Light Tackle Spin-Fishing for Stripers

By Gene Bourque

Some of my fishing friends are disgusted with me. No, not the ones who troll with wire and are only interested in trophy striped bass, the ones who get a huge amount of enjoyment out of calling me Schoolie King. I get back at them by reminding them that the boat is the one actually catching the fish! It’s the other end of the spectrum. For more than a decade, my 9-weight fly rod was just about all I considered using if I was shore fishing for the stripers I love. Same thing with quite a few of my fishing buddies. Sure, there were plenty of times I’d drift along the Elizabeths and toss eels with a medium action spinning rod – still do that on occasion as a matter of fact – and using a fairly heavy surfcasting outfit down along the Big Beach from Nauset to P-Town was and is a fall ritual. But the fly rod was what gave me the most jollies. It was effective, and tying flies all winter kept me in the game even if I wasn’t out fishing.

In the last couple of years things have changed. Some of the guys I fished with through the boom in saltwater fly fishing have moved on to tossing and building wooden plugs and they have abandoned the fly rod. Others have discovered a way to get all the thrills of using fly gear to take stripers large and small for less of an investment in both time and money. They use light spinning and conventional tackle. I now count myself among that group.

The advantages of the light spinning gear I use are many. It all comes down to one of the basic reasons I started saltwater fly-fishing in the first place: matching the gear to the fish I would most likely be catching. Overpowering a 25-inch striper with heavy surf gear gets pretty boring and the fact is, there are times when even much bigger bass are keyed in on very small bait. The springtime “worm hatch” is a prime example. I’ve seen many anglers give up in total frustration when they could not offer the fish anything small enough with their heavy gear. The fly rod was perfect for that of course, except for one problem. The wind can often be an extremely limiting factor in fly-fishing, and false casting over and over to work a fly out into strike range just takes too much time. The legendary fly fisherman Lefty Kreh is fond of saying: “No fish was ever caught while the fly is in the air!” And he’s right. Using light spinning gear, I can toss a small soft plastic not only a longer distance but with much more accuracy and instantly fire a cast to a fish I see rising. No time-wasting back-and-forth required.

The main key in what I just said is distance. Now, I know some fly casters who can dump an entire fly line with only one or two false casts but I’m not one of them, and very few anglers I know can do it, either. Even under perfect conditions my best cast with the fly rod is in the 60-foot range, maybe 70 if everything comes together. If I’m using a large fly or one that is weighted like the popular Clouser Minnow, reduce those numbers by at least 10 feet. I will grant that there are times when “hero casts” are unnecessary, and may even be detrimental but those are the exceptions rather than the rule. There is a back bay area in Woods Hole that I fish regularly and the stripers often hang just over a steep drop-off that is impossible to reach with the fly rod – believe me, I’ve tried – but I hit the strike zone with no problem with my light spinning gear. This is a common situation and I want the most distance I can get.

So what about the thrill of the strike? That is one of the main reasons I fly fish, that intimate connection to the fish, the feel of the line in my fingers. What I’ve discovered is that I get 95% of that same thrill with light spinning gear in spite of having a reel handle in my hand rather than the line itself. I can tell you one thing for sure: it sure is nice having the reel at my disposal from moment one in the fight with a large fish, rather than having to control a hard charging striper with one hand, bleeding out line but avoiding slack, while I furiously take up line dangling in the water with my reel hand to get the fish “on the reel.” I have no doubt that I lose fewer bragging size fish with my light spinning gear in spite of the relatively light line I use.

Getting back to the issue of distance, I was amazed just how far I could toss our 7-inch Hogy with my light gear. With no added weight I can easily throw my soft plastic 200 feet and even in windy conditions, being sure to keep my cast low and the bait zinging out close to the water I can heave it 2/3 that distance. I recently tested out our new 6-inch Skinny Hogy in what I’ll call average conditions (a bit of wind, quartering from my left) and 100-foot casts were a breeze, no pun intended! I can hardly wait to use those Skinnies this upcoming season.

Another advantage to my light spinning gear compared to the fly gear I once used is control. On those rare occasions I was able to punch out a 70-foot cast with my fly rod, I had no idea if I was making a straight connection to the fly unless I was stripping fairly fast, and any kind of current complicated matters. The result was more than a few missed strikes. Maybe more than a few; I’ll never know. That fast strip was not the answer either because there are times when the stripers want little or no imparted action to the lure or fly – impossible when you have to strip constantly to know you’re in contact with your offering. With my spinning I gear I can not only cast a far greater distance but using the low-stretch monofilament I prefer (more on gear in a minute) all I have to do is crank the reel handle a couple times and I can feel the bait working the right way. I can retrieve precise amounts of line throughout the retrieve at the speed I want. And with some action imparted with the tip of the rod I can make the bait move in an enticing manner even through what is essentially a dead-drift. Try to do that with 60 feet of fly line getting pushed by the current.

