Trophy Striped Bass

by Captain Rich Novotny

Many anglers will be pursuing that trophy striped bass this spring. You will have a small window of opportunity to capture one of these magnificent beauties. Striped bass, better known as rockfish in Maryland, come into the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to spawn every spring. Depending on the severity of the winter, stripers usually arrive in the Bay in late February and over the next two months will proceed to their spawning grounds. Once they have spawned, usually by mid-May, most of them will begin to leave the Bay and take part in the coastal migratory stock along the East Coast.

Maryland anglers have a golden opportunity during May to capture a trophy rockfish. If you fish the middle or upper bay this may be your only chance to catch that BIG rockfish. With this in mind, I would like to share with you some of the techniques that I have learned over the past twenty years. These following techniques are the ones that I have developed and have been very productive for me over the years.

First, let’s talk about tackle. A nice quality rod of six to six and a half-foot, medium to medium heavy action and either 20 to 30 lb. class tests is what I would recommend. A good quality reel such as a Penn 309 or 330GTI. Both of these reels are excellent pieces of equipment to use in the Bay and just as important is the fact that they are level wind reels. In my opinion, level wind reels are vitally important if you want to be an accomplished angler. The reason I say this is because you must know how much line you have let off your reel and where your lines are in the water column. Each time the level wind bar goes from one side plate to the other side plate you have let out approximately 10 feet of line. So if you have let out 140 feet off of your reel and you catch a fish on that rod you now have the capability to put the line back into the same depth of water by letting out 140 feet. In turn, if you get another hit on that particular rod you may want to readjust your other lines so as to fish near that same water depth.

Line is another personal preference for each captain. Most charter boat captains use wire line, while the majority of recreational fishermen use monofilament. However, I prefer using a color-coded Dacron line with a lead core. This line does not stretch like mono and is a lot more forgiving than wire line. In addition, it is very beneficial if you are not using a level wind reel since it changes color every 10 yards. Thus giving you the ability to know how much line is off of your reels.

Our next topic would be lure selection. Remember that you always want to match the size of the lure with the size of the baitfish that the rockfish are feeding on. This time of the year large alewives are entering our bay to spawn. These adult alewives are 8 to 13 inches in length. The use of large spoons and bucktails best resemble the size of these baitfish. The two most popular spoons are #19 and #21 Tony Accettas and 9/0 and 11/0 Crippled Alewives. I prefer the Crippled Alewive lure over any other spoon because of their ability to be pulled through the water at a variety of trolling speed, the lateral color line and the color of the lures themselves.

Large 8/0 to 10/0 bucktails are excellent choices to catch that trophy bass, as well as, parachutes from 6 to 20 ounces. I prefer dressing these lures with twister tails, split tails or sassy shads to improve the action of the lure. Remember that “Big Bait/Big Fish” theory! Don’t be afraid to tie on a 13/0 Crippled Alewive. These lures intimidate the fisherman, not the fish. Believe me, they really work. They are not too big to be used in the Bay. You have got to think BIG! Remember that we are fishing for a monster of 30 to 50 pounds. Finally, for the past couple of years, umbrella rigs have grown in popularity. This is a lure that has multiple baits such as sassy shads or hoses and is followed by another larger lure resembling a baitfish. I usually troll an 11/0 Crippled Alewive behind this rig as my main lure. This rig has become a very popular and productive trolling lure for the bay.

Leader line is very important! At some point this is the only thing between you and the fish. Do yourself a favor and purchase good quality leader line material. Don’t be “penny-wise and dollar foolish” at this point. Buy a ¼ pound spool of Ande, Trilene, Stren or any other major brand line. You will probably spend $6 to $9 for a ¼ pound spool that will last for years instead of paying $1.59 for a cheaper brand that you cannot depend on. I highly recommend using 60 pound test monofilament leader line material. Heavy leader line is needed because of the great amount of stress that is caused by catching a large rockfish during the spring season. I make my leader lines to 36 foot in length. I also use ball bearing swivels in order to take out all of the twist that is put into you leader line by using large spoons. Once again, these swivels are much more expensive than regular swivels, but they are well worth your investment. Below is an illustration of my trolling rig that I use while fishing for stripers in the springtime:

By using the double rig, I have just improved my chances of catching that rockfish by 100%. Double rigging all of my lines allows me to pull an average of 20 to 24 baits behind my boat. Now you can see how important it is to know how much line is off your reels and how deep your lures are in the water.

Speed is one of the most important aspects of trolling. Let out your first leader line to the snap swivel or sinker. Observe your lure (spoon) in the water to see if it is working properly. Either speed up or slow down your boat and watch which speed works your lure the best. Now let out your line to the desired length while going in the same direction. After setting the drag and placing your rod in the rod holder – STOP – and observe what your rod tip is doing. This is going to be your speed indicator for the remainder of the day. The tip of your rod will be dipping, bobbing or weaving ever so often to show that your lure is working properly. Due to tide, wind, change of direction during the course of a day, your boat speed will change, thus changing the motion of your lures. Watch your rod tip and achieve that same motion as when you originally put your line overboard throughout the entire day to know that your spoon is working properly.

Illustrated below is my recommendation for setting your trolling lines this spring. By using this set of lengths and weights, it should allow you to be at the correct depth to catch that trophy striper. In addition, it will allow you to troll all day without getting your lines tangled. Remember to make wide enough turns to also help maintain untangled lines.

Finally, I would like to suggest a trolling pattern that should enable you to have an opportunity to capture a trophy bass. I prefer trolling cross-tide or an East-West pattern. Trolling diagonally from East-West will allow you to have a window of opportunity to be in the correct water depth that the stripers are using while exiting the bay. Rockfish like to follow the bay’s channel edges down the bay. To explain this further, if for some reason, either tide, current, etc., the fish are following the western edge of the channel in 70 foot of water down the bay and you are trolling a North-South pattern in 50 feet of water on the eastern edge, you will never have a hookup. But if you troll east to west, your lures at some point in time will be in that 70-feet of water. Remember the bay is cool and will warm only through warm days and sunlight. I fish all of my lures within the first 25 feet of the surface, regardless of whether I am trolling in 50 foot of water or 120 foot.