Trolling in an area with no fish in it.
This particular one appears to be a no-brainer, but it transpires all too often. Even if are fishing around a famous "hot spot" as in Scorton Ledge, the Fingers, Race Point, or the Elizabeth Islands, it does not mean that you're in a hot spot for this particular trip.
Throw a glance around the next time you happen to be on the H2O. Around Cape Cod Bay in particular, the striped bass could be more or less any where. There's loads of water around to cover! I never place a line in water until I mark a minumum of one bass on my sonar unit. Finding only one fish, amongst all of this wide open ocean, is a big deal. The chances are that particular bass underneath your transducer is only one of many bass around the general vicinity.
Next time you head out fishing, try out searching in a planned pattern through all the hot spots in your area until you begin marking striped bass or bait. Now put the tube and worms within the water and troll around for 15 minutes. If hardly anything else appears on the fish finder, keep on exploring around. Burning a few extra gallons of gas exploring around will be worth it-believe me!
Experimenting with different tube colors first, in lieu of depth and tube length.
There area probably a boat load of those that will disagree with me with this (that is certainly A-OK) but I do not see a need to keep tube colors other than red, black and perhaps orange. In my opinion , all the other colorful tube varieties are manufactured to capture fishermen-and naturally a couple bass every now and again. At one point I carried orange but I do not anymore.
Any time you are not catching anything, but fishermen around you are reeling in fish, it may be the depth you set your tubes at, or the tube length, instead of tube color which is hindering your catch.
This happened to me not too long ago. The fishing was very hot, but without warning it strangely shut off. I actually first believed the fish had ended for the day, but I noticed that my pal was still hitting them hard. I first tried modifying the quantity of colors I'd been trolling and next switching the tube and worm. color. I went on getting not a thing.
It was not until I realized that my friend was fishing a smaller red tube-18 inches, in place of the 24 inch red tubes my crew had been using all day. Sadly I only had 18 inch black tubes on board. It didn't matter much to the bass, and as quickly as the fish noticed that 18 inch black tube they hit it and we began catching yet again. Striped bass can be very fickle fish.
I've also enjoyed numerous situations in which I had been catching fish using 3 1/2 colors all trip. Then quickly, for some reason, we stopped hookin up but go on seeing stripers on the fish finder. A fast depth switch to 4 colors was all we needed and we began reeling in bass just as before. I could very well not understand the effect a half of a color makes to the stripers-having said that I will never ever underestimate the significance.
If I find myself not hooking up, but I still am marking striped bass on my fish finder I will in most cases:
First fiddle with number of colors (depth) then fiddle with tube length and only after that experiment with tube color.
Trolling only 2 tubes instead of 3 tubes.
A few of seasons back I used to fish 4 tubes off my 21 foot boat. When I bring customers out on my boat, I've observed that trolling 3 tubes, all on leadcore, works a tad smoother.
Always having that third tube and worm in the water is advantageous for a couple of good reasons.
It's another hook in the water for stripers to hit, which immediately increases your bass catching capacity. All other sorts of parameters held constant, the crew trolling 3 tubes will at all times catch more fish than the boat trolling only 2.
It permits you to fiddle a lot more with tube length, depth and color. Using this method you'll be able to speedily discover what the stripers would like.
For some bizarre reason, most stripers are caught on that rod trolled down the center of the boat.
Quite often once I determine a successful color (depth) and a productive tube color and length, I will go ahead and fish all three tube and worms in the same exact way. Put simply, all three lines are fished at the same exact depth, are the same color, and are going to be identical in length. As a result of the positioning of rod holders on the Miss Loretta, the third line is positioned exactly in the center of the boat and is positioned just a little closer to the back of the boat than the other rods.
Doing this brings about in the water is a "trolling spread." The three tube rigs are fishing at the exact same depth, however the 1 tube and worm that is being fished off the 3rd line (which is fished right down the center of the spread) is positioned a little behind the two other tube and worm rigs. This is a result of that center rod holder is positioned just a bit closer to the back of the Miss Loretta than my other two rod holders. The middle tube and worm is trolled just a few feet in back of the other two tubes.
The concept is the exact same idea that goes into umbrella rigs and squid bars. The rule of thumb is that you generally have one bait that trails slightly behind the school. With 3 tubes at the same time, an angler really is establishing a "school of worms" squirming through the ocean. One of the tubes (worm) has slipped a little bit behind the other two tube rigs (worms). Fish commonly focus in on the prey item that slips behind the rest of the school. I suspect this is the reason why my center tube generally outfishes the other two rigs.
