Wire for Thanksgiving

The arrival of Thanksgiving always reminds me that the bigger striped bass are on their way. For years, we would head out to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on Thanksgiving Day and catch stripers by wire lining over the spines of the artificial islands.

It’s interesting how trends come and go. There are many different methods used to fish for striped bass. Casting lures, jigging, trolling, and using live bait are all good methods. Many angers still wire line the “tubes” of the islands today, but over the past few years more folks are trying out popular eeling methods. Using live eels near the High Rise section of the Bay Bridge Tunnel, and drifting with eels near the deep channels the Eastern Shore area are effective methods for targeting larger stripers. But this time of year, the average size rock fish caught via wire lining can also be larger than those caught using some other methods. The reason is simple. The wire enables the angler to get the bait into the strike zone on the down current side of the tube quickly and effectively. Sometimes wire lining out fishes the eeling methods.

Wire lining requires a special rod and reel set up to hold wire instead of fishing line, usually using a sturdy conventional reel. As for the lure, most folks use a ¼ ounce buck tail donned with a grub or a pork rind on a three-way rig made up of monofilament line.

The trick is to fish when the current is moving. This way, a very long leader sweeps the buck tail into the strike zone where rock fish lay in wait for bait tumbling over the rocks.

Although this is an effective method, it still takes some skill and practice. The captain must skillfully maintain the boat moving at a crawl along the edge of the rocks, not easy in a ripping current and any wind.

The three-way rig is dropped at the up current edge of the rocks using a heavy sinker ranging from 12 to 20-ounces. The weight is “tippy-toed” along the edge of the rocks as the boat moves slowly along the tube. It is almost impossible to avoid hanging the weight in the rocks. The trick is to have plenty of weights and rigs handy.

There’s also a trick to the pattern of the movement. The pass is always started in the shallower water near the island, moving into deeper water. That way you are letting out line with your thumb, instead of trying to keep up with reeling line in going uphill. Speaking of thumbs, many wear thumb guards while letting out the wire, because frays in the wire are common and can stab and cut.

If other boats are also wire lining, the boats take turns joining into the pattern to make a pass. That means when an angler becomes hung up, the protocol is to wrap the line around the reel and break the mono line since there is usually another boat close behind.

When a fish is hooked, the boat drifts down current out of the pattern of boats to fight the fish, and returns to rejoin the pattern after the fish is boated. Try it, you may be surprised.

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