With just two weeks left in The Fisherman Magazine’s 2016 Dream Boat Challenge, the nearshore and midrange wreck sites may hold the key to your new Cobia center console.
On November 16, New Jersey recreational bag limit for tautog increases from just one to six fish with a 15-inch size limit. In Delaware, it’s a five blackfish bag with 15-inch size limit, through December 31.
All indications are it should be a great start to the season, especially as the Dream Boat Challenge. One of the most recent weigh-ins on the board, Joseph Mole’s 16.2-pound blackfish on October 16, is also the leading whitechin at this point. The New Yorker brought that big tautog in to Bay Park Fishing Station on the south shore of Long Island, a good sign for North Jersey, New York Bight fishermen.
Checking reports from a year ago this week in The Fisherman, some of the top spots for big blackfish were still well close to shore. Al Schiedel hit a 12.60-pound blackfish at the Sea Girt Reef on his boat the Two Girls, while Sam Mell checked in with Keyport Marine Basin on his action at Sandy Hook Reef where an excellent pull of whitechins was topped by a 9.63-pounder on green crabs
“The tog munch is on,” Jason from Fishermen’s Supply said on November 21, 2015, telling The Fisherman and readers of double-digit weight blackfish on green crab grab being yanked off the structures on the Sea Girt and Axel Carlson reefs. Meanwhile farther to the south, Jack Ryan from Sheltered Cove Marina in Tuckerton said blackfish were feeding at Garden State North and Atlantic City reefs.
“Guys are finding togs in 40 to 80 feet,” noted Rick Traber at Pier 47 Marina, reporting that those guys who left their boats in just a little later last year got in a few good days of fishing from mid- to late-November. Meanwhile South Jersey Marina said fish to 10 pounds and better had set up at Cape May and Wildwood reef sites this time last year, with sources there last fall describing “Water temps are perfect, around 54 degrees.”
On the other side of Delaware Bay, field editor Eric Burnley reported back to us on November 21, 2015 that most of the blackfish seem to have thinned out along the Outer Wall, although Lewes Harbour Marina noted that the catch picked up over the artificial reefs. “Toggers on Pirate King II took home some nice fish while working sites 6 and 7,” Burnley said last fall.
Pull your boat? It’s a great time to hit the head boats or book a charter, as many captains from the Highlands to Lewes and Rehoboth are planning special trips this month to target tautog and the nearshore wreck sites.