Tautog to 13 Pounds

We ran out after tautog this morning. The ride out was fine but by the time we reached the wreck, it was not pleasant out there. We started out anchoring off the stern but by the time the second wave broke over the back of the boat, none of us could feel our fingers much less a tog bite. We transferred the anchor to the bow, making it at least fishable. We were no longer over the right spot but there was no way we were going to try and re-anchor. We had some clams and shrimp for bait. The tautog seemed to like both. We caught 23 tog up to 13 pounds before we ran out of bait. We also caught numerous small sea bass, some cunner, and a number of dogfish. Two of the tog we caught had tags in them. One was from the same series of tags that I am using now so that is one we had tagged over the past two weeks. The other fish had an older tag. It started out miserable but it turned out to be a productive trip.