When I am out striper fishing I always start with a variety of lures that cover the entire water column.

When I get my first fish, I then make adjustments to my other rods so I can match the depth the fish are at on that particular day.

One of the tricks I have found is when the fish are deep and running in 18 to 20 feet, the best way to control the depth of your lures is an in-line sinker. That is a torpedo-shaped weight with a snap swivel on one end and a barrel swivel on the other.

You tie the weight on your line and put a leader behind it with your lure. This allows the lure to dive deeper than it normally would and lets you use lures that would never be able to get to that depth without some help.

You can put a Yo-Zuri on a leader and let the bait run 15 feet deep when it normally runs about 3 to 5 feet.

The farther back you run the bait the deeper it will go. If you are trolling along and start to bump the bottom then you reel in some line. That changes the angle and raises the bait in the water column.

With a little practice you will be able to judge exactly how deep your baits are presented in order to produce the most strikes.

I have run Rattle Traps, swim baits and rouge stick baits behind these rigs and they have all produced when others have not.

Try it out on the next trip and see what deeper baits will do to your next catch.

Catch this event


 We have an event coming up that would benefit the bass fishing fans in the area.

The good people at Camp Cale in Hertford County are having a meeting at the conference center on Jan. 12 with guest speaker Chris Wells and biologists from the Wildlife Resources Commission.

They are going to discuss the largemouth bass in the area and the effects of the hurricane on its population.

The event is catered with tickets going for $15 apiece and is sure to be a great evening.

Call them at 252-264-2513 or look them up at www.campcale.com.

What’s biting, where ...

The fishing report is looking OK when the wind has slowed long enough to get offshore they have caught some nice tuna with yellow fin and black fin being brought back to the docks. The surf report is still skates and dogfish, but there have been some puppy drum caught down in Hatteras.

Around here the big bite is still the striper with fish being brought back to the boat on the sound bridge and power lines in Edenton.

They are hitting stretch lures and Yo-Zuri’s along with swim baits and Rattle Traps cast to the pilings.

The I.C.W. in Coinjock is still pretty good but the water has to be moving in order to get them to bite. As long as the wind blows and the tide is running they have been hot on the Rattle Traps in chrome and blue and chrome and black.

The size of the fish are not as good as the ones in Edenton, but the numbers are better.

The big fish in Virginia are still in the bay but starting the first of the year the fish are out of season there. In order to keep the fish you have to go outside the bay.

I did get a report that the bass are still up in the creeks and hitting crank baits and spinner baits in white and chartreuse.

This is no big surprise since the bait run up the creeks in the fall and winter and the bass always follow.

If you have a report send it to fishingwithmike921@yahoo.com or hit me up on my new facebook page Fishing With Mike. I am going to start putting instructional videos on the page in order to help so give it a shot.

Mike Sweeney is a fisherman who lives in Elizabeth City.