Striper Trolling Gear

[Gerry Zagorski]

Been seeing lots of inquiries on the social media sites about what kind of gear you need for trolling Stripers so I thought I'd tackle it here...

First of all, any self respecting Striper troller is going to want to pull Bunker spoons since they seem to be the go to method when targeting larger fish. The rods used for trolling spoons are unique but can also be used for trolling, mojos, stretches and umbrella rigs so why not get a set up that you can use for everything and spoons??

A bunker spoon rod is typically 7 or 8 feet, rated for 30 pounds and has a slick butt which makes it easier to get out of the rod holder with the pressure of a fish on it. The most important feature of a Bunker rod is a soft whippy tip. The soft tip in conjunction with the no stretch line quality of wire or braided line is what imparts the correct action from the rod tip to the spoon. If your spoons are not running correctly you might as well stay home on the couch

Old school trollers like to use wire but many like me have switched over to braid.. Wire does have an advantage since it sinks better but braid has a very thin diameter so it does not have as much resistance in the water and it does not stretch. To make up for not sinking as well as wire, you can add a drail weight. If you do decide to go the wire line route you are going to need to buy a rod with Carboloy guides since wire is abrasive and can damage regular guides. You will also need a reel with a stainless spool since the combination of wire and saltwater causes electrolysis on will corrode aluminum spools. So for me, braided line is the way to go...

As far as a reel, some might argue, but I think a lever drag over a star drag reel is the right way to go here and for all trolling applications. With star drag you are either on preset drag or nothing... With a lever drag, you can make some finer in between drag adjustments which helps when trolling... You can nudge the lever up to give just enough resistance to keep line from coming off the reel against the resistance of whatever your trolling yet let the fish take some line when they hit... Once they hit you move it up to strike which is your preset drag and fight the fish. And if you ever need to you can move it up to full to get some additional leverage or free a sang. A lot easier to do this on lever drag reel and not have to mess with the star drag in the middle of fighting a fish...

I'll back my reel with some 30 pound mono, join it to 300 feet of 65 pound braid with either a uni to uni or improved alberto knot... At the end I''ll tie a high quality 100 pound snap swivel. The snap swivel makes it easier to change lures and what comes after that depends on what i'm trolling....

If bunker spoons the next thing will be my drail weight with beaded chain on each end, From the drail a 10 foot piece of 80 pound mono and at the end, another 100 pound snap swivel that gets attached to the spoon.

If I'm trolling streches, mojos or umbrellas, I won't use a drail but you still want a 10 foot shot of mono at the end since mono makes it easier to leader a fish at the side of the boat where braid will could cut your hands...

Happy trolling

[Gerry Zagorski]

A little more detail on trolling Bunker spoons

Trolling bunker spoons is one of the few areas in life where size really does matter. Rod size that is ….. A 5 or 6 foot rod is fine for wire line trolling tubes, umbrella rigs, plugs and parachute rigs but you definitely need to go longer for trolling Bunker Spoons. It’s the action of the long soft bouncing tip that transfers to the spoons through the wire that give them the action they need to trigger strikes. A short pole on the other hand typically has little bounce and the bounce is well…..short.

If you ever saw a pole made especially for Bunker spoons you'd see what I mean. The poles are usually 7 to 8 feet long and have a soft tip. When the spoons are working right the tip bends a foot or so during each pulse. Every once and a while (say 10-15 secs) you will get a long deep 2 foot bend. This happens when the spoon changes direction and often times is what triggers a strike. It's the give and take of the rod tip pulsing and snapping back that gives the spoon the needed action. The reason you troll with wire instead of mono is 2 fold 1) it runs deeper then mono line because of its weight and lower diameter. 2) and more importantly, wire has no stretch so it transfers the action of the pole tip to the spoon more effectively then mono.

A few other tips.... Every once and a while take the boat out of gear and let the spoon flutter down in the water column a bit. This change in motion often triggers strikes. We were out on the Shrewsbury rocks one time trolling for hours with out a bump. Tried this and were hooked up on both rods almost immediately. Another tip is to make sure the spoon is working correctly. Too fast a troll and the spoon will simply turn in circles. Too slow and you get hung up on the bottom and the rod tip will not bounce/bend. There are 2 ways you can tell if you’re trolling the right speed. One is to troll the spoon right beside the boat and make sure it's not spinning. The other is to watch the rod tip. If you have a fast steady continuos pulse of the tip your spoon is most likely just spinning in circles. Your should have a somewhat slow pulse of the rod tip with an intermittent deep bend as mentioned above.

Lastly, you can't just set the RPMs and troll in the same direction in a straight line. Wind and current as well as the direction your trolling will effect how the spoons run. You must make speed adjustments by watching the rod tip for the correct action. You should also troll in a lazy S pattern and in different directions to see what is working best. One day we were trolling Round Shoal and the only time we where catching fish is when we were running with the tide.

Spoons are one of the more difficult things to troll correctly. What worked yesterday might not work today. They might not produce the quantity of a Shad or Tube Umbrella rig, they do however consistently catch bigger fish if worked properly.

Hang on a sec..... I think I hear my drag screaming.......


