# Toga Tactics



## bundyboy (Sep 6, 2009)

Saratoga don't seem to feature much on the forum and to be honest they have never really interested me much (probably due to lack of knowledge about them) but lately I have been hearing a few stories which has in turn sparked me to investigate further. So to those out there who have had a bit of experience chasing the elusive toga what would your best tips be? I already have a few spots (apparently holding toga, sooties and fresh water gar) in mind so any advice at all on gear and/or tactics would be greatly appreciated.


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## Bretto (May 23, 2010)

Make sure you set the hooks properly before starting the fight, otherwise the fight won't last long. Hooked 4 at Ewen Maddock Dam. Lost all 4. Made the mistake of thinking they would be as easy to catch as bass.


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## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

go the bank weed beds....white spinnerbaits etc


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

It's cheaper to make one by buying some white sheet by the metre at Spotlight than buying a bedsheet for the purpose. I think you can make a decent wreath out of sage?


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Never caught one, but would really like to.
Very on / off fish apparently. When they are hungry, they'll eat anything but when they aren't, they won't eat anything???? That makes sense to me.
Supposedly a golf course here that has them stocked in their lake.


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## ringo (Oct 3, 2008)

Hey Bundyboy. They are great fun on light gear. I've found that small surface lures and small shallow diving minnows work the best - I prefer lures under 70mm in size both in natural and contrasting colours. I've never had much success with spinnerbaits as I think they sink too fast but they should work if you can keep them near the surface. If the lures dive/sink too deep I find that I end up catching Sooties instead of Toga. You need sharp hooks as they have a bony mouth which makes it difficult to set the hooks. I've heard someone say that fibreglass rods work well on Toga as they have a bit more give as opposed to the stiffer graphite rods. They love feeding underneath the overhanging trees but you also catch them out in the open and away from the structure. There is no such thing as a bad cast for Toga as they can be anywhere. If you have a good set of sunglasses, you can spot them cruising just under the surface within metres of the yak which makes them great fun for sight casting. I hope that helps. Good luck!


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## bundyboy (Sep 6, 2009)

Caught my first toga on the weekend (finally) after the first 8 got away...just wondering if anybody can offer any advice on keeping these bad boys hooked. I recon my success rate landing toga so far would be less than 20%! At one stage there it took my 5 casts to pull a toga off a snag, the first 4 times he got away. I noticed all the ones I got into the net were hooked pretty deep in the roof of the mouth (probably a bit softer). Was using soft plastics on a single exposed hook jighead.


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Mate. That's a bucket list fish. Right next to black bass and bonefish for swoffrs. And you already landed. Respect.


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## geminiwraith (Nov 26, 2010)

I've only landed two, and both were on bibless cranks (R2S baby vibe 43) while targeting bass. The hooks were sharp, but the first one only just held on in it's bony jaw. The second, and much larger toga, swallowed the lure whole, so the hooks ended up in the softer flesh at the back of its throat. I'm pretty sure I was lucky on both fish, but i'm not complaining.

Both were found very near, or under lillies too.


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## bundyboy (Sep 6, 2009)

Gave fluoro a go but struggled with the lack of feel compared to braid. While the chances of keeping one hooked on fluro might be increased slightly I recon I was getting more hookups on braid due to feeling ever little tap and being able to strike shortly after. Also gave the small treble stinger a go but ended up loosing those lures to snags in short time. Going to give small single treble stingers a go next time see how they go.


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