In the Chesapeake Bay, trophy striped bass, known
locally as "rockfish" are a sought after species. Anglers fish
using a variety of methods including trolling, chumming, fishing
with live bait, cut bait and casting artificial lures.
Spring rockfishing is done in the shipping channel of the Chesapeake Bay. I live at the extreme southern end of the spring fishery and often
miss the season entirely as the fish seem to pass by me quickly. When I go in the spring, I fish the area from buoy 72 north toward HS buoy. I troll about 3 knots using large
bucktails, large spoons, umbrella rigs and plugs.
Fall and winter trolling for big rockfish is very similar to the techniques described for school rockfish. The
weather for the fall season is typically very heavy and cold, making a large boat almost mandatory. One important
difference worth noting is the tendency of big fish to sometimes be indicated by the presence of gannets.
Gannets look and act very differently than gulls and are seldom seen on the bay until November.
Gannets feed almost exclusively on large baitfish such as Menhaden. This trait is shared with the large rockfish and both predators are normally present
together. Seeing gannets and rockfish working a school of bait together is one of the most dramatic and exciting events in nature.
Lots of special rigs have gotten popular lately as the fishery gains popularity. I use the fancy rigs on occasion but tend
to go with a few simple and time honored rigs. I like one "bottom bouncer" rig on wire line which consists of one or two bucktails with 9 inch shad bodies 20' or so
behind a 20-32 oz. sinker. Another rig which is good on wire is a pair of 8 oz. bucktails with 9 inch shad bodies. This tandem rig does not require a dropper sinker.
For more on wire line see articles on lure depth
and
trolling with wire line. A
another productive rig is a spoon-jig combination. A 3 way swivel has an 8oz. bucktail dropped down 18-24" and a spoon trailing behind 20-30'.
The spoon should be rigged on #80 or #125 line with a ball bearing swivel at mid-point between the 3 way and the spoon.
This rig works well in both the spring and fall fisheries.
Two other rigs deserve mentioning although both are somewhat temperamental. The first is the umbrella rig. I rig #9
wire through shad bodies and attach to the umbrella with a swivel. I then rig a large bucktail or parachute lure on the center line of the umbrella back behind the rig. The jig is the only part armed with a hook. The umbrella is
difficult to launch and is best run very far back in the spread....even to 300'. Umbrella rigs and variations are discussed
here. For an lternative to umbrella rigs, see
rigging a shad daisy chain for rockfish.
The most dreadful of all rockfish lures is the Mann's Stretch 30. This lure dives deep and can
be run by itself or preceded with a heavy dropper. The lure tends to run in a circular "hunting" path. If the spacing and depth of the other lures is not correct, the
Stretch will seek out every line in the water, wrap around each rig several times and then proceed to jump out of the water like a tiny crazed mako in defiance. The remedy for this
is several crewmembers with line cutters. In spite of it's problems, the Stretch 30 and it's little brother the Stretch 25 catch fish. Most serious trollers carry a red/white
model and a "grey ghost". The red/white Stretch 30 goes back into service during the summer for bluefin tuna and wahoo.
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