Trolling for stripers is a popular way to catch them. I remember back in the 70's as a kid seeing all the boats trolling back and forth all over the lake. I can remember sassy shads on heavy jig heads being a popular bait back then. It seems some of the same baits and tactics are still popular today. The more I read and try to get caught up the more it seems striper fishing hasn't changed all that much. The tools we use certainly has changed, but it seems the same style baits and tactics are still popular today.

I'm curious to hear about some of your favorite ways to rig, what baits you like, size and type, for trolling. Especially from those who don't have downriggers. Anyone care to share your go to tactics for putting some fish in the boat?

I'm certainly no expert but I do troll allot due to the nature of the small light boat I fish in. The Inflatable is tough to cast from but is serviceable if under power.

Here's what I do at Texoma:

1. if you mark fish that are less than 20 foot down in water (regardless of depth), I will troll a Citrus Shad Bomber crankbait at 2 mph. You can go up to 3 mph, but I would change to a umbrella rig at the higher speed. While the lure will only go down about 12-15 feet, the fish will come up and take it. This is what I fish with 90% of them time. If you rub some of that Strike King anise/shad stick on the lure you'll catch everything from Crappie to catfish along with the stripers.




2. If the fish are deeper than 20, I'll go with a two jig one crankbait rig. You make this rig with one barrel swivel, three number 7 clasp swivels and 36 inches of 40 LB test fluorcarbon. You'll need the heavy fluorocarbon line, as you'll quite often get multiple fish on. I've never pulled in more than one over but have pulled in three box fish before. The big ones will bend or break the hook or swivels.

Attach your swivel to the barrel swivel. You can pre make these rigs and store them in a plastic bag for later use. I normally use two 3/4 oz chartreuse jigs with 4 or 5 inch Powerbait ripple shad. I've also used Powerbait pearl red eyes and chartreuse Gulp bait. I think any jig will work.

This rig will begin to hang up at 25 feet when trolled at 2 MPH. I've had striper on the bottom at PK in 40 feet come up and take this in mid day in the summer. When the bite is slow, go with this or the umbrella rig.



3. Umbrella rigs - I don't use them much because they are expensive and I don't use braided line. I tried braid but can't put up with the wind knots. I'm using 12 lb low vis green suffix and have never had it break with a fish. I caught an 18 lb striper at PK last year and numerous 10 lb fish at both PK and Texoma. That said, the mono will break before you pull a U rig from a tree or stump. When I have used umbrella rigs they work really well when the fish are in the upper 25 feet in clear water. You need to know the water you are trolling extremely well or you will lose the rig.

In the summer I like to use them along the rocky shore when going back to Eisenhower park to take out. The water is deep there with few obstructions as long as you avoid the points and quit often has stripers moving in at dusk. I'll troll them along at 3 MPH. A hit from a big striper on the little boat at that speed bends an ugly stick almost double and turn the little boat 90 degrees.

4. At Dusk, often I will use a square bill crank bait or one of the Berkly flicker shad and troll in less than 10 feet. This works very well from Highport to Mill creek or in sandy areas. Like I said before, you have to know the area or you'll find one of areas with stumps and lose your lure. With the floating crakbaits you can stop and cast and work the points and areas of interest hard and then move to the next spot. In 2013, I caught 8 smallmouth at Eisenhower that were over 18 inches using this tactic at dusk and after dark.




General tips: I see a lot of people just trolling along in probably empty water. I consider this a waste of time. I would not do this. You should wait until you mark fish then troll or hit an area where you recently saw fish. Make sure you passed over the troll path before or know it from past experience. A sudden unexpected change of depth or a tree will cause a hang up.


Good luck. Send me a PM if you need clarification.

PKfishing, great information on your tactics. I'll say this, and take it for what it's worth;

We have been dragging 20" u-rigs for about 5 or more years now. We use a line counter type reel and nothing but clear big game 20 pound line. Drag is you friend in this game. If you hang up, and you will, make sure to have a retriever and learn how to use it. You'll save many dollars in tackle if you do. Plenty of videos on YouTube to learn from.

I find the fish just hit clear line better than braid but that's just my observation.

We also run downriggers at the same time. We use big game 15# on those. Baits of choice fi us is #14 Zpet spoon on the balls.

