Still toggin'

[dbetterred]

Just say NO to steel with tog. They are very temperamental biters to begin with, so the more obvious the line is, the less apt you are to catch. And I don't think I have ever caught one that had the whole hook in its mouth. they are always caught in the lips. They bite very shallow on the bait, so no need for steel.

This is all you need:

gamakatsu #3 live bait hooks (expensive but worth every penny)

some people think they are too small, but they are plenty big to hook the little mouth of a tog and they fit a crab well. They are way strong. So no worries about a big tog breaking a hook, which I have had happen multiple times with lesser hooks.

40 - 60 lbs fluorocarbon (your choice of brand)

They live in holes between rocks and the Flouro is MUCH more cut and abrasion resistant to defend against the rocks, mussels, and who know what the heck else is down there. It is also much harder to see in the water than mono and a thousand times harder to see than steel.
I know some guys use mono, but I have more break off problems with it.

And of course lead, lots of it! Start at two or three ounces and work your way up from there depending on the tide.

I use the flouro to tie, what is essentially, a shock leader on my main line (I have braid for main line, so I use a very long leader, 10-15 ft, NEVER let braid get anywhere near a tog habitat. The rocks will cut it like butter).
If you start with a long leader, when you have to break it off (and you will), you still have enough to retie a new rig a few times. Some guys tie up rigs ahead of time and tie on to the main line, I find I can just tie a whole new rig in the time it takes me to find the pretied rigs and set them up.

I use a simple high-low rig with a surgeons knot at bottom for lead and two (sometime only one) dropper loops, one at about ten inches above lead and one about a foot above that.

I cut the crabs in half (use scissors, super easy!), after taking the back shell and legs off. Hook through leg hole and gently through bottom shell. If the crabs are really small I just take the back off and use whole.