BACKWATER BLACKFISH
- Nick Honachefsky
- Apr 10
- 7 min read
By Nick Honachefsky
Spring Blackfishing in the backwaters can be red hot
When people think of blackfish, usually images of shipwrecks and reef sites offshore come to mind, but a secret lies in the backwaters. Springtime brings the spawn and tautog will move back into the shallow water areas right off the coast and more importantly, breach the inlet areas and station up around backwater structure.
Toggin’s a game that will drive even the most patient man mad. Anyone who tells you they’ve got tog dialed in every day is a flat out liar. Tog will mix it up on you, do a 180 degree with their habits, and leave you in the dust hitless if they so choose to do. But make no mistake, there are times when you can really figure them out for a fleeting moment, and be the one bailing blackies on a daily basis. One common denominator is that tog love structure. When people think of blackfish, usually images of shipwrecks and reef sites offshore come to mind, but a secret lies in the backwaters. Springtime brings the spawn and tautog will move back into the shallow water areas right off the coast and more importantly, breach the inlet areas and station up around backwater structure. Inside toggin is not a one-shot deal with tactics, there are myriad ways to go about plying the back bays, inlets and canal areas to tangle with tog. This is when you can land limits of blackfish without even having to jump on a boat. Here’s a backwater map to plan your assault around.
BRIDGES
Backwater bridges line the estuarial waterways in Jersey waters from tip to tip of the state. Shark River and Manasquan’s bridges are prime turf, but in particular, south Jersey is a bridge fisherman’s paradise in that the Ocean City area offers up a vast playground to explore nearly a dozen bridges and their abutments and stanchions. Many new bridges have been constructed connecting Somers Point to Ocean City, and the old bridges were razed to the seafloor and combed down enough as to not present navigational hazards, but the remaining low-lying base structure still lies around the new bridges. This is prime tog turf if you can anchor up on the lee side of one of the abutments and drop down on the rubble. Tides play a big part the closer bridges lie towards the inlet. When the tide is ripping, some toggers even keep the boat in gear and kind of backtroll in a way to cast back to the abutments and keep a vertical type of presentation. Of course, if the tide is slack and it isn’t illegal, you can tie up and bridle to the bridge abutment to position on the structure. Target bridge structures around slack tides for your best positioning and bait presentation.
MARINA AREAS
Many entrances to marinas will have breakwaters, pilings and ICW markers buttressed by rocks along the base. The Atlantic Highlands area is a solid spot with defunct pilings and submerged rockpiles that attract tog. Other small marina areas such along the coast such as the Anchorage in Ocean City have channel markers delineating the proper channels, which usually have rockpiles around their bases of some sort. Tie up to the channel marker and swing over the rocky base or drop anchor off the breakwaters and work the rocky edges. Before a tide gets ripping, you can stay up and down on the rocks, usually an hour before and after slack is perfect time to fish the breakwaters or channel marker pilings.
PIER TACTICS
Piers can come in the form of defunct bridges to man-made wood structures. I’ve fished off the Ocean City piers with much success the past two years, which are basically old bridge platforms where snags, rebar, rockpiles and concrete rubble adorn the waters. Mussel colonies stick to the pilings to create a pick- as-they- go buffet for blackies. Cast out and use your intellect to find structures, old bridge rubble, snags a old rebar to find where tog consider themselves at home. Use a simple “Belmar rig” with an overhand knot and a size #4 virginia style hook on a larks head knot three inches above the sinker loop and usually a 2 to 3 ounce bank sinker. You will inevitably lose a bunch of rigs, but when you find those secret spots, they will be yours to claim time and time again. Off piers, play the dead high tides, and know that night high tides may work too, as one particular night, I disproved the theory that tog don’t bite in darkness. Fellow angler Sean Reilly and I dropped down asian crabs and absolutely lit up the tog on a pier at 10 PM on the high slack, bailing over 20 tog under the pier lights. Gain an advantage by collecting green and asian crabs from under rocks on a dead low tide and you’ll have the bait they are feeding upon! Clam baits also get more hits, but bring greenies too. Under the piers, use lighter weights of 1 to 2 ounces to hopscotch your sinker over the rocks underneath. Move around on planks, and don’t be afraid to switch spots continuously until you find an area that holds a good bite. Always have an up and down approach, if the tide starts really ripping, cast past, or before a structure and let the bait creep to the sweet spot, then recast, even if its only a matter of seconds if the tide rips really hard. Gratuitous sheepshead catches can also be in the mix too during summer months. Work a pier over hard and you will find where the real sticky stuff is and where the fish tend to gravitate to. The structure won’t change much, its all a matter of dialing in the tides and times of day to score with tog here.
