We ran back out after tautog yesterday. It was cold and the a bit rough. The fishing seemed slower than our last few trips but at the end of the day, we had caught 29 tautog.
We caught 8 tautog with tags in them, multiple different series of tags. 7 of the fish were released with their tags. We killed one. It was 25 inches long and weighed in at 11 pounds 8 ounces. Tag number: 133411. That was our largest fish of the day. It was caught on blue crab. We caught three tog large enough to qualify for citations.
Wes Blow caught a 25-inch tautog that weighed 10 pounds on the boat scale. To the chagrin of some of the more hungry crew, Wes decided to tag and release that fish. He said that he had already weighed in a larger tog this year and that he had eaten tautog for lunch four times this past week.
Wes had an unusual catch when he managed to catch a nice tautog and a sea bass at the same time, on a single-hook rig. Somehow, he managed to hook both fish in the mouth, with the same hook.
Hunter Southall caught a lost rockfish that thought it was a tautog. He caught it on a piece of clam. The fish was released along with the other by-catch of sea bass, dogfish and cunner. A hake was not as lucky and joined the tautog in the cooler.
