Tautog fishing is much like a tug of war. Once you hook one, the battle is on to keep it from going into structure. Many times anglers hook up on the bottom when fishing for tautog. My experience is half the time the bottom hook up is caused by a fish that takes the angler’s bait into the rocks before they even know it.
Tautog (or Blackfish) is a great eating fish with a white delicate meat. That’s why anglers love to catch them. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management regulates recreational tautog fishing. The catch limit in RI until Oct. 14 is three fish/person/day, then it jumps to six fish/person/day on Oct. 15 through Dec. 15. In addition there is a 10 fish boat maximum per day limit (which does not apply to party and charter boats).
So, get ready, here are five tips to help you have a great fall tautog fishing season.
1. Find structure to find tautog. Tautog can be fished from shore or boat and in both cases they like structure (rocks, wrecks, bridge piers, dock pilings, mussel beds, holes and humps along the coast and in the Bay). So no structure, no tautog.
2. Fish where the fish are. This is particularly true with tautog because they are a territorial species, you have to find the tautog, they are not going to find you. So if you get no bites move to another spot. When you find them, you find them and the bite is on.
Shared via Providence Journal- continue reading.
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