Tough Day Tog Fishing by Ed Valitutto

Posted on April 28, 2021 by VHFC

With the honking west winds forecasted to finally slow down, I jumped at the invite for a day of tog fishing with Phil Simon. Our first stop was the Persephone, a tanker torpedoed just north of the Barnegat reef. My line barely reached the bottom before a ‘keeper’ sea bass was on. Oh well, we’ll try again once the season opens in a few weeks. Phil and I each quickly had short tog and then I caught a decent 17+ keeper. Then it all stopped.
We tried a few other wrecks with some difficulty locating them but to no avail. We finished the day on the Bone wreck where Phil caught two tog that went back after careful measuring. It was still great to get out on the water on a beautiful calm day despite the slow action.

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.