During the cold weather months, Dave Arbeitman, the impresario of the Reel Seat Tackle Shop in Brielle, likes to visit many of the ports I’ve included here, where he’s regularly enjoyed superb tautog fishing.

Once the tourists have vacated this tourist town, a relative handful of party-boat captains ply these spots. These captains regularly put their anglers into fine catches. During this off-season for his tackle shop, Dave gets out on the party packets.

“Simplicity is the key to a successful bottom rig for blackfish,” said Arbeitman. He ties his favorite rig by starting with a 2-foot long piece of 60-pound-test monofilament leader.

He ties a SPRO 230 barrel swivel to one end of the leader, and a surgeon’s loop at the other end, onto which he slips a bank-style sinker sufficiently heavy to hold bottom. He then ties a single dropper loop about 6 inches up from the sinker.

On the terminal end, he slips a Mustad 4011E Virginia-style hook snelled to 12 inches of leader material onto the dropper loop. When small and medium-sized blackfish prevail, it’s better to opt for a No. 4 or 5 size hook, as opposed to the larger sizes.

Arbeitman then baits up with either a half of a small green crab or a fiddler crab. He breaks off the claws, inserting the hook into the body of the crab where a claw was removed and exiting it from the hole left from the other claw.

“Too large a hook and too big a bait will cause you grief, as the blackfish’s mouth is small relative to its size. Even a big tog can be handled on the smaller hook size. Just make certain you call for the net as you bring a big blackfish to boat.”

While the standard bait aboard the party boats is either green crabs or fiddler crabs, last season I employed Berkley Gulp! -- a synthetic bait that resembles a green crab. Gulp! is tough and emits a great amount of scent. I enjoyed fine results while using it. Indeed, I could feel the bergalls chewing on it, yet the bulk of the bait would survive their onslaught, enabling a blackfish to inhale it with ease almost every time.

Important to note is sage advice offered by many skippers, which is that mastering the technique of hooking blackfish takes time. Experienced anglers stand at the rail and have their timing down pat.

The first “strikes” you receive are often the bergalls pecking at the bait. Then a blackfish will move in to take over. As it inhales the bait, it will crush it in its mouth before swallowing. At this time, you set the hook by lifting smartly -- and promptly begin reeling, getting the fish up and away from the rough bottom, to prevent it from fouling your line on the rocks or debris.

Each winter sees some mighty big blackfish landed from Garden State waters. Indeed, the current New Jersey state-record blackfish weighs an impressive 25 pounds and was caught by Anthony Monica while fishing off Ocean City.

Fish of this size are an exception, and an age-to-length table notes that a 30-inch long black fish is 20 years old! What with the commercial and recreational fishing pressure on this species, it’s a small wonder that that a fish can survive to this age.