When trolling with a 4- to 6-ounce fully rigged, six-arm shad rig, for every 50 feet of super-braid line in the water (don’t count the line between the rod tip and the water), the lure goes down about 4 feet of trolling depth. I proved this by trolling along a sandy beach with 300 feet of super-braid line in the water. The shad rig hit the bottom when the depthfinder read 24 feet, which is 4 feet of depth for every 50 feet of line. Adding a 4-ounce drail got me to the 28-foot depth. This is virtually identical to fishing with wire line, which achieves 5 feet of depth for every 50 feet of line.

You can also catch surface-holding fish. Last year on one trip in late August, I marked bluefish at 15 feet deep along a sandy shoal. Letting out approximately 200 feet of super braid resulted in a good catch of blues, and they were caught on tackle usually thought of as summer flounder or weakfish gear. I used a 4-ounce drail, an 8-foot mono leader and an Acetta spoon. What a pleasure it was to catch these 5- to 8-pound bluefish on light tackle!

RIGGING UP
There are several backing-to-braid and braid-to-leader connections that have proved reliable and which also provide the strength to handle many fishing situations. You can use mono backing beneath a top-shot of 150 to 300 yards of super line and connect the two lines with Uni-knots if you double the braided line. Make five turns of the mono backing, but 10 turns of the braid and draw down carefully. Use gloves to get a firm grip on the fine-diameter super line to be sure the knot is snug and neat.

When trolling with umbrella rigs or shad rigs, the braid can be tied directly to the snap swivel, which is then clipped to the shad rig. A double-improved clinch knot is used to attach the snap swivel at the end of the braid. Most fishermen, however, will prefer to add a length of mono at the end of the main fishing line. I like to have a 15-foot mono leader and use the super-strong size No. 6 SPRO barrel swivel rated at 80-pound-test between the mono and the super braid. Double-improved clinch knots or Palomar knots are excellent connections to attach the braided line to the swivel. A three-turn clinch knot attaches the mono leader to the other eye of the swivel.

You can also use a swivel to connect the backing to the top shot of braid, using the same knots. The swivels are small enough to easily pass through the rod guides and are extremely reliable. If you don’t like the idea of swivels, no matter how small, running through the rod guides, attach the mono to the super line with Uni-knots or a five-turn surgeon’s knot. In both cases, double the braided line. A few drops of Hard As Nails will add a protective coating and help the knots flow easily through the rod guides.

TACTICS AND STRATEGY
I like to troll with a matching pair of rods and reels, pre-rigged and ready to go. I fish them angled at 90 degrees to the boat by mounting them in L-shaped outrodders to keep the lines spread apart. This makes turning maneuvers over structure or through a fleet of other trolling boats much easier with virtually no lure tangles.

A combination fishfinder/chartplotter provides essential, detailed information on the depth of the fish, rising and falling bottom contours, surface temperature breaks, and also shows a structure chart on the screen and plots a track line of the trolling pattern as it progresses over each piece of bottom structure. Striped bass and bluefish are very structure oriented and success is often measured in yards; it is essential to make several trolling passes over every area of the bottom contour wherever you mark fish.

Trolling speed and direction are important. The best speed is from 2 1/2 to 4 knots, with jumbo striped bass preferring a slower pace than schoolies and bluefish. Be sure to approach the structure from several directions until the fish show a preference pattern.

If you get strikes while making a turn, analyze what happened. The lure on the outside of the turn rises and speeds up, the inside lure slows and sinks slightly. Adjust your trolling speed and depth accordingly to match the preference of the fish.

Trolling for big fish on lightweight tackle is a dream come true for old-hand wire liners used to tackle that “weighs a ton.” Although still a relatively new concept for Northeast inshore trolling, super-braid trolling is the hot new strategy that will definitely give you that extra edge to catch a few more stripers and blues this summer and fall.