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The Hows and Whats of Trolling for Stripers

189K views 100 replies 45 participants last post by  rimshot 
#1 ·
This is my first post so go gentle on me!
This will be my second year having my boat on the Merrimack River in Newburyport, Ma. I have had good success fishing the Mouth of the river, but not so good venturing out of the mouth. I would like do do more trolling this year and am looking for some input on equipment, technique, and locations. Any information/help is welcome.

Thanks in advance.
Everyone have a great Memorial Day weekend and take someone fishing!

Sea Wassp

PS: Thanks for this site. It is AWESOME!
 
#53 ·
fishtale19 said:
I will be looking for your posts. Do me a favor and go out Thursday or friday so that when I go this weekend i'll have some history! Nice boat. Fisherman? Love Lunds.
Sorry...can't get out till Saturday am. I have never used the tubes and don't own any. Have to place an order today. What's the HOT color? I've got plenty of other things to troll in the meantime.

The boat is a 20' Fisherman. I love it!! So much room it seems like it's twice as big as my 18' Starcraft was. This weekend will be the maiden voyage in the saltwater. Hope I can get it good and bloody first trip out! :lol:
 
#54 ·
A friend has an 18 Fisherman, I have a 16' Rebel. Next one will be a Pro V, prob an 18'. Honestly I have never caught a Striper on Tube and Worm. Red an Black I am told are the best Colors. Live worms, go slow and get near the bottom. Good luck with the boat and keep posting...
 
#55 ·
fishtale19 said:
A friend has an 18 Fisherman, I have a 16' Rebel. Next one will be a Pro V, prob an 18'. Honestly I have never caught a Striper on Tube and Worm. Red an Black I am told are the best Colors. Live worms, go slow and get near the bottom. Good luck with the boat and keep posting...
Yup...red and black is what I was thinking. Thanks for the tip. The Pro V looks like a nice fishing boat. Don't think you can go wrong with that,but consider a 20' if possible. So much more room.
 
#58 ·
jig it and go back slow that then you go back you don't make like a loop in the line. Because when you start to use wire line that will make a kink in the line . The wire will break right on the kink. If you see a kink take it out right away curl it out the same way. So start out the right way jigging. It will come in handy later.
 
#59 ·
Over the next couple weeks, as I wait for my boat to arrive (last weenend in July) , I'm going to be doing my homework and trying to get set up for a little trolling action. This will be my first boat and my first attempt at trolling. So not only will I be entering unfamiliar waters for the first time, I'll also be working with an unfamiliar set up.

I was thinking of picking up a few tubes and an umbrella rig or two if I can scrounge up the funds somehow. I only have one conventional reel, and am hesitant to fill it with leadcore, as I'm sure that I'll want to use it for other things as well. So I'll probably leave the braid on it and drop a weight in front of the leader to get the depth I need,, and see if I can get it to work like that. I have 30# Power Pro on my conventional reel right now, can that handle an umbrella rig if trolled slowly?

I've read everything that I can find on here about trolling tubes and umbrella rigs, so I feel pretty prepared,, except for knowing where to go. I know where I can feel pretty confident about results with eels at night, but during the day I'm going to be trying my hand at both finding some live bait and trolling. Can anyone familiar with this area point me in the right direction?

The guy that's bringing my boat up is going to be out with me all weekend weather permitting (expecting to catch fish of course, lol) but I'm sure we'll spend most of our daytime hours focused on scouting out the area and trolling around. I need to find a detailed chart of the area too,, I think that would keep us from wasting too much time. Does anyone know of nautical charts that I can look at online?

Maybe Cuzn Eddy and Briggs could give me a couple pointers on where to start?? If the weather is nice I think I'd be pretty comfortable in the bays around here, but the boat's only a 16'er, so I have to keep that in mind.

In the meantime, I need to get back out and do a little chunking in the early morning hours before work. Haven't gotten a line wet in a week and I'm already showing serious signs of withdrawl, lol. :coffee:
 
#62 ·
Yes
Hopefully it we'll be able to once the fall run gets in full swing. Keeping a lid on all the forums gets daunting. Its best to trim the fat until the traffic warrants it. Its definately one that we are considering. :wink:
 
#63 ·
24,000 views on this topic.
Im wondering if someone would like to expound a little bit on lake fishing without a downrigger. Lets say approach to a 50 foot deep lake with 20 feet in the coves and around the shorelines.
This by the way is the physical geography of Lake wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania. Man made and fairly uniform. Although the old road beds and a wooden bridges remain submerged. The lake will start turning over in Mid November. right now I would believe it to be prime.
I dont especially care for umbrella rigs.
I saw some spinner type bucktails that look very nice from deadlink. although hes not filling orders.
A simple trolling depth calculation is also available from lithos jigs. dead link
The line angle I would guess would have to be an estimate.
 
#64 ·
50 foot deep lake.......

We have this same type configuration here at Lake Anna, VA and also most of the lower lakes in VA.

Lots of guys troll side planers with live cast netted shad from the back of the creeks on the lake. In Nov, the bigger the shad the better. If the water temps drop you may need a very long rope on the net to get the net down on the bait at 25+.

I free line my shad over busted up bait balls (color sonar is the trick). Maybe a swivel and a 1/2 oz weight 3' up if the wind is blowing.
 
#69 ·
trolling etc

Brand new to the site but not to striper fishing. (45 years) Guys down this way murder the bass trolling tube 'n worm. There's a local guy who produces them, Tackleman Tubes. We also pound them trolling parachutes on wire. Eels are deadly at night in skinny water pitched and retrieved just like a plug. (SLOW) On the deep rips we 3-way them. I prefer plugging with bucktails, swimming plugs like Bombers, popping plugs etc. BTW, right now the bass are so thick in CT rivers guys are catching them till their arms are tired. Many are accidently snagged, something the DEP officers frown on.(Alewives and Bluebacks are in the rivers) Once the bunkers and hickory shad are in guys just pound the big bass live-lining them. Chunking works great, too.
 
#73 ·
trolling mono

Do i have to use wire leaders when i troll? i would be trolling manns and santinis,some storm wild eyes.i dont use down riggers.just a couple trolling rods.the lures i would be using would be going deep enough for the waters i would be fishing.Is it alike the rule that you have to use leaders?damn not knowing this crap bothers me
 
#74 ·
With a mono mainline, you really dont need a leader but to stop the fish from seeing the mainline if its high-vis (because mono stretchs so much). With braid a leader is necessary to prevent the shock (mono acts like a bungie cord) on the no-stretch line from snapping the braid. With wire, you can have a wire leader, but you shouldnt do it because its no-stretch, meaning it will load up and snap very easy, and its easy for fish to see. The clearer the water, the longer the leader you want from the main line. For flurocarbon, your leaders dont need to be as long, because its clearer, but for mono, you need about 25-30 feet in clear water, and only about 15 feet for flurocarbon. Experiment with leader lengths and see which rod gets more hits in trolling. If they both have the same lure and are at the same depth, then chances are the leader on one of them isnt long enough and the fish are wary of it.

In addition to your leader, you should always have a swivel or two in there somewhere, connecting your mainline and leader, mabye by your lure, or even one in the middle of the leader. Preferably you want ball-bearing swivels. If you dont have swivels, then the line will twist up in the water, and the strength is seriously reduced, if a fish hits on, and twists it even more, chances are it will snap with hardly any comparable strength to its actual rating. With wire and braid which dont stretch, setting your drag is important, that is that its not set too high.
 
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