BOOTSTRAP BLACKFISHING
- Nick Honachefsky
- Mar 26
- 5 min read
By Nick Honachefsky
Land Based Blackfishing for Springtime
Beach bound anglers have the advantage to score from the shore before the blackfish move on their outward migration into the ocean. The gameplan is to intercept them is at the choke points of the backwater inlets, piers and canal waterways. Who needs a boat?! - pull up your bootstraps and set foot to tackle some tautog!
PIERS AND BRIDGES
Jersey holds plenty of back bay opportunity as tog hold tight to leftover bridge rubble, wooden plank piers and bridge abutments in the backwaters where a variety of shelter habitat exists around piers in the form of scraps of concrete rubble, old rusty rebar, concrete stanchions and wooden pilings, all creating contained ecosystems in which tog will gravitate to as green crabs, mussel colonies, barnacles and sea worms form the forage species available. The foot traveling angler has the advantage to target tog on piers as they are fixed points and the bottom field rarely ever changes. Know your playing field. Take the time to learn every nook and cranny of your pier and know how the tides affect the submarine structure. Pay attention and learn how an incoming tide works its way around an underwater rock, or how on an outgoing tide the current rips through a pass of concrete rubble. Once you truly understand the inner workings of a certain spot on the pier, you can effectively predict when it will give up fish best. Most times pier and bridge tog fishing gravitates around the end of the incoming and beginning of the outgoing tides. You’ll note certain guys that continually catch will move around to specific spots on a pier as the tide changes, and they’re not doing it because they are antsy, they usually know a bit of learned intel, as dedicated time and effort shows each particular piece of the pier produces. As with most togging, a straight up and down approach on piers or bridges is usually preferred, so fishing around the slack tides is generally the modus operandi, and a different type of rig from the usual ocean going overhand loop knot rig is paramount to success when the tide rips through the pilings. Employ the use of an in-line egg sinker slide rig works to keep the bait in the strike zone when currents are rushing. A 2 to 4-ounce egg sinker is slid on above a barrel swivel, and a short 18-inch leader of 60-pound test mono is tied to which a size 2/0 Gamakatsu baitholder hook is also fixed on the business end. I learned this particular system from local togheads that continually pulled fish over the rail when I was getting squadootch. Baits can be green crabs, clams or half small whiteleggers. The Ocean City/Longport piers, 9th street Ocean City bridge, Keansburg and Port Monmouth Piers, and Brigantine Bridge areas are common hot spots to find autumn tog in NJ.
CANALS AND BULKHEADS
Canal waterways, bulkheads and rock-laden breakwaters near marina outlets offer loads of tog-attracting structure in the backwaters to keep the tog rooted. Canals can be super productive, but the channeled waters of canals usually create ripping currents that are unfavorable to fishing, unless you fish exclusively around the slowing slack tides. Try to catch the tide an hour before and an hour after the high slack so your rig will stay relatively in one spot sitting on bottom for tog to magnetize to. Bulkheads of canal areas also have the advantage of fishing straight up and down. Explore the area along a canal waterway, taking the time to mentally map out where the rock, coral and other underwater structure lies. This way you know where to cast on certain tides to better pinpoint where tog will be staging at any given time, i.e on the south side of a rock on an outgoing tide or a precise spot just feet from a bulkhead etc. Use a simple “Belmar rig” with an overhand knot and a size #4 to #6 Virginia style hook on a larks head knot three inches above the sinker loop and usually a 2 to 3 ounce bank sinker. You can fish the areas when the tide starts moving but keep your sinker off the bottom and feel the sinker bouncing along the bottom to put it in front of a tog’s mouth. You will inevitably lose a bunch of rigs, but if you scope out the proper spots and you find those secret honey holes, they will be yours to claim time and time again.
JETTIES AND INLETS
Inlet rocks are an obvious source of tog activity as the waterways are the final frontier for migrating blackfish in late fall. Rockhoppers definitely need to be properly equipped with a pair of creepers to better navigate slippery, moss-laden rocks and jacks that line most of the inlet areas. Equipment is a bit different here as spinning outfits will offer an advantage over conventional rods and reels as you will be casting outward rather than dropping straight up and down as in canals or off piers. The real key to landing tog in the inlets is to be able to effectively land the fish. A longer spinning rod of 8 to 9 foot is needed when fishing the jacks for tog, reason being that as you bring the tog in for the final swing, they will tend to dive down and dog you to get stuck in the underwater jacks and boulders at your feet. A longer rod will allow you to swing one up and over the rocks before they can get rooted and bust you off. Cast out your “Belmar Rig” past the boulders and jacks and drag the bait back slowly until it gets picked up. Tog will not fear to venture away from structure in the inlet areas, and often many of the keeper fish are hanging off the structure. Tog-heavy inlet and jetty areas include the Atlantic City T-Jetty, Asbury Park jetties, Manasquan Inlet, Barnegat Inlet, Hereford Inlet, 8th Street Avalon jetties, Cape May Inlet, and the Delaware Bayshore breakwater.
PROPER TACKLE
The usual conventional blackfishing set ups like a Shimano Torium 16 or 20 reel, matched with a 7 foot medium to heavy action conventional rod will work well on piers and around bridges, but switch over to spinning tackle like a 7 to 9 foot rod matched with a 5000 class reel when fishing more current-prone areas like canals and inlet waterways where fishing is not up and down but at an angle. As with all blackfishing outfits, spool 50-pound braided line on your reels, then tie on your rig for the ultimate sensitivity and hookset capability on the quick-biting bottom beasts. There are plenty of “secret” land based tog spots lining the Garden State shoreline, pull up a map and do some research on your own to find the next shadowy land-based blackfish hot spot! When you finally dial in your shore-based spot, you can hit it time and time again to load up on blackfish fillets without setting foot on deck.
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