This particular one appears to be a no-brainer, but it transpires all too often. Even if are fishing around a famous "hot spot" as in Scorton Ledge, the Fingers, Race Point, or the Elizabeth Islands, it does not mean that you're in a hot spot for this particular trip.
Throw a glance around the next time you happen to be on the H2O. Around Cape Cod Bay in particular, the striped bass could be more or less any where. There's loads of water around to cover! I never place a line in water until I mark a minumum of one bass on my sonar unit. Finding only one fish, amongst all of this wide open ocean, is a big deal. The chances are that particular bass underneath your transducer is only one of many bass around the general vicinity.
Next time you head out fishing, try out searching in a planned pattern through all the hot spots in your area until you begin marking striped bass or bait. Now put the tube and worms within the water and troll around for 15 minutes. If hardly anything else appears on the fish finder, keep on exploring around. Burning a few extra gallons of gas exploring around will be worth it-believe me!
Experimenting with different tube colors first, in lieu of depth and tube length.
There area probably a boat load of those that will disagree with me with this (that is certainly A-OK) but I do not see a need to keep tube colors other than red, black and perhaps orange. In my opinion , all the other colorful tube varieties are manufactured to capture fishermen-and naturally a couple bass every now and again. At one point I carried orange but I do not anymore.
Any time you are not catching anything, but fishermen around you are reeling in fish, it may be the depth you set your tubes at, or the tube length, instead of tube color which is hindering your catch.
This happened to me not too long ago. The fishing was very hot, but without warning it strangely shut off. I actually first believed the fish had ended for the day, but I noticed that my pal was still hitting them hard. I first tried modifying the quantity of colors I'd been trolling and next switching the tube and worm. color. I went on getting not a thing.
It was not until I realized that my friend was fishing a smaller red tube-18 inches, in place of the 24 inch red tubes my crew had been using all day. Sadly I only had 18 inch black tubes on board. It didn't matter much to the bass, and as quickly as the fish noticed that 18 inch black tube they hit it and we began catching yet again. Striped bass can be very fickle fish.
I've also enjoyed numerous situations in which I had been catching fish using 3 1/2 colors all trip. Then quickly, for some reason, we stopped hookin up but go on seeing stripers on the fish finder. A fast depth switch to 4 colors was all we needed and we began reeling in bass just as before. I could very well not understand the effect a half of a color makes to the stripers-having said that I will never ever underestimate the significance.
If I find myself not hooking up, but I still am marking striped bass on my fish finder I will in most cases:
First fiddle with number of colors (depth) then fiddle with tube length and only after that experiment with tube color.
Trolling only 2 tubes instead of 3 tubes.
A few of seasons back I used to fish 4 tubes off my 21 foot boat. When I bring customers out on my boat, I've observed that trolling 3 tubes, all on leadcore, works a tad smoother.
Always having that third tube and worm in the water is advantageous for a couple of good reasons.
It's another hook in the water for stripers to hit, which immediately increases your bass catching capacity. All other sorts of parameters held constant, the crew trolling 3 tubes will at all times catch more fish than the boat trolling only 2.
It permits you to fiddle a lot more with tube length, depth and color. Using this method you'll be able to speedily discover what the stripers would like.
For some bizarre reason, most stripers are caught on that rod trolled down the center of the boat.
Quite often once I determine a successful color (depth) and a productive tube color and length, I will go ahead and fish all three tube and worms in the same exact way. Put simply, all three lines are fished at the same exact depth, are the same color, and are going to be identical in length. As a result of the positioning of rod holders on the Miss Loretta, the third line is positioned exactly in the center of the boat and is positioned just a little closer to the back of the boat than the other rods.
Doing this brings about in the water is a "trolling spread." The three tube rigs are fishing at the exact same depth, however the 1 tube and worm that is being fished off the 3rd line (which is fished right down the center of the spread) is positioned a little behind the two other tube and worm rigs. This is a result of that center rod holder is positioned just a bit closer to the back of the Miss Loretta than my other two rod holders. The middle tube and worm is trolled just a few feet in back of the other two tubes.
The concept is the exact same idea that goes into umbrella rigs and squid bars. The rule of thumb is that you generally have one bait that trails slightly behind the school. With 3 tubes at the same time, an angler really is establishing a "school of worms" squirming through the ocean. One of the tubes (worm) has slipped a little bit behind the other two tube rigs (worms). Fish commonly focus in on the prey item that slips behind the rest of the school. I suspect this is the reason why my center tube generally outfishes the other two rigs.
About the Author:
Captain Ryan Collins fishes for striped bass and Bluefin tuna off Cape Cod, MA. Visit his blog, myfishingcapecod.com for insider striped bass fishing techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment