “we should be striper fishing any day now.” This cooler shot of air has a lot of people thinking the same thing. Now we just need the fish to cooperate.
Fishin’ Fever Sportfishing Charters has taken up a temporary residence in Atlantic City. They’re up there to have quicker access to the approaching stripers. Until then, they have been cleaning up on sea bass and “gator” bluefish. They’ve had boat limits on the sea bass, with fish going to five pounds. Give them a call and check out some new areas.
Another boat temporarily shifting ports to a more northerly location is Stalker Fishing Charters. They will operate their bigger boat from Ocean City when the fall run commences. For now they continue throwing top-water baits at the bass and bluefish that are in the back while covering water in their skiff. Call and see what dates are available and what works for you.
The Miss Avalon was out over the weekend and caught sea bass, triggerfish, porgy and tog. Captains Irv and Brandon sent out a reminder that they will be focusing on tog once the season opens. They will be running their “TOGZILLA” contest over the next month. It is a progressive tournament that crowns the angler that catches the largest fish over the period of the contest. Yours truly won the bragging rights after winning the April 2017 segment of the contest. Get out and get in the contest.
Avalon Hodge Podge reported in of a Sunday catch of a 17-inch, 2.97-pound tog. The angler? Well, that was me, too. I got into tog fishing in the fall of 2010 and really enjoy targeting these sneaky, hard-fighting fish. If you get the chance to fish for them, do it. I hope to see you out there this fall and winter fishing for them.
At Boulevard Bait and Tackle, the theme of the week has been based around stripers. Whether it is the back bays, the beachfront or the inlet, they all are represented this week.
A young angler, Ricky Cain, hooked up with some stripers in the back bay on Sunday, Mike Calise lost one in the inlet early Sunday morning then rebounded to complete the deal by landing a 39 incher, and one day earlier Brendan reeled in some shorts from the local beachfront while throwing a pink KC Swing Shad. Find some water and wet your line.
A weekday trip for Cameron and Ted in the back bay led to less quantity, but better quality. The trip was topped off with Ted landing a 39-inch, 22-pound striper that was photographed then released.
Don’t forget this Saturday, Nov. 25 is the 2017 Slack Tide Striper Smack Down. Give Cameron a call for any final details at (609) 624-7637.
Bayhound Charters was out on Sunday and returned with a tog for everyone aboard. A very colorful bonito was also caught. All anglers looked to be very happy as they posed with their fish.
News from Fin-atics in Ocean City says that the stripers are showing up “in greater numbers and bigger size.” The recent catch by Mike Bradley was offered as proof – a 40-inch, 25.4-pound striper. The fish couldn’t resist a chunk of fresh bunker. The fish they’re seeing are more than “the local 20- to 26-inch fish.” Get up there and give it a shot.
I recently saw a piece from the American Littoral Society Fish Tagging Program. It concerned the “time out” or “time at large” period from when, in this case, a striped bass was tagged originally till when it was “recaptured” still wearing its original tag.
A quick review shows a fish originally being tagged and released by Ed Kenny of Rhode Island on July 27, 2004. It measured 31 inches in length. Fast forward to this past October when a striper was caught by Captain Ron Onorato, who is a society member and tagger. He runs the charter boat the Captain Ron out of Montauk, N.Y. The captured fish was in good health and measured 48 inches. The fish still wore the original tag put on by Ed. It calculated to 13 years and three months later! The fish wasn’t weighed, as the angler wanted to get it back in the water as quickly as possible. They later utilized a striped bass growth chart compiled by MDDNR Marine Fisheries to calculate the ages at capture and re-capture size: 31 inches at capture calculated to 8 years old, and 48 inches at re-capture calculated to 21 years old.
The previous record between the original time caught and the re-capture was 11 years, nine months.
For those interested in more information on fish tagging, please go to the American Littoral Society Website or contact Jeff Dement at jeff@littoralsociety.org.
Try and get out and go fishing as weather and schedule allow. See you around.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
