UTER
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Tautoga onitis · also blackfish
How to catch Tautog
Tautog feed in 44–72°F water and bite best at 50–64°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 6 waters; in October they are at their peak in Delmarva & Delaware Bay, Southern New England.
15 pts · trophy at 22"Feeds 44–72°FBest 50–64°FIn season nowArtificial reefWreckLedge / hard bottomBridgeFishing pierMarker / buoy
About
The blackfish: a thick, rubber-lipped wrasse living in the rocks and wrecks from Virginia to Cape Cod, crushing crabs with a mouth full of teeth. Hard to hook, harder to pull out of the rocks, and the best chowder fish there is.
How to fish it
Anchor tight over the rocks or the wreck, a crab on a short leader or a tog jig dropped straight down; feel the tap-tap and set hard before he gets home.
What it eats
green crabsAsian crabsfiddlersclams
Live bait for it
Fiddler crabsA #1 hook through the back corner of the shell, dropped tight to the piling — the sheepshead bait.
Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader30–60 lb fluorocarbon
Hook2/0–7/0
Braid30–65 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereRules differ by state — check NYSDEC (seasons split spring and fall by region) before you keep one.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
South Atlantic
Mid & North Atlantic