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  • 217 Anglers Rd. Lewes DE 19958

Tog Action Shaping Up

Lewes Harbour Marina - 10/7/2014 12:00:00 AM

We've enjoyed a fantastic summer of flounder fishing, but the bulk of flatties in the area have moved out. Before they got too far away, Captain Brent made one last long run southeast and intercepted batch of fluke on their way offshore. Tuesday's group of fluke fanatics aboard Katydid returned with their limit of 40 fish to finish off the season. Many anglers have now shifted their efforts toward tautog. Tog action has been shaping up along the rocks and reefs, but wind and dirty water has often presented problems. Toggers report windows of catching with clean water, but once it gets murky, the blackfish get lockjaw. Captain Pete was able to locate some clean water along the Wall Saturday, and his toggers on Top Fin took a limit of 35 keepers. They capped the box off with a bonus 14.6 pound sheepshead. Several big sheepshead have been caught recently, probably since more anglers are working rockpiles and other hard structure in search of tog, and that's where the big porgies hang out. Craig Moore captured a 15.5 pound trophy sheepshead aboard the Grizzly Sunday. Charlie Breitenbach's 16.7 pound bruiser would have broken the State Record had Dave Walker not caught his 17.1 pound monster last Monday. That fish has been verified, and declared as the new Delaware State Record. Triggerfish and black drum continue to mix with sheepshead and tog on Bay structure. Some of the drum have been quite sizeable. Todd Garman was togging near the Lighthouse of the Outer Wall when he hooked behemoth boomers of 65.4 and 67.1 pounds using fiddler crabs the size of a thumbnail! Just goes to show, elephants do eat peanuts! Drew Williams and his buddies joined Captain Brent on Katydid Thursday and put a pair of drum, a nice mess of tog, triggers, trout and croakers in the box. Trout are still hanging around in fair numbers and it's great to see their resurgence in Delaware Bay. Captain Brent's anglers had their limit of weakfish during a short afternoon run to reef rubble Friday afternoon. On Monday, Captain Brent's three man group had 14 tog and 15 triggers. Triggers will start to thin out with cooling temps, but tog should become more active. The Inner and Outer Walls, Ice Breakers, reef sites and Lighthouses should all give up increasing numbers of blackfish in coming weeks. Keep in mind, if you fish Brandywine Light, you must adhere to New Jersey size and creel limits, since the structure sits in that state's waters. Anglers are limited to one tog at a 15 inch minimum until November 15th. The Annual Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament is on now through October 31st. The event offers cash prizes for the three heaviest tautog weighed in by registered contestants. Entry fee is $25 per angler, allowing you to fish as many days as you want through the Tourney. Or, you can pay $3 each day you fish. You must pay in advance of fishing. All entry monies collect in a pool and the top three tog split it 50%, 30% and 20%. So, the more entries, the bigger the prizes. As of this writing, the standings show Randy Jensen in First and Third Places with tog weighing 5.89 and 5.49 pounds. Mike Ditton has Second with his 5.58 pounder. Things will likely change as the month goes on and bigger fish are on the move. "Yul" Benner ended up winning last year at the very end of the Tournament with an enormous 20 pounder! Surf casters have been picking at snapper bluefish all along the Ocean beaches. Sue Sokira stopped by with a nice catch of blues and kingfish takaen with mullet in front of the radar tower at Cape Henlopen.


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