Togging, finally!

[Hookmanski]

After posting on here a few times asking for some tog tips, and after winning 5 Tautog shirts at the last NJF christmas party, I finally made the time and effort to go looking for some tog. I had tried once before a year or two ago with 0 success and was determined to change that.

Last time I tried, I was using rigs exclusively and decided this time I'd try Jigs instead. Picked up a bunch of sand fleas, went down to a popular jetty in SNJ and started looking for holes. I found a few holes that I was getting bites in, but they all turned out to be small sea bass. Eventually, I did find one hole that was a bit deeper than the others I had tried and pulled out my first ever tog on a half ounce jig.

https://i.postimg.cc/c18XjZSQ/20220820-085039.jpg

Kept moving around and came across what can only be described as a honey hole. I ended up catching 9 more tog out of it, with 2 13"s and a 14", but no keeper sized ones ended up making an appearance.

https://i.postimg.cc/nV7G2k42/20220820-102453.jpg

I was stoked to have so much success, and had a ton of fun doing it. I was using my surf rod to boot, so I'm sure with better gear I'd have pulled out even more of them :D now to find a tog rod! tight lines all :D

[Gerry Zagorski]

Congrats Hook and welcome to the addictive, frustrating and rewarding Tog Club. These fish make grown men cry, curse, stomp their feet and leave their nice warm homes and family in the middle of the winter. You’ve been warned.

As far as a rod for jigging, you want a 1 piece light or medium light spinning rod 7 foot or a little over rated for 20 pounds, fast action and lure weight of 1/2 to 2 or 3 ounces…

Light weight rods and reels are the trick here in order to be able to feel bites and ticks. You can get away with heavier rods and reels but you wont have anywhere near the success. This especially true on the tougher days where the bite is very light and the fish aren’t suicidal.

[dfish28]

Gerry you forgot about dropping pliers!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Gerry you forgot about dropping pliers!

I'd rather forget about that D :D

[Jigman13]

Right now you'll get tons of pinner sea bass, but you'll also get triggers in the rocks and lots of puppy togs. Once October rolls around I do a bunch of land based tog trips just to get the "feel" back. Some places hold keeper sized fish which makes it really fun on the lighter jigs and tackle.

A decent tog jigging rod is the Jigging World Nexus. It doesnt break the bank, it's plain jane and rips lips. I pair mine with a 4000 Daiwa Ballistic. I've yet to tie into a pig with the set up but I'm confident it'll hold up. Nothing better than tog jigging... well, maybe tuna jigging... lol

[Hookmanski]

Congrats Hook and welcome to the addictive, frustrating and rewarding Tog Club. These fish make grown men cry, curse, stomp their feet and leave their nice warm homes and family in the middle of the winter. You’ve been warned.

As far as a rod for jigging, you want a 1 piece light or medium light spinning rod 7 foot or a little over rated for 20 pounds, fast action and lure weight of 1/2 to 2 or 3 ounces…

Light weight rods and reels are the trick here in order to be able to feel bites and ticks. You can get away with heavier rods and reels but you wont have anywhere near the success. This especially true on the tougher days where the bite is very light and the fish aren’t suicidal.

Thanks Gerry! Glad I can finally wear all the shirts Jose made without feeling like a poser :D Thanks for the tips on a rod!


Right now you'll get tons of pinner sea bass, but you'll also get triggers in the rocks and lots of puppy togs. Once October rolls around I do a bunch of land based tog trips just to get the "feel" back. Some places hold keeper sized fish which makes it really fun on the lighter jigs and tackle.

A decent tog jigging rod is the Jigging World Nexus. It doesnt break the bank, it's plain jane and rips lips. I pair mine with a 4000 Daiwa Ballistic. I've yet to tie into a pig with the set up but I'm confident it'll hold up. Nothing better than tog jigging... well, maybe tuna jigging... lol

The next time I'll be at the shore for more than a day is in October, so looks like I'll be hitting the rocks hard that weekend! :D