20 + Stripers in Chesapeake Bay, May 06, 2018

[ComeOnFish]

I went for stripers in the upper Chesapeake Bay, MD. I call the water off Breezy Point, my “home water” because I had fished there for a long time.
There are no structures or shores you can use in this wide area. The knowledge of the contour of the bottom in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay is the only big help for kayakers.

Anyway, I trolled hard. Eventually after 6 hours, I caught the first one. Later I found a school of stripers. I chased them and caught way over 20 stripers. They were at 23-33”. No keepers after 8 hours of hard trolling. I carried away. I was about 8-9 miles off the launch site. It took me over 3 hours to come to the launch site against the current because I was tired.
On the video, I tried to explain how I troll stripers on a kayak.

Video Fishing Log:

Thanks,
Joe

[silasvirus82]

I went for stripers in the upper Chesapeake Bay, MD. I call the water off Breezy Point, my “home water” because I had fished there for a long time.
There are no structures or shores you can use in this wide area. The knowledge of the contour of the bottom in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay is the only big help for kayakers.

Anyway, I trolled hard. Eventually after 6 hours, I caught the first one. Later I found a school of stripers. I chased them and caught way over 20 stripers. They were at 23-33”. No keepers after 8 hours of hard trolling. I carried away. I was about 8-9 miles off the launch site. It took me over 3 hours to come to the launch site against the current because I was tired.
On the video, I tried to explain how I troll stripers on a kayak.

Video Fishing Log:

Thanks,
Joe

Way better than a skunk. Those are some big baits, has me considering sizing up my normal arsenal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[YakCapn]

Really impressed by the video, you look so at home and comfortable on that kayak.

[AintMisBehavin]

I went for stripers in the upper Chesapeake Bay, MD. I call the water off Breezy Point, my “home water” because I had fished there for a long time.
There are no structures or shores you can use in this wide area. The knowledge of the contour of the bottom in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay is the only big help for kayakers.

Anyway, I trolled hard. Eventually after 6 hours, I caught the first one. Later I found a school of stripers. I chased them and caught way over 20 stripers. They were at 23-33”. No keepers after 8 hours of hard trolling. I carried away. I was about 8-9 miles off the launch site. It took me over 3 hours to come to the launch site against the current because I was tired.
On the video, I tried to explain how I troll stripers on a kayak.

Video Fishing Log:

Thanks,
Joe

Man that was awesome! You make it look easy but that was a lot of paddling. Looks like I need to venture further out in the bay on my next trip out. Thanks for sharing!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[summersoff]

Nice job and thanks for the video. You really have me rethinking my set-up. I’m going to try that three way tomorrow in Jersey. I think I’m going a little light, thus all the rats, little deeper for the pigs. Great post

[YakMan1731]

Awesome video and tips. Definitely intrigued by the bait size, and also by your guts to go so far into the bay! That's good stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[manlystanley]

Wow! You are a one man fishing, video production crew! I missed the point that you are making about depth of the lure. I get it that: lure type, weight, line and speed dictates the lure depth. But, what depth does the lure go down with every 10 feet of line; how much does speed dictate depth; etc.

Thanks,
Stan

[ComeOnFish]

Awesome video and tips. Definitely intrigued by the bait size, and also by your guts to go so far into the bay! That's good stuff. Thanks for sharing!

After May 15th, my upper lures will be 1 OZ bucktail and 4" or 5" shad. No reason to have 7" shad. Adding a trailing 7/0 hook to an 1 OZ buck tail isn't something I wanted to do because of the large 7" shad.

Trolling one rattling deep-diving lure is sometime more effective than multiple soft lures after May 15. Also bluefish will come that time.

Joe

[ComeOnFish]

Wow! You are a one man fishing, video production crew! I missed the point that you are making about depth of the lure. I get it that: lure type, weight, line and speed dictates the lure depth. But, what depth does the lure go down with every 10 feet of line; how much does speed dictate depth; etc.