Hope I helped a little

Post marked to my FAVORITES.... good info pkfishin...kudos

I can probably use a retriever when I'm in my tracker boat but the Seas Eagle Inflatable will eat me alive trying to get a lure out. The guys on 6 old geezers swear by those retrievers. They use those $25 Capt. mack rigs so they have plenty of incentive to not lose it.

Great info guys. Thank you for taking the time. This is what I was hoping for. A little info before venturing into something new is always helpful. I know the best way to learn is to get out there and do it. But when you don't have the opportunity to go often and can learn a little before you do go it certainly helps.

I'm going to Texoma Sunday. I'm planning on doing some trolling. If we happen to find them stacked up we may stop and do some casting too. Can't wait. I hope the weather cooperates. If I have some luck with a certain lure, rig, or tactic I'll report it here. Thanks again!

I do not troll often. Sometimes during the heat of summer we give it a try. The main issue I have is line twist. I've always assumed its because I normally do not buy expensive swivels. What type of swivel do you guys use? Any other tips on dealing with line twist?

Dragging U rigs for second year now and have not seen anything produce big fish like these do...I also like rattle traps and thundersticks....s turns letting rigs fall and knowing your water and depth changes humps is critical for the rockfish! Thanks for the post info...

For a few years I have had my eye on the Electric Downriggers from Cannon. They use their own transducer so they can be programmed to maintain a certain distance from the bottom, or they can be set at a high limit and low limit and can be programed to vary between those two points. I will break them out for their debut as the water warms up. I will be selling my cannon manual down riggers soon.

For years I used Jet Divers,and they work great. Also for a few years I used lead weighted line as wells. Both jet divers and lead line technics can be very accurate.

Hell Benders with Pet Spoons. Will catch Sandies, Hybrids, and Stripers all day. May even catch some bass and catfish that way too.

I only have about a season and a half trolling on texoma. In my small boat and limited experience it produced the best for us.

The people using the Umbrella rigs like http://www.captmacks.com/shop/striped-bass-umbrella-rig/ seemed to post better results than us. I just never committed to the cost. Truth be told those guys could out catch me using my gear also , guys like Captjohn have some skills when it comes to trolling. TIM Cline is a great guide that posted good trolling tips and PK also has put in the time on texoma. I recommend clicking their names and searching their past posts as well.

Anyway, here is what we did for our budget trolling setup.

I had 8" or 10", 5-wire Alabama rigs. Dicks has them half price at times. Usually used 1/4 jig heads. If we needed to get deep we would add trolling weights from MT Pockets, to add weight in front and hold the rig down. We used curly tails and sassy shad type baits. In my limited experience, size mattered more than color. My favorite color though was a pearl 4" curly tail. Father was of the opinion bigger bait = bigger fish, so he preferred larger chartrues shad size baits. After a dozen trips, there was no proof that larger bait = bigger fish to me

Depth control is key, and/or the ability to make your presentation repeatable. That is what line counter reels and Downriggers help with. Instead we marked our line in 10' increments. Then we practiced on the water to learn at what speed and line distance equaled what depth. We did this on a sandy point, making pass after pass noting the amount of line out when the rig hit bottom. We also used . I don't have my chart handy, but we could easily have 100 to 175' of line out at 2.5 to 3.5 mph. With 2oz weight in front, I think we could get down to 30' at 150' of line at 3mph.

I was amazed at the other fish we caught, more than once huge crappie and LMB would hit 4" curly tails.

We made a lure retriever using a huge treble hook and old weight. The key to the line retriever is to get the treble hook as close to your main line, so when you lower it, it will snag the head of the a-rig. Worth every penny.


I have read more than once, that stripers will move up to hit a lure but not down. I think this is true and I found you didn't have to be super deep most of the time. I swear I would mark fish close to the bottom 10' below my rig and be thinking I am to shallow and then get a huge bite.

-good luck

South Dallas Rig, @ about 3mph

What size jigs do you use on the umbrella rigs?

Thanks for the tip on dicks and the U rigs

Jet Divers are,inexpensive and they come in different depth sizes. They are color coded, like red is 10' deep, green is 20'. I don't remember what color represents what depth, but the depth is also posted on their package. The only place I have ever found them was,in Academy. I believe they are manufactured by Jepsen maybe. The two things I liked about them was their accuracy and cost.