Looking for Striper trolling advice

[henn5849]

Went out trolling near the bay bridge on Saturday. I used 4 trolling rods with 2 6oz parachute lures and 2 6oz buck tails.

I trolled at about 2 knots for hours and also tried 3-4 knots

I was told that a good estimate for depth is 100 feet of line is close to 10 feet of water depth. So, according to fish finder, fish were 50 feet and less. I let out 350 feet of line on one rod, 200 on two rods and 100-150 on my last rod.

The winds were bad and pretty choppy all day.

Not 1 rockfish bit...

Anyone able to give me some pointers please?

Thanks!
Kurt


Sent from my iPhone

 

[ibanez320dx]

I totally read that title wrong...

 

[henn5849]

I totally read that title wrong...

Lol



NRA Member
MD Hunter Safety Instructor
RSO

 

[Proline Fisher]

Just remember, even the best fisherman get skunked sometimes. What kind of boat do you have? If you have a boat with a hard top/T-top I would recommend you pull planner boards as they allow you to cover more area.

Speed
General most people troll between 2.5-3.5, I usually try to stay around 2.8

Direction
I usually troll East/West

Depth
Look to see where other boat are trolling, pay close attention to the Charter boats as they are out there every day. 10 feet is way to shallow for trolling, you will wind up dragging bottom

Lures
By you post, I'm assuming you were pulling single lures. Single lures are fine but only trolling 4 rods, I would be pulling only tandem lures that way you have out 8 baits instead of 4, this will increase your chances of a catch. I troll nothing but parachutes and for tandem rigs the heavier bait needs to be at least 2 ounces more than the lighter bait and the leader on the lighter bait needs to be twice as long as the heavier bait. For example I run a 2 ounce parachute with a 4 ounce parachute. The 2 ounce parachute is on a 12 foot leader and the 4 ounce parachute is on a 6 foot leader. These are then connected to a 3 way swivel.

Amount of line out
No need to go out to 350ft, if you ever catch a fish on that rod you will wish you had never let that much line out. I run planer boards and have 4 rods on each board typically at 140ft, 120ft, 100ft, and 80ft.


Good luck, Let me know if you need any help.

 

[henn5849]

Just remember, even the best fisherman get skunked sometimes. What kind of boat do you have? If you have a boat with a hard top/T-top I would recommend you pull planner boards as they allow you to cover more area.



Speed

General most people troll between 2.5-3.5, I usually try to stay around 2.8



Direction

I usually troll East/West



Depth

Look to see where other boat are trolling, pay close attention to the Charter boats as they are out there every day. 10 feet is way to shallow for trolling, you will wind up dragging bottom



Lures

By you post, I'm assuming you were pulling single lures. Single lures are fine but only trolling 4 rods, I would be pulling only tandem lures that way you have out 8 baits instead of 4, this will increase your chances of a catch. I troll nothing but parachutes and for tandem rigs the heavier bait needs to be at least 2 ounces more than the lighter bait and the leader on the lighter bait needs to be twice as long as the heavier bait. For example I run a 2 ounce parachute with a 4 ounce parachute. The 2 ounce parachute is on a 12 foot leader and the 4 ounce parachute is on a 6 foot leader. These are then connected to a 3 way swivel.



Amount of line out

No need to go out to 350ft, if you ever catch a fish on that rod you will wish you had never let that much line out. I run planer boards and have 4 rods on each board typically at 140ft, 120ft, 100ft, and 80ft.





Good luck, Let me know if you need any help.

Water depth was around 50 feet and I went north to south.

My boat is a 21' cruiser so I only have 6 rod holders across back.

If you get a chance, could you PLEASE take a picture of your tandem lure setup.

Thanks for the info.



NRA Member
MD Hunter Safety Instructor
RSO

 

[coopermania]

Good advice from Proline above.
Look at the forums on Tidal Fish.com ......chesapeake


Planer boards
Double amount of rods at minimum
Your need to cover the whole column of water behind you, lures at different depths and spaced apart ( planer boards )
You can use the small stainless planner boards that go on each rod to get the required depth you need.
You will do better with another person to help you, someone at the helm and a mate.
Bring a kid along, they have fun plus you get a increased limit.
You will end up most likely in deeper water ( crisscrossing the shipping channel ) or generally 30 ft water or better.
On Tidal fish see if you can hitch a ride on someones else's boat for a day, You will learn loads.
Good luck

 

[jr88]

