Tow the Lines
By: Russ Mogul
Early spring is a tough time for anglers fishing along the Mid-Atlantic Coast: The water temperature hovers in the mid-40s, the air temperature rarely climbs out of the 50s, and wind and rain pelt anyone who ventures outside. Last spring was worse than usual. From March to May the weather and the fishing were poor. It seemed like every weekend foul conditions washed out my fishing plans. So when I happened upon a series of reports boasting of an epic run of huge stripers in the mid-Chesapeake, I jumped off the couch, picked up the phone and made arrangements to check it out.
Soon I was standing on a dock in Chesapeake Beach, on Maryland's Western Shore, asking Captain Russ Mogul for permission to come aboard his 46-foot bay boat Mary Lou Too. Once the other anglers arrived, Mogul's son and mate Chris threw off the lines and the boat powered away from the dock.
As we cleared the long inlet and turned into the open Bay, we were slammed by the near-constant northeast wind and muddy chop that had defined this early season. I braced for impact, but the massive bay boat plowed right through the mess. Meanwhile, Chris pulled out the gear and readied the rigs. Rod after rod emerged from the cabin and was placed into the holders until the boat was bristling with more than a dozen heavy-duty trolling outfits-each armed with some form of a tandem parachute rig. These rigs consist of two parachute jigs, which look like a punk-rock bucktail thanks to a five-ounce leadhead, bright hair sticking out in all directions and a 12-inch shad body. To build a tandem rig, Chris tied one of these jigs to 15 to 20 feet of 80-pound leader and attached another jig to 20 to 30 feet of leader material. Both leaders are joined to a 1/0 snap swivel that is connected to a two- to 20-ounce inline sinker. Then the sinker is snapped to the 50-pound Spectra running from one of the heavy-action boat rods. After all of the rods and baits were set, Chris busted out the planer boards-the Chesapeake's answer to outriggers.
Planers allow skippers to troll multiple lines off each side of the boat. The contraption consists of two arm-length boards bolted parallel and attached to 150 feet of weed-whacker cord tied to a cleat on the gunwale. Once we reached the edge of the shipping channel that runs up the middle of the Bay, Russ slowed the boat to trolling speed (about two knots), and Chris dropped one of the planers in the water. The board acts like a floating shuttle and the force of the moving water pulls it away from the boat and stretches the cord.
Once deployed, Chris grabbed a rod rigged with a tandem parachute and dropped the bait back about 100 feet. Next, he doubled a rubber band over the fishing line and clipped it to a carabiner that is then snapped over the planer line and released to slide down the cord. Chris repeated the operation with two other lines, trolling three rods off each planer. The setup is designed so when a striper hits the bait, the rubber band snaps and the line swings free so the angler can fight the fish, similar to an outrigger. The carabiner slides down the cord.
Although some skippers troll as many as 25 lines, the Mary Lou Too limits its spread to 17 rods. Still, that's more than 30 baits in the water, and strength is in numbers when imitating a huge school of fat-back menhaden that are swimming up the Bay in the spring. The diversity helps, too. With each rig sporting two parachute jigs, there is room for experimenting with different combinations of color and weight to find what is tickling the striper's fancy on a particular day.
To cover the water column, they pull everything from unweighted rigs 180 to 200 feet back to 32-ounce Mojos that run in close and down deep. They even throw in a couple of umbrella rigs just for good measure.
While watching Chris manage this plate-spinning act, I noticed that dark-headed jigs were adorned with matching dark-colored shads.
"Using the same color attracts the fish better," Russ explained. "They may like that color and can see it best."
Chris had just finished setting out the last rod when a rubber band popped, and one of the planer board lines went down. He was quick on the rod, cranking in the slack and tightening up on a big fish. He handed the rod to one of the anglers, and the fight was on. Russ ran the boat fast enough to keep the lines tight while still letting the angler work on his fish. After a fantastic bout of give and take, a fat striper was rolling in the prop wash. Chris and Russ worked together to net the fish and haul it over the stern. It was a beautiful striped bass, measuring almost 40 inches.
Then the bite was really on. Every few minutes, another line went down and another striper would come over the stern. By noon we were back at the dock with fish in the box and a boatload of happy anglers.
Russ Mogel
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