South River, Homeport Farm Park - 10-05

[dsiekman]

Interesting. I think most of the fish I've lost on plain jig heads while trolling were bluefish...either that or the Rock have taken to bighting the plastic off just behind the hook like their toothy friends. For the most part, I have found that the fish do a pretty good job of hooking themselves when trolling plastics. I like to pull Bass Assassins. I know they are not really a trolling bait, but I had really good luck with them last year.

I've never tried the tube holders but agree that pulling a rod out of the other kind can be a real challenge. I do not leash my rods. I've done it in the past but always end up getting tangled. I usually just troll two lines as I am not talented enough not to tangle the crap out of any more. I'm perfectly capapble of screwing up just those two! I like to keep them ahead of me and set with the tips not much above eye level. That way I can keep an eye on how they are doing. After awhile you get used to picking out when the lure is fouled (or missing a tail) just by watching the vibration of the tip. Any higher than eye level and your neck gets stiff or you go blind staring at the sun.

I've also tried the rod holders behind me with very limited success. For me, it took finding just the right drag setting that would allow a hookset but would also notify me that there was a fish on. That, of course, changes with every different lure. I fish a sit in, so that is also part of the problem. Getting to those rods under load without flipping takes some doing.

[sparky1423]

Nitefly, I was using the blue sardine xrap...SXR 10. I use the 10 in the fall and during the springtime I like to use the larger SXR 12, but it's always the blue sardine and sometimes the glass ghost.

I use one plug that out produces the xrap trolling, hands down. It's the Lucky Craft SP100 and the color is "Blue Crack". It's actually a suspending jerkbait, but this spring on the flats it was my go to. It runs around 4-8 ft and has a really smooth and pronounced action in the water. Unfortunately, its a $13 lure...but as I explain to my wife, if it catches fish I spare no expense!

[dsiekman]

Nitefly, I was using the blue sardine xrap...SXR 10. I use the 10 in the fall and during the springtime I like to use the larger SXR 12, but it's always the blue sardine and sometimes the glass ghost.

I use one plug that out produces the xrap trolling, hands down. It's the Lucky Craft SP100 and the color is "Blue Crack". It's actually a suspending jerkbait, but this spring on the flats it was my go to. It runs around 4-8 ft and has a really smooth and pronounced action in the water. Unfortunately, its a $13 lure...but as I explain to my wife, if it catches fish I spare no expense!

Just remind her that rockfish currently retails at $20/lb...

My go to last year was an xrap in olive. I believe it was the 10. I also had a blue sardine in 12 that was hit within the first five minutes and bitten off. Still not happy about that one...