Spring depth

[wiljack78]

I've heard that we should be prepared with large bait in the spring. Is there anything we should be prepared for with respect to depth? Do the spring Stripers follow the deep shipping channels when they move up the bay to spawn and or when they move back down the bay. Or do they move into shallow areas?
Tight Lines. W

[surfdog]

ive seen a lot and caught big stripers from shore at spsp and other areas using only blood worms. on the susky flats most willl use larger surface poppers and live or fresh herring. the rock definitely run up and down the shipping channels like a highway to ge to the spawning grounds or back out of the bay, personally i dont want to mess around with the crazy trollers during trophy season

[wiljack78]

This will be my first trophy season so I'm not sure what to expect. Safety first so I'll take your suggestion and stay out of their way.
Thanks, Wil

[DOGFISH]

Early spring, the most popular trolling method is to have your baits trolled in the upper water column. The theory is that the water warms up near the surface earlier in the spring. I must admit in my years of trolling, that rule seems to hold true for the numbers of fish. With that said, I have caught fish down deep in the spring. With a kayak, I start out with a line run shallow, a few feet under the surface. The second line, I run at about 15'. If I am marking fish or bait at deeper depths, I will adjust a line to put it in the area of those fish.

When I used to troll from a boat, I used to troll 4 to 6 rods at various depths to cover the water column.

I have seen fish taken by many means, as surfdog said. By and far, for the trophy season, trolling along the edges of the shipping channel or near those areas is the name of the game. I personally troll large crankbaits, with the Rapala Saltwater series as my favorite. YoZuri cranks are a close second. I like the cranks as I do not need to use additional lead. You can also catch stripers on parachutes, large spoons and other large trolled baits.

Of course, fishing from a kayak, you may want to give things a few days to calm down and let the crazies get the excitment out of their system, or you could be a casualty. Give it a few days and go during a weekday. The weekends will continue to be crazy for few weekends following the opening. Just my opinion.

Good luck on your fish season.

[Memory Maker]

What Dogfish said ....... 100%

[surfdog]

thinking of trolling something like this did not have a bucktail grub handy so i tied on a 14" hogy eel. went with the spinner blades to lighten up the rig so it wont put so much drag on me. can you make out the weedless loop knot on the hogy

[Memory Maker]

Surfdog ....... you tow that thing and your legs WILL look like that picture ........ those parachute rigs have LOTS of drag .......... probably good to try though ........

THink I would also try a tube behind the parachute .......

[DOGFISH]

Yeah, I would like to know how that works. If it works out, you could have a good little side business started.

[surfdog]

yeah i know but i'll try not with the hogy but with a smaller BT. its only 7" and the blades are light. curious to see that spinning and flashing

[mdmakaira410]

how do you figure out how deep your lures are getting. i realize that during the spring im going to work the upperwater column down to about 25feet. i read this in sportfishing mag.

"Experience shows me that while trolling at 2 1/2 to 3 knots, every 100 feet of Spectra in the water results in 10 feet of lure depth," he says. "Every 4 ounces of lead added to the line takes it down another 5 feet, so I use different weights to keep lures at targeted depths."


anyone know if this is pretty much accurate. if so i am going to measure out my line and put rigging floss on 100feet-150-200 etc..

[DOGFISH]

The best way that I have found to test depth, is to set the lure to what you think is right. Then go from deep to shallow and watch to see when the sinker bumps bottom. You will know, the rod tip will be moving. Then look at the depth finder for the depth. I started doing this by accident. So now I test out my theories that way. I have also found that on kayaks, most crankbaits don't run as deep as stated on the box. Possibly because the kayak does not generate as much force or pull as a boat. Some of my 15' cranks only run about 12-13', not bad, but alittle off. I have found that some of the smaller cranks really run much more shallow. This is also affected by line diameter, with braid being best, as I have found. Some of the newer depth finders will actually show the lures as they run under them. So if you know someone who has a good depth finder, try running your lures past or around them, so as to be seen.

Now if you are running your lure near bottom, I use the bounce method. Let your line out at a reasonable pace, with just keeping control of the spool with you thumb, so as to not get a backlash, otherwise known as a whimpie. When the lead hits bottom, set the reel. Your lure should run close enough to bottom. If you want it alittle closer to bottom, do it once again. Just remember, that most fish have their eyes on top or towards the top of their head, so it tends to be best to have the lures pass somwhat above the bottom, over the fish. That is why I like rattles in stained water. It helps to get their attention. Oh well, thats the theory anyway.

You can measure the amount of line out by using the spool method. Let your line out until the line goes from one side of the spool to the other. Assuming that you started from the tip of the rod, measure the line from the tip of the rod to the end of the line. That will tell you how much line you have out for one spool cross. Times that by the number times the line crosses the spool, and you know how much line you have out.

[surfdog]

when i used to own a boat id be trolling around listening to the chatter on the vhs and youd hear the charter guys talking and it sounds like code. then i figured it out, youd hear 20 bar 4 and that ment that he was catching at 100' back with 4oz of lead that would put him at about 15' deep. the reels used by most give off 5' of line for every time the level line bar goes across once and the 4oz weight takes it down another 5' at 2.8mph