CANALS/BULKHEADS
Local bulkheads or canals have plenty of rockpiles and coral laying deep within to attract blackfish and to act as a highway on a togs migration inshore during the spring months. Bankside casting into a canal is best on the slack tides, many times the bite will only be a 30 to 45 minute window, but the action is intense and constant, drop after drop. Lighter weights in the 1 to 2 ounce range can be used here then, until the tide starts running, switch up to 3 or 4 ounces, and if the tide carries that weight, it can be a good time to pack up shop as the tog won’t have any time to hone in on a bait if its moving too fast. The Cape May Canal and Cold Spring Inlet are solid spots to go on a tog hunt as blackfish to 23 pounds have been caught there in recent years.
SODBANKS
Structure doesn’t have to be man made or rocky, it can be as simple as finding pieces of sedge that have broken off the banks and fallen in the channels. Captain Tom Daffin, Fishin’ Fever, 609-868-6014, looks for the deep cuts along broken sodbanks to throw an anchor onto and steady out with a second anchor straight down. Daffin drops down a size 3/8-ounce jighead tipped with half a green crab and bounces the presentation right on the bottom where he marks the broken pieces of sodbank underwater. Slack tides are best to drop jigs, but when tides pick up, Daffin switches over to a hi-lo rig and tips it with clam baits. Sodbanks can also be fished by foot, walking down and bouncing a jig, keeping up with the current or in a cast along the edge when the tide is slack. Daffin has had fish to 12 pounds using this method.
INLET AREAS – INSIDE
Inlet rocks are an obvious source of tog activity as they act as funnels for migrating blackfish to enter the backwaters in the spring months. However, different strategies can work depending on how you are equipped. Shore based anglers can try and clamber upon the jacks of Manasquan inlet, but it’s a risky situation as getting a level foothold can pose a real problem as slanted steps and algae covered concrete can make for a disastrous affair. A longer rod is need when fishing the jacks for tog as you need to keep the tog away from the labyrinth of the jacks at your feet and swing them up before they get into the rocks below. Barnegat Inlet poses another threat in algae covered boulders that line the south jetty, but the rewards can be exemplary if you play your cards right. Fiddler crabs and asian crabs work well here, and if you’re lucky you can wander into a few sheepshead during the summer months when tog fishing off Barnegat Inlet jetties.
INLET AREAS – OUTSIDE
Anglers with boat access can really work over the jetty rocks, from the outside or inside. Captain Dave DeGennaro, Hi-Flier, 732-300-5674 implements a wildly successful technique involving grass shrimp around Barnegat Light’s jetties. On a day with little wind and a slow drift, he’ll motor up within 25 yards of the jetty tip and begin to throw handfuls of grass shrimp towards the rocks. A few size #1 Baitholder hooks get sent out with shrimp baits and within seconds, his clients are tight with tog. Its light tackle action that tests your skill to pry the blackfish away from the rocks. They come up in a feeding frenzy after awhile if the shrimp slick continues.
Blackfishing isn’t just an ocean-going affair on the outside on wrecks and reef sites. When you understand the patterns of tog, as they migrate in and out during the spring and fall months, you can be the one at the dock showcasing your limit catches from the backwaters, many times without touching your feet on deck of a vessel! All the secrets can’t be told in one article, but here’s a good game plan to set out upon. Go out and find where the tog lay in the backwaters on your own adventure, you will not be disappointed!
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