Trolling Eels for Striped Bass

In the event you fish for stripers, particularly in  New Jersey, the title Chuck Many. In the event you don’t see him on the water, chances are you’ll hear “woo-hoo!” emanating from his boat, Tyman.  The person catches extra 35- to 50-pound bass in Jersey waters than every other angler round … bar none. 

Figuring out Tyman’s successes, I got down to movie an episode of Saltwater Underground, going deep to search out out what Chuck’s magic was all about. Navigating a 20-knot west wind and 3- to 4-foot seas off the northern Jersey coast, we set out the eel traces. Earlier than I may put the primary rod within the gunnel, line began screaming off its reel, the spool engaged, and a 44-pound bass was boatside, tagged, and despatched again into the water. Sixteen extra stripers adopted go well with, all between 25 to 45 kilos. 

So, how does this dude persistently discover and catch massive bass?

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BIG-TIME NUMBERS

Any bass that Chuck thinks is over 40 kilos is weighed on an IGFA-certified Boga Grip that he sends out to get calibrated yearly and on a Whisker Seeker digital scale to verify the burden. 

“Final October was the most effective massive bass fishing I’ve ever seen. Throughout that month alone, I launched 441 stripers over the 40-pound mark and 6 over the 50-pound mark.” These aren’t typos. “In a three-day stretch in that month, we launched 228 bass over 35 kilos. I’ve by no means seen something prefer it,” Chuck informed me with a way of disbelief even when he was reciting these numbers. 

Nonetheless, Chuck additionally stated, with a tinge of incredulity, that he has but to crack the hallowed 60-pound mark. “I’ve had fish 59.47 and 59.37 kilos, however not 60 but. I simply don’t know why. To me, that 60-pound mark is a quantum leap in striper development, however they only don’t appear to raise previous 60. Typically, I really feel unfortunate that I can’t break it.”  

Unfortunate, he says, however these type of numbers buckle the knees of any striper hound. There’s acquired to be some inside magic to all of it, and Chuck provides this recommendation. “I do know it sounds loopy, however when concentrating on massive bass, you simply should consider. By that, I imply this: First, I goal construction edges that drop from 25 to 50 toes as a result of I do know bass are normally feeding on that line. If I run over one solitary crimson splotch mark at 20 toes, I instantly ship out the traces. These massive fish are suspending within the water, so one mark means extra are round. It’s onerous to cease on just one mark, however that’s the place perception comes into play.  Reliance on my logbooks tells me I could not mark a bunch, however the one mark will imply extra are hanging round.”  Chuck works that construction line, believing it’s the superhighway migratory fish are lining up on.  He’ll persistently drift or drag his eel baits alongside it. 

It may be within the spring, throughout the warmth of the summer season, or effectively into the autumn run, although Chuck can discover cow bass in Jersey waters it doesn’t matter what historical past dictates, bucking all recognized information and beliefs about time of yr or circumstances. “Spring and fall are clearly the higher instances to search out the migratory fish, however on July 4 this yr while you anticipate them to be gone, I went out and didn’t mark something, however nonetheless put the baits out and located a few 40-pound fish. I don’t wish to fish a lot after June throughout the summer season as a result of I consider the change in water temperature from the underside to the highest considerably impacts the survivability of these massive fish.”

Setting the Eel Unfold

Chuck’s approach includes utilizing planer boards to set an eel unfold. The planer-board approach began down within the Chesapeake Bay off Virginia the place Chuck winters over to focus on massive bass, and he introduced that tactic as much as Jersey. 

His rig consists of an 8/0 inline Gamakatsu circle hook, 3 to 4 toes of 30-pound fluorocarbon chief, a 150-pound barrel swivel, then a bead onto the operating line, which is all the time 30-pound hi-vis monofilament, not braid. (Braided line journeys the planer board and causes a lot unneeded frustration.)  A Trophy Stalker planer board is then affixed. Hello-vis line permits the angler to take care of and monitor the unfold and maintain it from crossing up. Chuck goes massive, setting out 12 rods, 3 weightless and 9 with pinch-on rubber-core sinkers of ¼, ½, or 1 ounce. Rods embrace 6½-foot Shimano Northeast Terramar medium to heavy standard rods matched with Shimano Trinidad 20A or 30A reels. Eels are hooked underneath the underside jaw and out the highest jaw.

“Set the furthest-back traces out first. Pull out the road on such as you’re chunking, doling it out 10 to 30 toes again, then set the road within the planer,” says Many. “The floating planer pulls to the facet, so the furthest-back traces are furthest out to the facet with the resistance. You’ll be able to stack the rods accordingly in a single massive V-shaped unfold. When the fish hits, the planer journeys, comes free, slides down the road and catches the bead.”

Chuck both slow-trolls or drifts, relying on the circumstances. “When the winds are pushing 10 to 12 knots or extra, I choose to float the eels and let the wind do the work. When trolling, I run at 1 to 1½ knots so the furthest traces will likely be planed out 75 to 100 yards to the facet of the boat,” he provides. 

A Journey to Keep in mind

On our day filming the Saltwater Underground episode, I didn’t know what to anticipate due to the difficult tough circumstances. As we had been working 65-foot depths, eels had been despatched again, starting from on the floor right down to about 25 toes, and I used to be skeptical that the bass would come up from such deep water to hit them. After all, I used to be fallacious. Whereas we persistently acquired hit, Chuck affixed an inline underwater digital camera in entrance of the eels to see how the bass fed, and we may see the bass come from under and comply with the eel, placing a couple of instances earlier than engulfing it. 

As a parting phrase of recommendation, Chuck gave this nugget: “My finest software is my logbook. There could also be no studies of bass and also you assume they’re gone, however after I line my logbook up with my journeys, it all the time comes collectively, irrespective of if I’m studying the fish or not. Preserve the logbook and, most significantly, log the journeys while you don’t catch any fish and notice the circumstances.  That may be of main significance to determine when and the place to go.” Chuck Tyman not catching any fish? That’s one quantity I’ve bother believing. 

» Watch the Saltwater Underground episode the place Chuck showcases this tactic

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