Another great annual event is over. What a great time! A total of 98 were registered anglers. Arrived on Friday afternoon after picking up a Big Tuna Demo from Jersey Paddler. I ended up going straight to TKFS to see who was fishing and how they were making out also to possibly fish. It seems as i arrived there and said hello to everyone at the store they guys were coming in. The typical crew of Capt. Jim Gary Brian and Chris. They were all togging at the bridge there. They amazingly all limited out within 2 hours. As they came in the winds were blowing a steady 20 with gusts to 30. So I decided to join the crew for fresh fried tog.
Tautog is incredibly tasty fish. One of my favorites in fact. Hung out with the guys for a little while them met up for the captains meeting. Collected my captains bag. A lot of cool swag again this year! These guys know how to put together a bag o swag! Had the opening toast then got ready to go fishing for the 9 PM start.
Wawa Turkey Dinner Bowls are back!!!!! Grabbed me one of those for dinner! Arrived at the drop in location and ate my dinner. By the time i was all loaded and dry geared up the 5 guys i was going fishing with ere nowhere to be found and I was unable to get radio contact for some reason. There was no game plan I was aware of so i trolled out the inlet with no hits. Finally got a text and paddled to the location of the other guys. They were already into the bass. I guess it was pretty much too late by the time i arrived i saw some of the guys boat small bass but i had none all night. Decided to bail at 2:00 am.
The plan was to sleep for 2 hours if possible then return to the same fishing spot for sunrise. Eh yeah that didn’t happen. After awaking around 6:30 and getting to the drop in around 7:30 it was togging day!. Cape May has an incredible togging fishery. Togging from a kayak is ideal as typically you are going to be fishing around structure such as bridges rock piles wrecks and jetty’s.
Picked me up 2 dozen green crabs from the bait shop. Each crab = 2 baits. Using meat shears you will simply cut the crab in half front to back and also cut the claws and legs off. My rig was a high low tog rig with the sinker at the top. You can also use a single hook rig which most use in the area. Tog are tough fish to catch because as you hook them they swim quickly into the structure below. Snagging your rig up and fraying the leader. You have to hook the fish and begin reeling asap to keep the fish out of the structure. I pretty much stuck with baiting with 1 hook as 2 dozen green crabs can be all used up within a couple of hours. The fishing was great. Easily landed well over 15 fish. None over the legal limit to keep though.
Before the day was over I decided to join the guys along the rock wall out the inlet. The wind was fierce blowing at a steady 20 gusting id say to 30 mph.
Tried to fish the area but with the incoming tide ripping and that stiff wind it was just close to impossible. Snagged my rig up cut it and left to go back to the campground and setup the HOW video on the projector for the dinner.
The dinner was excellent as it has been in the past. I wish we played the video before the awards and after dinner so everyone would have been able to hear the audio.
We ran off the raffle and that was the night. The wind continued to blow all night. Next morning packed up and that’s another jamboree in the books.
A total of 19 volunteers for the Heroes On The Water New Jersey Chapter were again volunteering their time this past Sunday in the name of Life Saving! Special thanks to John Bome HOW volunteer and Doug Small members of Laborers Union Local 172 for their time and knowledge as they instructed the four hour hands on class. In all its was a great time to see everyone again and to start the new year off right being certified in important life saving tactics.!