Trolling for Stripers

[Hotrod]

Wire Line Trolling For Stripers.  Capt. John A. Cafiero.  Great Article By Capt John about Trolling for Stripers / Bass using wire.

Trolling For Stripers using Wire Line

[beachwalker]

Great article trolling for stripers is an effective way to find bass. I only did it one time on a charter boat the captain trolled so we could find the bass then we jigged and drifted eels after we trolled a couple that boat was out of Barnagate light i just wanted to try somthing different then drifting the Cape May rips. Now i mostly fish the surf but im seeing more and more guys trolling just a few hundred yards off the beach in Cape May!

[brian8980]

Couldnt you also use mono to troll?  You just have to use a thicker line correct?

[beachwalker]

Couldnt you also use mono to troll?  You just have to use a thicker line correct?

I dont know im not an expert but i would think you could use mono or braid you would probably have to use down riggers and planers tho. Hopefully some of pros on here can answer that one.

[Noworries2009]

the reason wire is used is that it "sinks". Controlled depth fishing. Gets the lures down where the big ones are. As the author states sometimes the only way to"catch" when things get tough. Mono with drails or braid with drails sometimes works but when the fish are deep and not tightly schooled wire is king. Downriggers have a place in this but I never could use them with the "big" spoons because of that irregular action that drives the fish wild, just pulls free of the release clip. Some guys like to pull diving plugs like the "stretches" with braid and have good results. Wire can be frustating and hard work but on some days it's the only way. I always had them ready and hoped I never needed them.  

[Hunter 2]

Wireline is old school but very effective. I personally use braid with drails to get the line down. This is a plus to use the same reels for other species too.

[Noworries2009]

In Raritan bay where the water is fairly shallow,less than 50' This may be effective. But down the beach where in the fall and late spring depths where we fish many times off a mile or two fishing drails is inadequate.Fish suspend near bottom in deep water and downriggers or wire & drails is needed. You decide how you like to fish but wire has it's place just as the author stated in the article on the home page. Old school maybe but very effective. 

[Last Call]

We are avid wire trollers with excellent results working the Ambrose and Sandy Hook.

[seafoodcharters]

When there is an off day and we all have them... Wire trolling is the best way to a lot of times save the day!  You can go home with a few or often get into them, stop the boat and start jigging them up..  Wire is a pain, but effective.  You can control where your lure is.  Let out 100' and lure is down 10' 200' and its at 20', etc...  yes it's old school, but it works so well that's why it is still around today. 

[L.T.]

I only ask this question because, I'm a fresh water troller and am not familiar with salt trolling so, I'm confused.  Do you troll with wire rods because it is more cost efficient than with downriggers or find it more effective? I've read on this site where downrigger clips release prematurely because of the action of the lure.  In my case I have ratcheting clips for my riggers that will adjust for  bigger lures,dodgers, flashers, Etc. I realize you have strong currents and running tide to deal with, but the advantage I see if you can hold your lure in place is depth accuracy and being able to stack lures at height and distance. Again my question is not to criticise but to get some clarification. 
Also what is the average speed of trolling (MPH) with a neutral current, fishing for striper. I ask these question for future knowledge.  OH, OH, OH,  another question: 
Do you run mono in front of the wire to the lure as not to spook your prey?

[IrishAyes]

Your question on use of downriggers...Bunker spoons put a lot of pressure on your outfit. They will pull out of a down rigger clip because of this. You also can not fish with a line close to the rigger because you need the 'action' given off by the large spoon.

With a wire line outfit, especially one dedicated to bunker spoons, you will see the rod pulsating from the action of the spoon. If you do not see the rod pulsating, pull the spoon in as it is more than likely fouled with weeds or something you picked up off of the bottom.

The wire line is used, as others have said, to get your lure down into the strike zone without using weights. For every ten feet of wire in the water your lure will be down approximately one foot. Thus, 300 feet of wire in the water=30 feet down for your lure, etc. If you do have to go deeper you can add drail weights as needed for the depth you are fishing.

[Noworries2009]

Try fishing with an experieced captain. There's noyhing like it. You can learn much more in a day than in years on the internet. THere are lots of them on this site with a charter trip or two could go a long way in helping you understand all the little things involved. This winter there are also several outdoor shows that offer seminars with captains "teaching" the little "tricks" of the trade. This may be another way for you to get what you need. 

[L.T.]

OK so, You can see if your bunker spoon is giving off action with the wire rigged rod whereas even if the clip held on the rigger you couldn't tell if you were getting flutter action.  Makes sense,
Thanks for the info

[Still Running]

One of the things that is a problem when trolling is the speed to troll. Don’t just use your gps for a speed. The lure will act different when you change direction because of current. Sometimes you may be moving 3.5 mph on the gps to get the rod tip to act the way you want and when you turn it will change. The guys the troll the great lakes use a thing called a Depth Raider. It tells you the speed the lure is moving so they say. But the lure can not run a different speed then the boat. When you cast a lure and retrieve it at different speed it changes the action of the lure. So what they do is let the lure out behind the boat and watch the action. Once you find the action you like, look at the gps to find the speed of the boat. The Depth Raider has a paddle wheel on the probe and when let down to the depth you want to fish the wheel will spin at the speed of the boat + or – the speed of the current if any. This way you adjust you boat speed to the speed of the Depth Raider read out so you know what kind of action the lure has.
The problem with the unit is that you need to run it on a down rigger. But you can run your bunker spoons off of your boat without hooking them to the downrigger and just drop the probe down. The way I see it is that if you drop down the probe, why not just put another lure on the downrigger. One more lure in the water. And if you do that why not throw out a cheater. 

[Noworries2009]

Leave to those Great Lakes guys to come up with another gadget. As an ocean fisherman I'm pretty set in my ways but I 've learned a few tricks fishing up there. Amazin 

[L.T.]

I do something similar, I watch the action of the lure, speed up or slow down till I get the action I want, let out about 150 ft of line set clips drop the ball weight,stack and drop again. I keep the stack about 10 ft apart in elevation  . Then I troll in a lazy S pattern.  I usually run two down riggers with four rods.