Tautog: A Productive Fall Fishery
Welcome to another edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast presented by Cape & Islands Mitsubishi and The Olde Cape Carwash. In this podcast, we are joined by Sam Mullen of the Goose Hummock Shop in Orleans.
Few things beat October on Cape Cod. The air turns crisp, the wind starts to carry a bite, and the fishing offers more choices than almost any other time of year. Sam gives a firsthand report on a productive fall run tautog fishery, surfcasting for fall run stripers, and exploring the freshwater kettle ponds of Cape Cod.
A Tog Trip to Remember
Tautog, or "tog" to most anglers, is a great fall target on Cape Cod. It fishes well in the spring, but fall is when many serious anglers really get after it. Sam called this stretch prime time, running from now until about the week before Thanksgiving. He had just come off a great day on the water, and his description of it should get any angler excited!
Sam and three friends fished an incoming tide coming off low barometric pressure, which he has found to be the best stage of tide for tog. They had their limit in about two and a half hours. He described it as "bankers' hours" fishing. You do not need to be on the water at the crack of dawn. The pace is relaxed, and as long as you bring plenty of crabs and get a good chum slick going, a morning or afternoon trip can produce well. It was a perfect, sunny day, and the fish were not far from shore.
Where to Find Them
Tog are structure-oriented fish. They live around rock, so your job is to find the rock. Sam pointed anglers who can get into Buzzards Bay toward several kinds of productive structure:
- Rock piles. There are so many scattered around Buzzards Bay that Sam says you can "pick your poison." Find a nice pile and work it.
- Breakwaters and jetties. Any long, extended breakwater or big jetty is a great place to start.
- Wrecks. Many old wrecks sit inshore, within a mile of the beach, and they hold fish.
You do not need a long run offshore to get in on the action, which makes tog a very approachable fishery for small boat owners.
The Right Depth
Depth matters. Sam says it is much easier to fish 20-30 feet of water or less. Around 20 feet is ideal. Once you get out to 35-40 feet or deeper, the fishing becomes more difficult, and you will need bank sinkers and dual-hook rigs to get your bait down and keep it there. If you are new to the fishery, start shallow around the rock piles and jetties before trying anything deeper. Also note that these fish are often very succefully targeted in 10-15 feet of water by anglers in kayaks!
Gear and Rigging: Go Light
This was Sam's most important tip: go as light as you can with your jig. Tog feel the weight, and when they do, they tend to pull away and spit the bait. Big fish are especially sensitive to this. Sam says you know it is a big tautog when it bites and then starts pulling the bait away, but if it feels too much weight, it simply lets go. His go-to is a half-ounce jig. Fish the rocks, drop the bait down, and keep a close feel on the line.
Bait: Crabs Are the Ticket
Crabs are the top bait for fall tog, and Sam's catch backed that up. When he and his crew cleaned their fish, nearly every belly was full of crabs. Here are some general pointers:
- Green crabs. Many local shops are carrying them again for the fall. Sam cuts them in half and hooks them right through the leg socket.
- Leave the claws off. He feels tog tend to steal the claws!
- Chum with the leftovers. Cut the legs and claws and toss them out as the day goes on. Throw a good handful every 10 minutes whether you are drifting or anchored.
- Do not over-chum. You want a slow feed. Too much and the fish fill up on free food and stop eating your bait.
A Free Bait Tip: Asian Shore Crabs
If you are short on green crabs, flip rocks in any harbor on the Cape and you will find plenty of small Asian shore crabs. They are green with white and brown speckles. Hook them whole on the jig. Sam says there have been days when green crabs were not producing, he switched to these little crabs, and it was almost every drop. If you live near the water or can perhaps walk a harbor or estuary, this free bait source may be sitting right in your own backyard.
Other Baits
Clams also catch tog. Sam says you will get a lot of bites, though usually not big fish, and clams are more of a spring bait than a fall one. Bloodworms work too. Anything that naturally roams around the rocks is fair game, but green or Asian crabs remain the clear number one choice.
Know the Regulations
As Sam noted during the interview, the possession limit was 10 fish per boat, with one fish above 21 inches allowed. He said the limit would rise to five fish per person as of later this week. Regulations can change, so always double-check the current rules with Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries before you head out in the morning.
Fall Run Striped Bass
The big blow a couple of weeks ago seemed to kick the fall run into a higher gear, and anglers have been connecting with large migratory fish. Reports of big breeders in the 45-inch class have been reported by customers of the Goose Hummock fishing from shore! Anglers willing to put in the time have been rewarded over the past couple of weeks.
Sam cautioned that the fall run is not a guaranteed bite anywhere you go. These fish are on the move. In the spring, bass often stage in an area for three to five days or even a week. In the fall, they come through, eat, and keep going, so they may be there one day and gone the next. You need to put in your time and be patient. When you do run into the bite, though, it can be excellent.
Find the Peanut Bunker
According to Sam, peanut bunker are the number one fuel for fall bass. If you find them, the stripers will not stop eating, no matter how much bait is in the water. Pencil poppers, other poppers, and bucktails are all great choices when fish are on peanuts during the day. As night falls, Sam says needlefish are definitely the ticket.
Cape Cod Bay
Sam's reports from Team Goose are that Cape Cod Bay has fished very well for stripers this fall, from both shore and boat. A lot of north wind has pushed bait down into the bay, including mackerel, bunker, squid, peanut bunker, and other baitfish coming from the north.
With another north wind setting up for the coming weekend and water temperatures continuing to drop, fish will want to hug the shore, and the bait will get blown in with them. The days when nobody wants to go outside, when it is a little sporty along the shoreline in the bay, are often the best days to surfacast for big striped bass. Whatever the wind direction the next day, that is where Sam would look for fish.
The Backside Has Been Quiet
The Outer Cape backside has been a different story. Sam called it pretty quiet. He believes the constant northeast, north, and northwest wind has been blowing fish too far offshore and cooling the water. The backside needs more south or southwest wind to bring in waves and the right water temperature. There may be a bit more activity up toward Truro and Provincetown, but from south of Truro and Wellfleet down to Nauset, it has not been the fishery it has been in years past.
Freshwater: Kettle Ponds
If you want a break from saltwater or a fun alternative when the wind is blowing, do not overlook the kettle ponds. Sam and his friend Ian McPartland of Team Goose are big fans of this fall fishery.
The key is juvenile herring. The ponds are full of them right now, so target a nice herring run pond. Baits in the three-to five-inch range are fantastic, and even small topwater lures work. Sam compared the action on smallmouth and largemouth bass to stripers feeding on juvenile herring, with the same kind of reaction. Topwaters and fast-moving baits are a blast.
The pond bite is just starting to kick off. Pond temperatures are still a little warm, but Sam expects them to cool after the weekend, and fresh water will really settle in as we head into November. It is already more active than it has been in recent weeks and getting better.
Final Thoughts
According to Sam, if you are new to tog, keep it simple: find structure in 20 to 30 feet of water, fish an incoming tide, chum lightly with fresh green or Asian crab, and go as light as you can on your jig. Between tautog around rockpiles and breakwaters close to shore, fall run stripers in Cape Cod Bay, and a fun kettle pond bass bite, October has a lot to offer!
Tight Lines & Take Care!