Let's Talk About Trolling Dredges for Stripers

[MAKO19]

Ok guys I have always trolled stretch lures for Bass and just recently got into umbrella rigs or dredges whatever you want to call them. Anyway, my question is how much line do you put out to get the rigs to the bottom? Our typical trolling speed is 2-4 knots with 3.5 being the best. The dredge is a 6 arm dredge with 13 shads. I have 3 feet of #8 wire on the front of the dredge then I connect a 8 oz. drail. The trick is getting this thing close to the bottom but not on the bottom so it doesn't fowl up when trolling. Is there a trick to trolling these things? Maybe a rule of thumb for how deep you will get depending on much line you let out. We usually use braid or mono mainline on the set-ups we troll with but will opt for braid since the less resistance will get us deeper. Typical depths we fish is anyway between 20-50 feet of water.

Any input would be appreciated!

[bigfish4me]

I am interested in this as well, how about that bird play on the lump the past few weeks Mako....we toyed around 2 weeks ago with umbrellas with 12 oz drails, honestly we couldnt get anything past the choppers. Hey Mako we will be down this coming weekend, we have a charter out of cape may on saturday, and we will probably take a sniff around out front on sunday if the weather cooperates...not sure which boat were going to be running though.

[Bird Dog]

Here's what I do

Main line goes to a 3 way. 3' dropper to a mojo (usually 36 oz). About 20' back to your umbrella rig.

With braid you shouldn't have any problem staying down. Let it out till it hits bottom if you need to.

[MAKO19]

I am interested in this as well, how about that bird play on the lump the past few weeks Mako....we toyed around 2 weeks ago with umbrellas with 12 oz drails, honestly we couldnt get anything past the choppers. Hey Mako we will be down this coming weekend, we have a charter out of cape may on saturday, and we will probably take a sniff around out front on sunday if the weather cooperates...not sure which boat were going to be running though.

Yeah it has been good out there for some but like you said nothing but choppers. I trolled the lumps to the south off Wildwood last Sunday and had nothing but slammer blues. Of course I was only trolling stretches and no umbrella rigs and I only fished 3 hours in the afternoon. Better luck next time!!