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Striper Fishing Articles > Live Bait for stripers | |||||||||||||
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| Umbrella rigs are
an easy way to catch fish and anyone can do it. Its also a great way to
do scouting before putting bait out, because you can pull umbrella rigs
while you're looking and you might even catch fish while you're looking! Umbrella Rig tackle - the basics. A stiff rod, a line-counter reel, braided line, monofilament and an umbrella rig. That's it. You'll need a stiffer than normal rod to pull umbrella rigs because of the heavy weight and hard impact of a striper or multiple stripers hitting the rig at once. A 7 to 7 1/2 foot medium-heavy fiberglass rod or even a heavy action fiberglass rod will do. There's a thousand of these rods out there, but we suggest something inexpensive but sturdy like Ugly Sticks and Okuma rods. We like the Ugly Cat Ugly Sticks for Umbrella Rigs. The reel needs to have a line counter because you need to know exactly how much line you have out behind to boat to determine the depth that you're running. The Okuma Magda Pro is perfect for this. These are sturdy reels with a line counter and they're inexpensive too!  |
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Braided line has been the ticket for trolling umbrella rigs in freshwater because of its small diameter and invisibility to the fish. Braided line is tough and doesn't have any stretch which is essential to trolling umbrella rigs. We strongly recommend 50lb Power Pro Braid. Before you spool your Magda Pro with braid, be sure to put about a ½ spool of monofilament on the spool to serve as a base and to prevent slippage of the braided line. We recommend spooling 20lb Suffix Monofilament on half of the reel and then using a blood-knot, attach your Power Pro 50lb Braided line. Use the entire spool of 150 yards of 50lb test Power Pro to fill up the spool. |
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After you've spooled your Magda Pro, now test the line counter. The accuracy of the line counter will depend on the amount of line you put on. Definitely put on more than enough line so that you can cut line off to make the reel accurate. To check the accuracy of the counter, make two marks on the ground that are 40 feet apart. Lay the reel at one mark, reset the counter to 0 and then pull the line to the 2nd mark. The first time you do this, it will probably not be 40 feet by the counter's reading. From here, start cutting a little line at a time and re-check. After a couple of tries you'll see how much you'll need to take off to get an accurate reading. After your reel is calibrated, attach a heavy-duty coastlock swivel to your Power Pro braid using a strong Palomar knot. With this Coastlock swivel you can easily switch between different Umbrella Rigs. |
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For the actual Umbrella Rigs, just have fun with selecting these. There's been some very creative approaching to using different colors and different jig heads. Just experiment with colors and sizes to see what works in your fishing spots. Natural colors are always a go-to and chartreuse is a favorite of most. The amount of line you let out will definitely determine the depth
that your umbrella rigs are running. If you want to run the umbrella
rigs at 18-20 feet, you'll need to put out 90-120 feet of line, depending
on the size of the umbrella rig and size of the baits/jigs on the rigs.
We suggest taking a day and go to a spot where there's a flat, clean
bottom and just keep running the umbrella rigs over these spots and
letting out line and adjust your boat's speed, until you start hitting
bottom. Then you'll know how much line is needed to reach your desired
depth and at what speed you need to run the boat. The Pro Staff at Core Fishing Tackle |
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