Spring Trophy Striper Trolling Tactics

spring trophy sT ri P er Trolling

Keep those lures clean, or the stripers won’t hit ‘em. When spring jellies are around that means constantly checking and re-checking your lures.

USE THESE TACTICAL MANEUVERS To BECoME A MoRE EFFECTIVE ANGLER

Troll east-west and west-east,

instead of north-south or south-

north. This type of pattern has two benefits. First off, it will allow you to cover more varied depths as you pass over the channel edges and across the main stem of the Bay. If you head north-south, depth changes are bound to be a lot less dramatic. Secondly, you’ll be trolling cross-current, which will negate much of the effect of current on boat speed (and thus lure speed). As the speed of the current changes throughout the day, you won’t need to vary boat speed nearly as often to keep those plastic shad tails pumping back and forth at the perfect cadence.

Don’t become married to one

specific boat speed. Different lures, and even different brand shad bodies, work most effectively at slightly different speeds. The best way to judge boat speed is to hold your lures next to the boat prior to deployment, and watch them closely. When that shad tail wiggle-waggles seductively, you’ve found the perfect cadence we just mentioned moments ago—and you’ve got the boat’s speed right.

Pull in each and every line at

least every other hour or so, and more often if you’re not getting bites. If your lines are fouled with a single sprig of seaweed or those dreaded spring jellies, the fish won’t be interested. And if you pull in more than one or two lines with spring jellies on them, start checking all your lines much more often to make sure they stay jelly-free. A day of “shucking jellies” may be a pain in the keister, but keeping the lures clean is what it takes to stay in the game.

When you spot fish on the meter that are deeper than your lures, put the boat into a

fairly sharp turn. As you make the turn your inboard lines will sink, allowing you to probe a bit deeper. The sharper the turn, the deeper the sink—but the higher the danger you’ll cross a line and create a tangle, so be careful.

When you spot gannets, try to work that depth range for

a while even if you don’t get any bites trolling under them. Those birds do know where the bait is, and although the specific school of baitfish the birds are hunting may not hold stripers, it’s a good bet there’s more bait to be found— and hopefully stripers feeding on it—elsewhere in that same depth range. #