Their front teeth are like chisels that can cut shellfish in half, and their back teeth are like rock pulverizing presses that turn the chunks of crab into little pieces.

In this report I will share with you the latest on the lower Buzzard's Bay tautog and striper bite. I will also share a quick 3-part Tautog Fishing Tutorial just for MFCC members.

The Tog Are On A Tear

October 2nd - somewhere in lower Buzzard's Bay

So I called off my eel casting trip this morning to concentrate on the tremendous tog bite. I forgot to tell one person the casting part was off, so I felt a little bad about my decision.

Yet what helped me overcome my guilt was that the tog fishing was insane!

Our first time togger Ron from Barre will be muttering for the rest of his life about the tog that took him into the rocks. Despite losing that fish, Ron did score the two biggest tog of the day with an 8 pound 14 ounce monster, and a 9 pound beast.

We ended with at least four fish over 8 pounds, and everything that we kept for the cooler was easily over 6 pounds! The tog have been on a tear whenever the weather is fishable.

Buzzard's Bay Striper Bite

October 2nd - somewhere in lower Buzzard's Bay

I couldn't sleep so I went surfcasting at 3am at a spot up in Narragensett Bay that is usually interesting this time of year. Nothing doing! I didn't even get a bite.

I got to the boat for my 7am charter a little early, already wet and tired. Luckily just as my crew showed up, the rain stopped. We went to a place where my wife and I caught well a week ago, but it was dead.

I re-positioned the boat a few times and that didn't help either. So with the 10-15 KT northeast wind we head "out there" a bit farther offshore.

Right away we started catching jumbo sea bass, which had to be released because the season is closed.

Then the tautog took over and we quickly limited out. Textbook! In less than 40 minutes of fishing we had our limit of blackfish, all over 19 inches.

Next we headed towards the river to striper fish. At our first stop I asked the crew to cast big swimming plugs, but we soon changed tactics (started chunking) and switched locations.

Within 10 minutes we had our limit of stripers, each between 31-34 inches!

October & November Schedule

The tautog (blackfish) fishing in lower Buzzard's Bay has gotten off to a fantastic start with most trips thus far resulting in pretty easy limits and some very nice fish.

As usual, Little Sister will be doing her open boat trips on Thursdays (7am-noon) at $115/person. Reservations are a must. The boat will also be available for charters on weekends at her regular prices.

On weekend days that I do not have a charter scheduled, I will make an announcement to the Little Sister email list that I will have open boat that day. 

Please let me know if you would like to be added to the Little Sister email list, by sending me an email via [email protected] or by commenting below.