Update: A lot of people switched over to braid, including yours truly…The smaller diameter of braid gives it less resistance in the water which allows you to get down further in the water column, like wire is has no stretch and if you need more weight add a beaded drail weight. The plus side to braid is that it’s easier to work with, you don’t need a special wire line rod with car guides or a reel with a stainless spool so the wire does not corrode the spool. Lastly, you can use this same set up from trolling other things besides spoons.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Some tips on trolling mojos

Trolling Mojos is one of the most effective and fool proof ways to target Stripers…. Unlike Bunker spoons, no special rods or wireline is needed and the Mojos run well at varied speeds. Having said all this, if there are adult bunker around, I will always have at least one Bunker spoon in my spread. Sometimes 2 spoons and a Mojo down the middle, other times 2 Mojos and a spoon down the middle. Some people also troll spoons and Mojos on the same tandem rig…

As far as the pole is concerned, a 30 pound class rod in the 6 to 7 foot range will do. A slick butt is nice to have since it makes it easier to get the pole out of the rod holder when you have the pressure of a fish on it. Out roders are nice to have but not a must…. They help keep your lures spread further apart but if you are careful about not making too tight a turn you can make due without them. If however you are going to use the rods for trolling spoons as well as Mojo you are going to want at least a 7 foot rod, 8 would be better, with a nice whippy tip to make the spoons run best.

Braided line is practically a must since it has much less resistance in the water because of the lower diameter compared to mono and this allows you to get much further down in the water column with less weight…. I use 65 pound braid…

As far as reels, for trolling this is where a lever drags have one distinct advantage over a star drag reel.. With a lever drag you can adjust the line out tension just enough to keep your Mojos from taking line while trolling yet let the fish take some line when they hit. Once they hit you can move the lever up to Strike and you are at your preset drag setting to fight the fish… With a star drag reel you don’t have that type of flexibility…. The reel is engaged and on the drag or not and nothing in between. Having said that, many people do use Star drags. More on that further down in the post.

Let’s move on to the Mojos…. The rigs most have been using are pre tied tandem rigs… You have a 3 way swivel tied off to your braid and 2 mono leaders coming off the swivel. One shorter mono leader has the heavier Mojo on it and other is a longer leader with the lighter Mojo on it. The heavier one will run further down in the water and the lighter one higher.

Now how to troll them… In general you want to troll them between 2 and 3 knots and run them as close to the bottom as possible without hanging them up…. Mojos do come in different sizes but for our area, a 12 and 8 ounce tandem should cover most depths and conditions although you might want heavier if you are fishing deeper then say 40 – 50 feet… What you want to do is get your boat at trolling speed and slowly let line out until you feel contact with the bottom.. Once that happens reel in a few cranks to get the rig to troll as close to the bottom as possible without hanging up. We all know depths change and tides or currents will make the rigs run higher or lower… For this reason you can’t set them and forget them, you need to keep a constant eye out and adjust the amount of line you have out accordingly… Look for depth changes on your depth finder and if you are trolling in one direction and decide to change, you’ll likely have to make adjustment to account for running with or against a tide or current.

Now that you have your Mojos running at the right depth you want to move the lever drag on your reel just tight enough so they are not taking line off the reel when you are trolling and set the clicker on… When a fish hits, move your reel up to strike and fight the fish. If you are fishing a star drag reel first thing you want to do is leave the reel in free spool with the clicker on and try to adjust the line out tension just enough so that the there is no line coming off the reel against the resistance of your rigs. Once again when a fish hits you engage the drag. Unfortunately many star drag reels don’t have enough resistance in their line out adjustment to make it tight enough and if that’s the case, you’ll troll with your drag engaged, hence the reason I prefer lever drag reels.

Every day is different and the conditions change so if you’re not having success, mix it up… White and Chartreuse are the 2 most popular colored Mojos….. Run a rig in each color and see what works best that particular day. The direction you troll can make a big difference too so if you’re not catching and you know there are fish around, try trolling with the current, against the current, across the current.. Try trolling straight or lazy S turns and see what works.

Happy Mojo trolling everyone and if you’re new to the Mojo scene, please visit one of our sponsors to get the rigs and gear you’ll need

[njadam]

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing. For the mojos do you use 12oz on the bottom and 8oz as the trailer or on the top?

[Papasown]

Thank you for sharing this valuable info with us, Gerry. Although I have been fishing, and trolling for many years, this will be my first year dragging Mojo's, and I appreciate your input.
When I was at the Salt Water fishing Show in Edison, I spoke to Tony Maja about Mojo's, as he is now offering them for sale now. Tony told me that when bunker are present, the spoons are the way to go, but in the early spring and late fall the Mojo's will work better. I was concerned about using Mojo's when the bluefish are present, but I will learn the right time for their usage as the season progresses. Again, Gerry, thank you...................Papa

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by njadam

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing. For the mojos do you use 12oz on the bottom and 8oz as the trailer or on the top?

Hey Adam - Yes, the heavier weight goes on the bottom and shorter of the 2 leaders.

Some people also fishing smaller bunker spoons on the top or trailer leader in place of the mojo.

Have fun!!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by Papasown

Thank you for sharing this valuable info with us, Gerry. Although I have been fishing, and trolling for many years, this will be my first year dragging Mojo's, and I appreciate your input.
When I was at the Salt Water fishing Show in Edison, I spoke to Tony Maja about Mojo's, as he is now offering them for sale now. Tony told me that when bunker are present, the spoons are the way to go, but in the early spring and late fall the Mojo's will work better. I was concerned about using Mojo's when the bluefish are present, but I will learn the right time for their usage as the season progresses. Again, Gerry, thank you...................Papa

My pleasure Papa!! Best time for Mojos are early in the spring when the water is still cold and Bluefish aren't around. Having said that, the shad bodies are easy to replace so I would keep some spares on hand if they happen to get torn up. Mojos are probably the easiest to troll but, if your fishing for trophy fish, you'll want to be pulling a Bunker spoon.

For those of you new to trolling spoons, check out this article from one of our sponsors, Rob from TNT about how to set up braid trolling outfit for spoons.

http://www.tgttackle.com/super-braid-outfits.php