Fish Tales: Episode 1 - Top Tog
Kicking the Tristate Skindiver’s Blog off, we’ll retell the tale of Brendan Dyer’s world record tautog, from August 2019. The fish weighed in at 25.1 pounds and was 31.75 inches long. In his own words…
“This fish was taken during a shore dive in New London Connecticut. I was approximately 250 yards from shore on a reef that I have been diving for 20 years. I had been diving for about 2 hours and had seen a ton of fish – big schools of striped bass and probably upwards of 150 blackfish. I was looking for a larger fish, as we had just come off the full moon cycle, and generally I have always gotten my biggest fish during the August full moon.
The visibility was poor but there were random spots/thermoclines that opened up a bit on the bottom. I was lying on the bottom at approx. 20 feet when I saw a massive silhouette on the outer edge of my visibility. It was a very large dark mass, particularly from top to bottom. I thought it might be a large bass, until it quartered away and I saw the profile. For the next hour I tracked this fish, seeing it on maybe a third of my dives, always well out of range. I never got a good look but could see the shadow in the distance.
Finally, when I was getting to the point of exhaustion, I took one last dive. I laid up at a choke point in the reef and remained as still as possible, pinning my fins to the sea floor and trying to focus on relaxing. There were several small tautog darting around over the top of me and a few out in front. Toward the end of my breath hold, the silhouette materialized again. This time, he gave me a better look and I was stunned. I diverted my eyes and tried to stay as still as possible. He came in to check me out tentatively, then quartered away, about 3 to 4 gun lengths from my position on the reef. He was at the edge of my shooting range and visibility, but I knew the shot was makeable.
I extended my gun as slowly as I could and took the shot. It impacted in the head behind the eye. I was approximately 1 inch too high and 1 inch too far forward, but I knew it would hold. The fish immediately sprinted for the rocks and I took off for surface. I kept tension on my reel, but he was able to wedge himself under an overhanging ledge in the reef.
I tried to get my heart rate down on the surface but was struggling due to the adrenaline. After maybe 45 seconds, I took a good breath, went down into the reef and dislodged him from the ledge, placing my hand on the shaft in front of fish. Getting him dislodged was no easy task. As soon as he was free he took off for the surface and then screamed toward the bottom again. This time I was able to stop him with my drag. I worked him to the surface, then bear hugged him. I was concerned at how high the shot was in the head, and thought the whole forehead could tear out. I rolled onto my back with the fish on my torso, and my arms crossed over the fish and began kicking for shore.
When I finally hit the rocks, I immediately knew it was a world record. We got in the truck, wetsuit still on, and got to a scale certified scale ASAP. It was a day I will never forget, and I am honored to have been able to harvest this fish.”
We’d love to feature your “Fish Tale”. Members are welcome to submit their own stories of memorable fish, trips abroad, or even lessons learned/close calls. Please email the club or contact Matt Novakovich to be featured. Email and social media info can be found on the contact page.
