We made two more drops during the day, which turned remarkably warm for early January, considering the thermometer when we left the dock. When three whistles finally sounded, signaling it was time to go home, most everyone on board was pleased with his catch. More than half had caught a limit of four. They had the makings of a couple of fine winter dinners in their coolers -- which didn't need ice today!

Action such as this occurs daily along the length of the Jersey Coast. Party boats from Atlantic Highlands, Belmar, Point Pleasant, Ocean City, Brielle, Barnegat Light, Sea Isle City, Atlantic City, Wildwood Crest and Cape May sail to the blackfish grounds on an all-day schedule.

The clientele on board are a truly dedicated segment of the recreational fishing community and are especially adept at catching tautogs.

Blackfish are a species that can give you ulcers. Only experience and putting in time at the rail eventually brings your skill up to where you'll outsmart the bigger blackfish.

Would you like to join in on this wintertime fun? You'll be pleased to learn that when targeting tautogs, the same basic outfits rated for 20- or 30-pound-test line -- which you may have been using all summer when seeking bluefish or fluke -- will work just fine.

While many anglers load their conventional reels with 30-pound-test monofilament line, for the past few years I've been using 40-pound-test Sufix braided line.

Its fine diameter and no-stretch quality enable me to employ minimal sinker weight. Also, the braid's extra strength let me easily pull free of bottom snags, which are a normal occurrence on the blackfish grounds.

Veteran tautog skipper George Bachert sails the Angler from Atlantic Highlands. "Keep your terminal rigging simple," he advises. "All you need is a snelled hook and sinker. Anything more, and all it will do is get you hung up in the bottom."

As simple as that sounds, many anglers aboard party boats use multi-hook rigs adorned with swivels, snaps and colored beads, all of which are prone to snags.

As any veteran tautog buff will tell you, these buck-toothed bottom feeders are interested in just the tasty bait on your hook, be it a green crab, fiddler crab, strip of clam or sea worm.

For bait, many anglers who frequent the popular Miss Chris Fishing Center in Cape May favor white-legged crabs.

"Tautogs just can't resist them," advises Bob Lubberman, who holds forth at this South Jersey facility.

The basic bottom rig most popular on the blackfish circuit is made by simply tying a surgeon's loop to the end of your line. Onto it, you slip your sinker. Just a couple of inches from the sinker, tie a dropper loop in the line, and slip a hook snelled to 12 inches of leader material onto the dropper loop.

When big blackfish are present, hook sizes up to 1/0 are used, though hook sizes ranging from No. 2 to 5 are used most often.

There's a cadre of party-boat anglers who continue to use a sliding sinker blackfish rig, with good success. They'll slip an egg-shaped sinker onto their line, tie a tiny SPRO barrel swivel to the line, and then attach the 12-inch leader and snelled hook to the swivel.

Then they're all set to bait up.