ArchAngel Fishing Charters
ArchAngel Fishing Charters – Newport RI Fishing Charters
Blackfishing off Newport RI
Blackfishing
Blackfish, also known locally as tautog, are hard fighting and excellent tasting bottom feeding fish. These fish are resident fish that spend the winter offshore in deep water, returning inshore from spring to late fall. Newport Rhode Island has some of the best fishing on the east coast. Spring and Fall months gives anglers the best opportunity to catch legal and trophy blackfish
Best Months- May through mid-June; late September through November.
Onboard the ArchAngel our tog trips are only offered as a full day charter in the fall months. When you book a full day Tog charter, You will be happy that we a full enclosed pilothouse with heat !
When we are using Jigs to catch BIG Tautog we are only use Dominic Lamanno’s “No Chip” football jigs Dominics jigs have proven over and over again to hold up to the abuse of the rocks and tog teeth to maintain a sharp edge to penetrate the thick lips of tautog. You can buy Dominic’s jigs at http://www.backwatercustombaits.com
Tautog prey primarily on oysters, blue mussels, and other shellfish, using large teeth to crack and crush shells. Juveniles feed on small benthic and pelagic invertebrates such as amphipods and copepods. Adults stay close to their preferred home site and although they may move away during the day to feed, they return to the same general location at night where they become dormant and may actually sleep.
Tautog are sexually mature at three to four years of age and can live for more than 30 years. Throughout their life, tautog aggregate around structured habitats in estuaries and inlets to offshore reefs. Shallow, vegetated inshore areas serve as juvenile nurseries, while larger juveniles cohabitate with adults in deeper offshore waters. South of Newport and Jamestown, tautog are generally found around rocks and boulders. Toward the southern end of their range, tautog often inhabit wrecks, jetties, natural and artificial reefs, and shellfish beds. This aggregation around structure makes tautog easy to find and catch, even when biomass levels are low.