Togfest 2017

[Liv2Fish]

Meant to post sooner. Based on the earlier season reports from Cool Beans and others that were finding keeper sized fish very shallow, and my early season of fishing deep with nothing but shorts, my plan was to get as close as possible to the top of the bumps and apparently, that was the key. We were the second boat at Great Ledge at about 7:05. The first boat was on the NE corner of the ledge, probably in 25-35'. By 7:30, we had 3 18" fish in the live well. By 8:00 there were about 15 boats there, somewhat spread out. Most fished for about an hour and then moved on. By the end of the tide, around 10:00 or so, we had 11 keepers but I didn't see many other boats putting fish in the box. As the tide slowed, so did the bite, so we moved out to Wilks Ledge looking for bigger fish. Did the same thing, got right on top of the bump and had the same result but with bigger fish. My temp gauge has been stuck at 32 since the second season so I don't know what the temp was or if there was a difference between Great and Wilks. Seemed a bit colder at Wilks, based on live well water.

I thought it was worth sharing because everything I've read and watched on togging says that early, deeper is better for the bigger fish, likely due to colder water. A couple of weeks before, we started off by Cleavlands and the water was hot and it was all very small fish. We moved to The Bow Bells off of Marion and found colder water and bigger fish. It was a grey, foggy, rainy, cold day but the fishing was very slow. Then we have a bright sunny, flat calm, hot day and the fish are as shallow as they can find and the bite is on fire. Goes against everything I thought I knew about tog fishing. Was this just a fluke (pun intended) day? My pics didn't post for some reason. I'll put them up later.

I think it was Cohen Fishin that was talking about catching tog on jigs in a couple of feet of water when large swell washes over rock piles. Almost as if the tog are feeding on crabs getting swept out of the rocks. Maybe the crabs (like blue crabs) like to sun themselves and they are the ones searching out the highest possible point on the rock piles and the tog are just there for that reason. Maybe they wouldn't have been there like that had it ben an overcast foggy day?

The other thing I noticed was that the fish came in very different colors. Some were very dark rusty red and some looked bleached out. I know that when the bass show in the spring, they have dark green backs and black stripes and sea lice. You can tell the difference between the ones that have been here for a while because they're not as vibrant. I wonder if that is the same with tog and can we learn or predict anything from that.

It was a great day. I think next year, we should get it planned out earlier and all launch from the same place and have a weigh in time or something. Maybe do a biggest fish pool. I don't often get to attend the couple of social events through the season but the few that i have were a good time. Thanks to Ray for keeping this alive.