Don't feel bad, been through the same thing many times. First, you need more lines in the water to even have a chance. I know it's a pain to troll a lot of rods if you are alone though. At least add tandem baits to the lines you have. Google "Trolling Depth Charts" there are a lot of tables that will give you an idea of line weight, length and type to achieve desired depth. Rock fish usually hunt looking up so better to have a bait too high than too low. As far as speed, you are in the right range but you can't go by rpm's or GPS speed so much, there are other issues to deal with. Colder water slows the fish and baits down some too. An old captain I know always throws a large spoon over on a medium rod and runs his boat at the speed that causes the rod tip to slowly bounce up and down, this means the lure is being presented naturally, this is a good indicator of proper speed. Lures shouldn't spin.
The bridge is tough for trolling, but work the channel edges of the shipping lane, running a zig zag pattern down to Bloody Point then cross over and do the same going back to the Bridge. I wouldn't bother trying to troll the structure of the bridge now, the fish are migrating right now and not holding up on structure so much. Also you will likely get your lines fouled and lose gear. Hang in there and just keep at it, Best of Luck!

 

[BlackBart]

"Striper".... you ain't in Massachusetts anymore, they're Rocks.

 

[mr phil]

Ha I read that as STRIPPER

 

[coopermania]

I bet he had a banana on the boat.



Joking aside,, Check out Tidalfish.com

 

[GoGoGadget]

"Striper".... you ain't in Massachusetts anymore, they're Rocks.

+1. Yes. They are rockfish here. " stripers" is how you tell someone on the bay is not from "around here"

 

[rob]

I totally read that title wrong...

Gee, I like trolling for strppers too!

 

[SHMEEB]

Make sure you are using the right colored lures. Sometimes a color not native to the environment can affect you negatively. This happened to me a lot before I realized what was going on.

 

[JPG]

I totally read that title wrong...

Ha I read that as STRIPPER

Gee, I like trolling for strppers too!

http://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=3164353&postcount=8431

 

[Jim12]

I used to do that. Had a boating partner, who was a 1st generation Greek/American restaurateur by trade, and natural born fisherman as well. We trolled around the Bay Bridge and elsewhere, down to Thomas Point and beyond.

It didn't matter when, where we fished, what rig, bait, speed, depth, or time of day or night. The fish would beat each other up to get his baited hook, while they virtually ignored mine.

To add insult to injury, every time he hooked one, he'd yell, with glee and a huge grin, "Hey Jim, I think I've got a bite," as if it was his first time out, and his first catch. Yeah, right.

I always came home with an empty bait bucket and no catch. It was humbling, humiliating, and only reinforced my preconceived notions about the prowess of Greek fishermen, which has only been proven and reinforced since.

If you're anything like me, and unless you are a masochist, you might want to consider giving up fishing and taking up something else. Ever try golf? Shooting? There's something innate about that fishing thing -- you either have it, or you don't.

P.S. What about those high-capacity treble hooks and other multi-hook rigs? Where's the high capacity outrage? ...

 

[Haides]

Pay her in monopoly money. Then when she gets mad 'cause the money's not real, ask if her boobs are. Bam.

 

[henn5849]

Thanks for all the replies!



NRA Member
MD Hunter Safety Instructor
RSO

 

[Franklin]

I am a little south of you but today was not a good day for many per my binoculars. The river looked like public land on shotgun opener and only seen 4 fish pulled in. 2 of them were by my hands and we worked for them suckers.

 

[ebranger]

Proline Fisher gave some good pointers. Key thing to keep in mind, is that you want to cover as much of the top 20 feet of the water column as you can. Not easy with just 4 roads, but you can still cover it.

Keep in mind that you should vary overall lure weight and line distance, with the heavier weight on short lines, lighter weight on longer lines.

If I had to chose a pattern for just 4 rods, it would be (and I recommend tandem rigging, either bucktails or a bucktail and an umbrella...total weight is weight of all lures combines, so 4 oz bucktail tandem rigeed with 6 oz bucktail is 10 oz total).

From left port side of boat to starboard

1) 12 0z, 80 feet
2) 6 oz, 120 ft
3) 4 oz, 140 feet
4) 10 oz, 100 feet

 

[henn5849]

Proline Fisher gave some good pointers. Key thing to keep in mind, is that you want to cover as much of the top 20 feet of the water column as you can. Not easy with just 4 roads, but you can still cover it.



Keep in mind that you should vary overall lure weight and line distance, with the heavier weight on short lines, lighter weight on longer lines.



If I had to chose a pattern for just 4 rods, it would be (and I recommend tandem rigging, either bucktails or a bucktail and an umbrella...total weight is weight of all lures combines, so 4 oz bucktail tandem rigeed with 6 oz bucktail is 10 oz total).



From left port side of boat to starboard



1) 12 0z, 80 feet

2) 6 oz, 120 ft

3) 4 oz, 140 feet

4) 10 oz, 100 feet

Thanks a lot!



NRA Member
MD Hunter Safety Instructor
RSO