early bird gets the worm

Chris Finch

Chris Finch

Well-known member
Or the crazy bastard who ain't afraid of the cold blasts the tog!

(i have no problem bitching about the cold though!)

i have been diving since April 2nd and just saw fish on thursday after a quick after work dive. so i decided to do a repeat on friday. i am filling up the freezer all ready!!!

thursday


friday with a buddy





todays plan=

blast a limit with the mid day high,
cook up some squid/mussel sauce, duck leg/squirrel pot pie, black fish ceviche
drink some homebrew (i have a clone of breakfast stout and grapefruit sculpin ready to drink)
brew some homebrew
 
Can't decide: love it or hate you. I want to get out but can't find the right weather to get Gus out when he is not in school. Awesome time of year. That freezer would fill faster if the limit had not been dropped to 2!

Boat based or you diving from shore?
 
Shore mostly if I had more time I would drag the boat along.

The Atlantic marine fisheries commission is going to greatly decrease tog take next year so get out there this year.

The marine biologists are very surprised seeing all the fish I get, hopefully they will rethink how black fish are managed seeing and there are insane numbers of fish around.

Those 4 fish were shot in 10 minutes. I probably saw 50 fish and of course after I got my limit a 12 pounder swam by me
 
Shore mostly if I had more time I would drag the boat along.

The Atlantic marine fisheries commission is going to greatly decrease tog take next year so get out there this year.

The marine biologists are very surprised seeing all the fish I get, hopefully they will rethink how black fish are managed seeing and there are insane numbers of fish around.

Those 4 fish were shot in 10 minutes. I probably saw 50 fish and of course after I got my limit a 12 pounder swam by me
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What I hear the grumbling about is there is a disconnect between sampling methods and local populations. Depletion on popular reefs, but good pops elsewhere. I;m not surprised they are hard to sample given their habits. Anyway, I try to live it up every year with what we get!

Off the beach sounds awesome, no gear to mess with , just you and the fish. In and out. When the freezer fills, I'll accept donations.
 
From a freshwater guy who barely knows his fish - what are these? I see blackfish and TOG mention but I have never heard of these. Look like a grouper variant to me.

Mark W
 
Chris,
I caught one on Thursday that weighed 11lbs.4oz. We caught 13 with 3 of them being citation. They are a lot of fun on hook and line.
 
Tautog aka blackfish

It is a wrasse

Got 2 more this morning too. A little dirty from the rain but still lots around.

I'll post a pic when I get home
 
From a freshwater guy who barely knows his fish - what are these? I see blackfish and TOG mention but I have never heard of these. Look like a grouper variant to me.

Mark W
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Cool fish a reef fish, associated with rocks like jetties and rocky reefs and wrecks. Fun to fish for and great on the table. Fish for them at anchor over structure, often in shallow water (not always, though). Sometimes you are fishing 6-8 feet deep and you get a hit by a 2-4-6-8-10 pound fish that tries to drag you in to the rocks - pretty exciting. Fish with crabs around here usually, but folks use worms and clams too. I wish I knew as much about where they hang out as Chris has learned diving. Finding them is sort of hit or miss - have to keep moving.
 
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So Chris, I grew up on Long Island in the 60s around Port Jeff. The draggers would catch Blackfish incidentally. You could buy then off the dock or in the local fish store for anywhere from 20 to 30 cents a pound. I clammed with a guy that fished for blackfish and he told me how edible they were, and showed me how to fillet them; quite frankly I have forgotten just that they were a pain in the butt to clean. We broiled them and they were about the best fish I have had. Two questions: how do you cook them? And how do you clean them? I recall they have a heavy mucous-like covering on the scales. Oh, a third question, are still available in local fish stores?
 
i am very good at cleaning them i usually take the cheeks and throats off the bigger ones too. they are sold at some markets not for 20 cents though.

if you find rocks you find fish, they might not be hungry but that doesnt matter to me, lol.

i know a lot of spots like the back of my hand and there are certain rocks and crevices that will always hold fish.

i forgot to tell you guys i got to play with a star gazer the other day, they are wicked cool fish. mean little guy kept trying to bite me!

i make ceviche, chowder, fish pie, bake it, grill, broil, fry, fish curry, stuff it, any recipe for white fish tog can be used for

here is yesterdays haul 17.5", 19"

 
here is sundays limit, kali approved!


it felt good to spend so much time in the water. it is very interesting getting to experience a different world.
 
Did some research, looks like between 2-4 a day depending on the season but in the Atlantic. No regs in the Bay....not sure if that means they don't come into it or not.


Dave
 
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Tod the males look massive under water with the white outline. That fish was about 5lbs. The female i got on thursday was about 8. I saw a 12 too.

I wanted to go today but i had to get the garden plot tilled before the rain.

Dave i have no idea on the chesapeake. Jersey and delaware are still tog country. If u make it up here for july-aug, or mid oct-early dec ill get you out.
you might have spadefish and sheepshead on pilings down there but im sure its like diving in mud.

Ri is the spot though. You can crack stripers and might actualy find a keeper fluke from a shore dive. Also triggers are around.

I had 20 ft vis one day out there too!
 
Chris, thanks for the invite. I figured visibility would be a concern down here in the Bay. There is a dive site (not many to chose from here) that requires days/weeks of no rain and almost perfect conditions (tide, current, winds) so that you can put in upstream and if your descent rate is perfect with the current, you will "run into" the site......if not......you missed.


Dave
 
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