Thanks,
Stan

Stan,
First of all, I have no intension of telling how to fish. All my videos were made to show how I fished and why I picked certain things for certain species in certain waters, to my friends and my Youtube subscribers.
Before I converted to a kayak angler, I fished on power boats for a long time, especially in the Chesapeake Bay. I have over 6 pages of charts showing line diameter v.s. Rig weight (lure +sinker) weight v.s. Line length v.s. trolling speed v.s rod top height. My rigs were 1- 40 OZ to be placed as low as 70” down at trolling speed of 2 – 5 MPH when I was on boats.

Let me try...

But for the kayak fishing, the chart made for the power boat trolling isn't quite applicable. The reasons are 1) It is hard to maintain a consistent speed when kayak fishing, especially windy days, 2) It is hard to troll a rig over 8 OZ when kayak fishing,

So the total rig weight on one rod will be 3/16 OZ – 6 OZ for my kayak trolling. In the main body of the Chesapeake Bay, the weight of my rig for striper on one rod is 1.5 OZ – 2 OZ in 20’ of water. 2 OZ – 4 OZ in 30’ – 40’ of water, and 2 OZ – 5 OZ in 40’-90’ of water. My rig come with tandem lures, upper and lower, and a inline sinker. The inline sinker is important when I want the lures 30’ - 60’ down.

I love tandem lure so I can tell the preference of the stripers. the colors does make sense many times.

The speed for striper trolling is 2 – 5 MPH. But I want to maintain 2.5 – 3.5 MPH speed for the kayak fishing. With the same lures I can bring the lure up and down by changing the speed. So I don’t have to change the weight of the rig often. Actually, changing speed is constantly going on when I see the fish in the difference depths on the FF.

Every day I can come up with new formulas for lure depths for trolling rig I use. At 10 seconds on the video, you can see the land. I was 0.7 – 1 mile off the shore where I tested the depth of the rigs I used. The water depths was 15’ – 30’ there. The first thing I did there was finding the depths of the lure at 3 MPH that day.

For example, I found that day that the right side lure dragged the bottom in 20’ of water when I let out the line up to 13 intervals, The same rig dragged the bottom in 28’ of water when I let out the line up to 18 interval.. This was how I came up with the line length VS right side Rig VS 3 MPH speed. I do this all the time to find the depth formulas according to the line length and the specific lures. For me, iIt usually take about 10 minutes for two rigs. Again, I can always add more weight to the rig. I can add a inline sinker 1 – 3 OZ to place the lure down.

When I turn to the port side, the starboard side rig rises ,and the port side rig sinks. So I need to have a little less rig weight for that. Or I speed up to maintain the same lure depth on the port side.


Also when facing the wind, I bring in the lines in to maintain the same lure depths using shorter lines.

Regarding trolling speed:
The trolling speed is not the absolute speed. The trolling speed is not GPS speed. The trolling speed is relative to the water current. For example, When I troll against 1 MPH current and I generate 3 MPH speed, The GPS speed is only 2 MPH. This is OK. When I troll with 1 MPH current, the GPS speed is 4 MPH. This is OK. The tension on the lines are exactly the same so I maintain the same lure depths.

So when trolling, the GPS speed on the FF is not accurate for the trolling speed. Actually the tensions on the lines will tell my true trolling speed relative to the current. I think this will come with a lot of test and experience.

One more thing, height of rod top is also important, especially in the shallow water. I usually place the rod top 2’ above the water surface. This way I need less line out to keep the lure travel deep. If I put rod vertically, then I need a lot more line out to keep the lure down.
This is one of the secrets when I troll Rudee for speck

Joe

[AintMisBehavin]

Stan,
First of all, I have no intension of telling how to fish. All my videos were made to show how I fished and why I picked certain things for certain species in certain waters, to my friends and my Youtube subscribers.
Before I converted to a kayak angler, I fished on power boats for a long time, especially in the Chesapeake Bay. I have over 6 pages of charts showing line diameter v.s. Rig weight (lure +sinker) weight v.s. Line length v.s. trolling speed v.s rod top height. My rigs were 1- 40 OZ to be placed as low as 70” down at trolling speed of 2 – 5 MPH when I was on boats.

