trolling/striper set-up?

[jhoss]

Any suggestions on trolling rods/line weight for stripers ? I've caught a few here and there with my LM bass rods and set up. I'm just curious what most people are using for line weight. I am thinking 20 lb braid should do, but I know there can during fall and spring be pretty hefty ones out there too. My rods so far are the usual 7 ft. medium action spinning rod. Do you guys prefer sprinning reel or baitcaster ?

thanks in advance for advice!

-John

[DOGFISH]

Except for the spring, I use medium to MH casting rods, with Shimano 400 TE reels. I think the rod blanks were designed for pitching, 7.5'. I use 20lb test. I use the longer rod for greater separation while trolling.

As you noted, in the spring I use heavier tackle and 30lb test.

I troll mostly crankbaits. If you are going to use heavy baits and quite a bit of lead, you may need heavier rods. Also keep in mind what methods you are going to use while trolling. I like to keep things somewhat light, so I try to stay away from a lot of lead.

Good luck.

[ronaultmtd]

This time of year I scale back - like Dogfish my spring and late fall setups are different than now- I drag two baits on one rod and a XR 10 XRap on the other- colors on the dual setup are usually hot pink Gulp and chartreuse Gulp on 1/8 or 1/4 oz red jigheads. My favorite XRap colors are blue sardine and silver and Bunker- For spring and late fall I drag a big Huntington/Tony Spoon with 3 or 4 oz trolling sinker on one rod and a stretch 25 or 30 on the other- I used to troll four rods off my Kayak, but once hooked up you can really get a mess with three unattended rods- much easier with just two out-

I am old school and rarely use spinning tackle for anything- for my heavy duty trolling I like my Lexa 300H with 30# braid on a HD W&McGill Capt. Blair Wiggins 7'10" Flats Blue Sglas rod- lighter trolling tackle are my Revo SX with a MH 7' Powell rod and Shimano 200E7 with the afore mention W& McGill Flats Blue rods- all with 30# braid- I tie on about six foot of 40# mono leaders using double uni knots-

[sparky1423]

This is my first striper season in a kayak and have no complaints about my gear so far. I troll mostly xraps and use spinning gear. A Penn Fierce 6000 and a Shimano Saragosa 5000. Both rigs are on MH rods (6'-6") and 30# braid. I use 20# mono leader strictly to grab the line and swing the rock in the kayak. I have used bass baitcasters and a larger old school Penn 109 (knuckle buster) with no problem. I just like the spinning combos so I can launch the xraps behind me and troll right away. Plus I am a bird nest magnet!

[dsiekman]

I also troll XRaps with a medium spinning rod. Depending on the time of year I'm either using a Shimano 2500 (Sedona, I think) or a Penn Battle. Shimano is spooled with 20 lb braid, Penn with 30. My other setup is an old casting rod that I strapped an Avet 5.3 to when my smaller bait caster started screwing up. Spooled with 55lb braid. I usually troll a bass assassin with that one.

I've found the 10 series XRap in olive works well for WP through low 20" rock.

[DaveFX35]

I use a pair of Shimano Tekota 300LC paired with Ugly Stik Big Water 6.6' MH. The line counters allow you to put the lures the same distance behind the boat and takes the guesswork of eyeballing how much line to cast out. 50lb power pro and 1.5' of fluorocarbon running an assortment of Xraps or Yozuri's.

[J.A. Veil]

Rigging for striper trolling depends on where you are fishing, the amount of current, the depth of the water, and the likely depth where the fish are holding. I rarely fish plugs (they do work, but I don't like them personally). Instead, I fish jigheads with different shapes and sizes of soft plastics (usually something with a paddle tail that looks like a baitfish swimming) or a Storm shad with the weight built into the lure. When trolling, I use medium or medium-heavy spinnning rods in 6' to 7' lengths most of the time -- these have 20-lb Powerpro. In the summer and early fall, I also troll a lot in shallow water using light or ultralight rods -- these may have 8-lb mono or 10-15 lb Powerpro. I do not own any baitcasters (I owned two in the past, but never got comfortable with them and sold them off).

When I fish the Flats, I typically troll in 4-10 ft water depth. You have to size the jigheads and/or vary your speed to keep the lures from dragging the bottom and picking up slime. Last April and May I found some stripers at a spot in the Severn in 10-20 ft depth. I used slightly heaving jigheads to get the lures near the bottom as I trolled through those areas.

I fished once at Pt Lookout without any prior experience. I trolled 4 rods with different weights and different sizes of plastics and covered depths from 3 ft to 20 ft. Be persistent and pay attention to which lines get hit most often. You can adjust the other rods to put similar baits into the same target zones.

The short answer is there is not just a single way to troll for stripers. There are lots of ways to troll -- try to find one that you are most comfortable with.

[dsiekman]

I trolled 4 rods with different weights and different sizes of plastics and covered depths from 3 ft to 20 ft. Be persistent and pay attention to which lines get hit most often. You can adjust the other rods to put similar baits into the same target zones.

The short answer is there is not just a single way to troll for stripers. There are lots of ways to troll -- try to find one that you are most comfortable with.

I fully expect to see John "The Trolling Master" Veil pulling planer boards with about ten rods off of his Mini X one of these days...

[moken12]

When do you guys head back out in the fall. I saw a video on youtube of this guy using live eels and catching some monster stripers around Norfolk. Think was fishing in November though.

[ronaultmtd]

Eels are like live spot...not always available and one of the favorite foods of all species of sharks- not matter what hooks you use they also are swallowed deeple before you know you have a bite, so not much chance of catch and release- that said, I would love to have a dozen live 7-10 inch eels in all my trips in November...but for trolling...not so much, although you can slowly troll live bait...