Tautogs are a popular, fun and delicious fish to catch from a boat. An anchor, rocky nook, and some green crabs are all you need.
Of course that is bare-bones minimum, and there is no doubt that a top-notch sonar, chart plotter, boat and captain, will help you put tog in the boat. But how about catching tautog from shore?
The idea recently crossed my mind to try “surfcasting” for tautog. I felt it would be a good challenge, plus if I was lucky, I could bring home some fillets for Lauren to cook up!
Tautog Fishing From Shore
I shared my tautog surfcasting idea with my friend Andrew Massard and he was instantly in for giving it a try. I grabbed some green crabs, picked up Andrew, and arrived at the spot just in time for low tide.
The important key to finding the tautog, was to find an area with plenty of rocks. Fortunately this spot had no shortage of glacier-driven rocks and boulders, as well as a man-made jetty.
Andrew spent perhaps 10 minutes on the jetty before spotting the first tautog of the day. It was good size fish.
Andrew pitched the crab and we both watched as the tautog crunched down on the crustacean. Andrew set the hook, but as is often in the tautog fishing world, missed the fish.
So I took the opportunity to squeeze in and pitch a crab towards the exact same fish. This time the hook stuck and I was on.
