BRAWLING BLACKFISH
28-Mile Wreck & Texas Tower
These guys aren’t going to win any beauty pageants, either. Blackfish are the brawny bucktoothed brawlers of shipwrecks. These species undoubtedly give up some of the most hardnosed battles of the winter season.

Tautogs will lie well within the nooks and crannies of the structure, poking their big lips and donkey teeth out to crush and suck down morsels of green crabs and even fresh clams.

When the proverbial bulldogs pounce on your baits, the real key to landing one is to immediately set the hook on the second tap. Hoist the rod up high and reel immediately before that tog can nestle itself back into the wreck -- once it grabs your bait, it’ll be swimming full-bore back to its lair. If you don’t get that ‘tog up and out of the wreck, it’ll likely be Game Over on your tussle for the makings of a fine dinner.

Tautogs will average from 3 to 5 pounds, but any trip can produce a ‘tog exceeding the 10-pound mark even up into the 16-pound range. The world-record tautog of 25 pounds was caught on a southern New Jersey wreck. What a whopper!

Capt. Sam Rescigno of the Mary M III knows about whitechins. His all-time best checked in at just over 14 pounds. But the sharpies that drop lines in off his boat have put togs up to 20 pounds, 9 ounces on deck! How do they score on such big fish?

“If you can get ‘em, hermit crabs are the best bait, hands down,” said Rescigno. “I get ‘em from lobster fishermen, but you can find ‘em around rocks if you put your time in.

“This is my theory. I truly believe that the larger blackfish go against conventional thought and stay outside of the wreck or reef area. They are a cautious fish and spend a lot more time than you think on the open bottom. You can explain this by noticing the colors of the larger togs: They are white on the bottom and light gray on top. Why? They blend in better with the sand and clay bottom.

“The smaller ‘togs are a dark black because they are hanging tight in the dark structure.

“Big blackfish also dine on all sorts of crabs, which are for the most part, fiddling around along the sand bottom. Even the divers I speak to tell me that the larger specimen of blackfish hang on the edges of the wrecks, and not so much inside them.”

Capt. Sam’s go-to rig consists of a 40-pound-test, 5-foot double leader, with a snelled 4/0 beak hook or No. 3 Virginia hook looped on.

To find those big ol’ donkeytooths, Sam recommends a different type of fishing strategy.

“Fish out-of-the-way spots. You don’t always need to target the reef sites and big wrecks. I usually hit the small, overlooked wooden snags that lie on the inshore grounds, and find a pack of big togs on each one.