You might say you know you are having a good day of bottom fishing when you set the hook on the first bite you land what turns out to be a 22-1/2-pound blackfish.
But that’s exactly how the day started out for Dustin Strehl on November 19, 2016, the Saturday after the fall blackfish limit went up in New Jersey. A mate on the Fins on Feathers charter boat out of Leonardo State Marina on the North Jersey Coast, Strehl likes to tempt fate and play around with light action spinning tackle when the fishing is slow, as it was on Saturday morning after the passing of the super full moon.
The boat had anchored on some numbers off the Jersey Coast and since the fishing was slow Dustin got out his St. Croix Mojo spinning rod and baited up with a white legger. Usually it’s a tap, tap and wait for the second hit to set the hook. However, this big whitechin inhaled the jig-bait combination and the rod started bending. From the start there was no doubt it was a big fish, Dustin said. However, once it made the net everyone was awed at the size of the fish that was just pulled from the depths.
Being a dedicated catch and release fisherman, Dustin’s first thought was “let’s get a pic and put her back,” unfortunately, once the fish hit the deck it start to bleed as the fish was hooked too deep. According to growth data a fish that size can be between 35 and 40-years old and it was hard for Dustin not to be able to put the fish back.
I spoke with Capt. Frank Tenore who skippers the boat and he said in all his days of fishing he has never seen a tog that big and his personal best was only 13 pounds. Frank said the crazy thing about the trip was a short while later a 16-1/2-pound tog was boated and released along with a couple of ten pounders.
Capt. Frank has no problem with customers taking home fish for the table, however he and Dustin both prefer anglers release fish over 10 pounds as they are the future of the fishery, in fact a half dozen fish over 10 pounds have been released on the boat this fall.
Tom Palmisano who owns the Fisherman’s Den North, the sister store of the Fisherman’s Den in Belmar, said both shops have weighed in blackfish over 10 pounds this fall and fish in the 10- to 15-pound class are usually considered trophy fish. But a 22-1/2-pound tog is a once in a life time fish. Palmisano said said it was a privilege to weigh in a once in a life time fish like that and he will more than likely never see another tog that big. But you never know!
Needless to say the 22-1/2-pound tog (which taped out at over 33 inches) was a fish of a lifetime. Over the years a good catch and release fisherman like Dustin probably released hundreds of fish. It’s almost like the Gods of the sea rewarded Dustin for all the fish he has released with a dream fish that will give him memories for a lifetime.
JB Kasper is the North Jersey and Freshwater field editor for the New Jersey, Delaware Bay edition of The Fisherman Magazine.