Let me try...

But for the kayak fishing, the chart made for the power boat trolling isn't quite applicable. The reasons are 1) It is hard to maintain a consistent speed when kayak fishing, especially windy days, 2) It is hard to troll a rig over 8 OZ when kayak fishing,

So the total rig weight on one rod will be 3/16 OZ – 6 OZ for my kayak trolling. In the main body of the Chesapeake Bay, the weight of my rig for striper on one rod is 1.5 OZ – 2 OZ in 20’ of water. 2 OZ – 4 OZ in 30’ – 40’ of water, and 2 OZ – 5 OZ in 40’-90’ of water. My rig come with tandem lures, upper and lower, and a inline sinker. The inline sinker is important when I want the lures 30’ - 60’ down.

I love tandem lure so I can tell the preference of the stripers. the colors does make sense many times.

The speed for striper trolling is 2 – 5 MPH. But I want to maintain 2.5 – 3.5 MPH speed for the kayak fishing. With the same lures I can bring the lure up and down by changing the speed. So I don’t have to change the weight of the rig often. Actually, changing speed is constantly going on when I see the fish in the difference depths on the FF.

Every day I can come up with new formulas for lure depths for trolling rig I use. At 10 seconds on the video, you can see the land. I was 0.7 – 1 mile off the shore where I tested the depth of the rigs I used. The water depths was 15’ – 30’ there. The first thing I did there was finding the depths of the lure at 3 MPH that day.

For example, I found that day that the right side lure dragged the bottom in 20’ of water when I let out the line up to 13 intervals, The same rig dragged the bottom in 28’ of water when I let out the line up to 18 interval.. This was how I came up with the line length VS right side Rig VS 3 MPH speed. I do this all the time to find the depth formulas according to the line length and the specific lures. For me, iIt usually take about 10 minutes for two rigs. Again, I can always add more weight to the rig. I can add a inline sinker 1 – 3 OZ to place the lure down.

When I turn to the port side, the starboard side rig rises ,and the port side rig sinks. So I need to have a little less rig weight for that. Or I speed up to maintain the same lure depth on the port side.


Also when facing the wind, I bring in the lines in to maintain the same lure depths using shorter lines.

Regarding trolling speed:
The trolling speed is not the absolute speed. The trolling speed is not GPS speed. The trolling speed is relative to the water current. For example, When I troll against 1 MPH current and I generate 3 MPH speed, The GPS speed is only 2 MPH. This is OK. When I troll with 1 MPH current, the GPS speed is 4 MPH. This is OK. The tension on the lines are exactly the same so I maintain the same lure depths.

So when trolling, the GPS speed on the FF is not accurate for the trolling speed. Actually the tensions on the lines will tell my true trolling speed relative to the current. I think this will come with a lot of test and experience.

One more thing, height of rod top is also important, especially in the shallow water. I usually place the rod top 2’ above the water surface. This way I need less line out to keep the lure travel deep. If I put rod vertically, then I need a lot more line out to keep the lure down.
This is one of the secrets when I troll Rudee for speck

Joe

Joe the information you provided explains a lot for people like me who need someone to tell them what the heck is going on with all this trolling stuff. Thanks for sharing. I'll be using some of your techniques just as soon as I can get back on the water.

[mike o]

Thanks for the information and the great video, way to catch those fish. On Wednesday the 9th, even though I hate trolling from a power boat I accepted an invitation to fish with an accomplished fisherman out of Breezy point. We trolled 19 rods around the area for 7 hours without a single fish.

[rob-kayak]

awww... geeshhh dude....
anybody can catch stripers with a couple of sticks of dynamite and a big net.

and I thought I was going to read an epic tale about Coakers.

Much love brother.
Tightlines.