I believe that the perfect fishing rod and reel has yet to be invented but in the last couple of years I’ve come to depend on three rods and a couple reels that have served well in a wide variety of situations. Most of my fishing is done from shore but I also fish from my kayak so all three of the rods must be practical and easy to use in both situations. That means the butt section cannot be too long. It’s hard enough to land a fish in a kayak without having to hold the rod far above your head because a long butt section is jammed into your stomach! My primary rod is a 7 ½-foot Star Stellar Lite, 1-piece, model SG6121SL, rated for 6 to 12-pound test, medium/light action. It is rated for 1/4- to 5/8-ounce lures but I’ve easily tossed 10-inch Hogys with it, which weighs fully 1 ounce. I also use a St. Croix Tidemaster 3-piece travel rod, 7 feet in length, model TIS70MF3, medium action, rated for 8- to 17-pound test and lures weighing 3/8 to ¾ ounces. My latest toy is a custom rod from Cape Cod rod maker Local Hooker Rods, a 7 ½-footer, 3-piece, rated for 8- to 15-pound and 3/8- to ¾-ounce lures. This is a sweet rod and may very well become my primary tool this upcoming season.

I have been a dyed in the wool Penn reel fan for decades and I still use my 4400ss frequently but I recently bought a couple Shimano Stradics and have been very pleased with them overall, although the stem of the smaller model is just a bit too short for my hand and the bail hits my knuckles if I don’t pay attention. However, the drag is silky smooth and so far it has held up in spite of my less than diligent cleaning habits. I like this reel and the price is reasonable compared to many premium reels. I have my eye on a Diawa Tierra that looks pretty nice and felt great when I played with it at a recent fishing show.

When it comes to line, I have to say I am old-school and stick to mono. I’ve tried four kinds of the new braids that are popular these days and while there is no debating their advantages of no stretch and miniscule diameter they have been nothing but trouble for me in terms of wind knots and problems with joining two dissimilar lines. My favorite mono and/or co-filament lines are Yozuri Hybrid and Silver Thread Excalibur. Both have as little stretch as you can find in a mono line, not as good as braid of course, but more than acceptable. Both are quite abrasion resistant and take and hold a know very well. That variety of Silver Thread is a little hard to find but many of the larger on-line retailers have it. It’s worth asking for at your local tackle shop. I use either 10- or 12-pound test and tie up 12-to 18-inch fluorocarbon leaders in 30-pound test with a wide gap snap (NOT a snap swivel) on one end and a 150-pound SPRO ball bearing swivel on the other that will be the connecting point with the running line. Those SPRO swivels are expensive but worth it – you don’t want a bait that spins to kink up your line and the SPRO is absolutely reliable. The idea of a wide gap snap (size 4 or 5 is about right) is that it allows the bait to swing and swim naturally, compared to most snap swivels that have a very narrow opening and can restrict the action of your lure. By the way – that 30-pound test fluoro may seem light but heavier line can also adversely affect the action of the lure, and I’ve caught plenty of bluefish up to 12 pounds or so and have yet to be bit off with these leaders. Not saying it couldn’t happen, but they work for me.

Our smaller Hogys are just about perfect for this type of fishing. I rig our 7-inch design on one of the Owner 7/0 offset worm hooks we sell and it swims perfectly. I will use our new 6-inch Skinny with the same hook but in 5/0 size. Other options include various small metals, swimmers, jigs and poppers but I am dead set against using anything with treble hooks when I know the vast majority of the stripers I’ll be catching are below the legal limit and will be released. Do yourself and the fish a favor: skip the treble hooks.

How to fish a small soft plastic on light spinning gear is limited only by your imagination. I used to use jig heads all the time with soft plastics but since I learned to Texas-rig (see our web site for an instructional video on how to do this killer rigging method) that is about all I use unless I bump up to our 10-inch design when the tandem rig is equally effective. Generally, a slow presentation with plenty of rod tip action to make the bait swim and dart is most effective. Remember too that the slower the presentation, the less likely it will that you’ll attract the attention of Mr. Bluefish (unless you want to attract him, of course). Jig heads will get you a bit deeper in the water column but you can also use insert weights, pinch weights or even a very small egg sinker ahead of the bait. Just remember that the more weight you add, the more difficult it will be to keep your soft plastic swimming in a natural manner when using light tackle.

So, will you see my fly gear on the Cape Cod listings on CraigsList? Probably not. I still love fly-casting if conditions warrant. The thing is, conditions are seldom perfect. I want my offering to spend more time in the water than in the air. Because that’s where the fish are, right?