Limited out on Tautog

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MattRaymond

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Had a great morning yesterday while on vacation in Westport MA. I have a spot over in neighboring Little Compton RI, that I have taken Tautog from shore in the past. It’s only accessible around low tide and involves wading out in chest deep water to scramble up on a large rock out cropping about 150 yards from shore. I started off flipping rocks along the shoreline to gather a Tupperware full of quarter sized Asian shore crabs for bait. I rigged up once I reached the rocks and dropped crab down into the deep hole that general produces fish for me. After a few moments I felt a few taps on the line and set the hook. I first thought I snagged bottom but the bottom started stripping line like a freight train and was barreling towards the rocks. I raised the rod tip high and started cranking and pumping against the beast. Much to my amazement, he surfaced and I slid the beast up onto the craggy rocks at my feet. First fish 22 inches! Which is a great fish for the location, keeper size it 16 inches. I had a great pick of fish over the next 1 1/2 hours and landed several shorts as well as a 16” and an 18”. Tautog is my favorite fish to catch and eat and I was surely lucky that morning!
 

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Had a great morning yesterday while on vacation in Westport MA. I have a spot over in neighboring Little Compton RI, that I have taken Tautog from shore in the past. It’s only accessible around low tide and involves wading out in chest deep water to scramble up on a large rock out cropping about 150 yards from shore. I started off flipping rocks along the shoreline to gather a Tupperware full of quarter sized Asian shore crabs for bait. I rigged up once I reached the rocks and dropped crab down into the deep hole that general produces fish for me. After a few moments I felt a few taps on the line and set the hook. I first thought I snagged bottom but the bottom started stripping line like a freight train and was barreling towards the rocks. I raised the rod tip high and started cranking and pumping against the beast. Much to my amazement, he surfaced and I slid the beast up onto the craggy rocks at my feet. First fish 22 inches! Which is a great fish for the location, keeper size it 16 inches. I had a great pick of fish over the next 1 1/2 hours and landed several shorts as well as a 16” and an 18”. Tautog is my favorite fish to catch and eat and I was surely lucky that morning!
Nice job :thumbs up:
Never fished forTautog. What's a good way to cook them?
 
I like them fried in your choice of breading etc. but I’ve baked them, broiled them as well as pan fried them in a little butter and oil. All good. They eat crabs barnacles and mussels etc so their flesh is white, flaky and sweet. Poor man’s lobster.
 
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