29 pounds

Dave · December 09, 2015, 04:06:53 PM

Got talked into (or maybe I talked Tom into) an overnight fishing trip at his shore house in Cape May. We were going after Tog, which is a fish that lives around any type of structure and feeds on crabs. We'd be fishing alongside an inlet jetty which offers protection from rough seas (just fish the lee side of the 1/4 mile long jetty and you're out of the up down up down up down upchuck swells).

Also brought along some heavier gear as a decent bass bite was going on a mile offshore, but since my legs were built for the land and not the sea I figured we'd be concentrating on Tog.
Fished late day Monday and caught about a dozen tog between us - 3 keeper sized ones ended up in the box (15").
No pics of the fish, but there was a nice sunset and very calm looking water! we'd try for bass in the a.m.

We bought two mojo rigs that night for trolling the next day. I'm not too familiar with them, but I guess it's the hot bait right now. It's basically a half to 3/4 pound jighead with a mr twister on it and a skirt up around its collar.

It works pretty good

This is my heaviest striper by 3 pounds.
29 pounds!
We ended up with 4 fish between 20 to 29 lbs. Allowed to keep one each.

slagmaker · December 09, 2015, 04:17:09 PM

Sounds like a good day!

That sunset is really nice.

Thanks for sharing.

Okanagan · December 09, 2015, 04:35:49 PM

WOW! WTG. I am greeeeeen with envy!

HaMeR · December 09, 2015, 06:09:17 PM

Good job Dave!! I bet that was a LOT of fun!!!!!!

pitw · December 09, 2015, 06:30:31 PM

Awesome fish. Are they good eating?

coyote101 · December 09, 2015, 07:02:07 PM

Nice fish Dave. Congratulations.

Pat

nastygunz · December 09, 2015, 07:55:29 PM

Stripas!

slagmaker · December 09, 2015, 08:50:43 PM

Quote from: pitw on December 09, 2015, 06:30:31 PM
Awesome fish. Are they good eating?

I have had stripper twice. Both times made me look forward to the next time I get to have stripper.

FinsnFur · December 09, 2015, 09:47:42 PM

29lb Striper? Thats a typo right?

Holy Karumbuh!

Dale · December 10, 2015, 11:09:11 AM

congratulations, that's a fine looking fish... a lot of good eating there...

nastygunz · December 11, 2015, 01:11:16 AM

Is tog what we call tautog? We used to chum them with a mesh bag of crushed clams,mussels,crabs etc.

Dave · December 15, 2015, 07:51:10 AM

Thanks.
Striper's are good eating, and this one went pretty far. I don't like freezing fish, so I gave a lot of it to family/friends.
Nasty - they are tautog. We didn't use a chum block, but did chum em with the scraps of the crabs we cut up for bait. One of my favorite fishes to eat.

Anyone have good methods for freezing fish? Mine always seemed to get freezer burned, so I don't even bother trying anymore.

slagmaker · December 15, 2015, 09:36:49 AM

I always freeze them covered in water. Any container stable for filling with enough water to completely cover the fish and freeze. When your ready to use just thaw out and use like fresh fish.

Dale · December 15, 2015, 12:41:11 PM

the white icecube bin in the freezer, I stand bags of fish or shrimp in there till it's full... maybe 2 or 3 bags, fill them with water, get the air out of them and seal the bags... freeze them right in the bin... when they're frozen you have nice flat bags of fish that will keep for a long time, and they stack nicely too...

Okanagan · December 15, 2015, 12:53:57 PM

Quote from: Dave on December 15, 2015, 07:51:10 AM
Thanks.
Striper's are good eating, and this one went pretty far. I don't like freezing fish, so I gave a lot of it to family/friends.
Nasty - they are tautog. We didn't use a chum block, but did chum em with the scraps of the crabs we cut up for bait. One of my favorite fishes to eat.

Anyone have good methods for freezing fish? Mine always seemed to get freezer burned, so I don't even bother trying anymore.

Commercial flash freezing is the only way I've tasted frozen fish that is close to fresh. Do you have a vat of liquid nitrogen?

Like you, we give away most surplus salmon to friends who understand and appreciate it unfrozen. I freeze a little for myself. My wife loves it fresh but not frozen (she admits that she is spoiled). She would rather give it to discriminating connoisseurs than eat a piece of frozen later in the year.

The main thing it sounds like that we all do when freezing is to seal off the fish from all air, which causes freezer burn. I double wrap boneless pieces in Saran wrap type plastic, squeezing out all of the air possible on the first layer. A good vacuum sealer would be better. I tried a lesser quality vacuum sealer and it was virtually worthless.

Good kind of problem you have...

I sent the pic of you and the striper to the two little boys in Berwyn!