Effective Striper Trolling From the New School - 3 Tips for Catching Striped Bass-Dream Girls

Nothing helps more to put fish in the fish box than having an experienced crew. The “Old Salts” have earned their “Stripes” so to speak. No doubt having spent thousands of hours on the water… And they usually always catch fish. How can a guy that is not a professional, catch more like the Pros? In that respect, fishing is not much different from anything else in life. You get what you put in. What do I mean by that, well answer this question. How much preparation did you do BEFORE you arrived at the boat before your last trip? Preparation is an entire subject unto itself, but suffice to say you want to be 100% ready when you arrive for your tip. Fishing is hard work. Work hard at it, read, listen, learn, practice. Each has their own skill if you want it bad enough you can improve your skills even when not on the water. Hopefully, that is why you are reading this.

On to Trolling For Striped Bass

Right off the bat I will give you some good news. A big change for many BUT.

Thou MUST Use Braided Fishing Line! No doubt about it.

This is one area I think the “Old Salts” are being a bit stubborn. In the OLD days, wire line trolling WAS the way to catch bass. Those days are over. Not that it will not produce bass. Of course it will. It is time proven. By my point is why would you want to catch bass like that when there is a better way? Consider that braid is just as good or better and it makes an easy decision if you ask me. Anyone who tells you that wire line trolling is not a pain you know where, is lying. I personally, preferred to use lead core over wire, but now, I only use braid. So unless you are already a wire line trolling expert I strongly suggest you stick with braid. Depending on factors such as depth, wind, etc.. about 50 lb. test is a good place to start.

Most people who Striper fish a lot with tell you “low and slow”. This is sage wisdom, you should listen to it ALMOST all of the time. However, here again a New Way of thinking comes into play. The electronic capabilities of today’s electronic equipment has come light years forward such that really nice equipment is available at the recreational level. Today’s fish finder units are capable of easily identifying and displaying a thermocline (and the fish that sometimes congregate at a thermocline). The point is, if you are not on fish on the bottom don’t be afraid to experiment. If you read a thermocline with or without fish present you should fish your bait just above the thermocline.

Truth be told, I much prefer to jig than troll for Stripers. But, sometimes it is the only thing that produces fish. What I really did not used to like is the big heavy equipment, lead(wire), umbrella rig, drail weights… it weighed a ton without even having a fish on, and it had to be a BIG fish to put up any type of fight. Well, again, those days of big hefty equipment are settling into the sunset. With the new lightweight, hi-speed, braid friendly trolling reels on the market it is now quite possible to fish much lighter. This is a huge advantage to the casual fisherman who can now be comfortable fighting and landing a fish. And it makes for a much more fun experience as well.