Advice for fishing rip rap ?

[kyron4]

What's the best approach to fishing rocky rip rap, casting paralell to the rocks, casting to the rocks back to deeper water, or casting to deeper water and bringing to the rocks ? I use top water lures and crank baits. Any advice from the "pros" ? thanks

[Alpster]

I am by no means a pro, but I will try to answer your question from my perspective. Yes, yes, yes and yes. I also like to bounce a spinner bait along the rocks. My lake has a ton of rip rap and spinner baits are very productive. Just be prepared to sacrifice a bait or two that will inevitably get stuck in the rocks.

Ronnie

 

 

[jdw174]

Depending on conditions, my first choice would be either a shallow running squarebill tossed parallel to the riprap, or a jig.

[bryand82487]

I like to throw a jig

[Nkybassfisherman]

Try running buzzbaits and cranbaits parrallel to the rip rap, the closer you get to the rip rap with the buzzbait the more strikes your going to get, these two techniques have worked well for me on the river.

[Sam]

Some rip-rap observations for your consideration:

1. Fish the rip-rap where the sun hits the rocks to warm them when the water is cool to cold.

2.  Fish the rip-rap with a topwater or Chatterbait in the early AM at dawn and late evening at dusk.

3.  Look for changes in the rock structure: large rocks to small rocks; small rocks to large rocks. Fish those areas. Also, fish any rocks that protrude out from the bank.

4.  Look for rip-rap adjacent to bridges.

5.  Using your sonar try to find where the drop off occurs and fish A) parallel along the drop-off; and to and from the rip-rap and drop-off.

6.  You will have to try various baits and presentations. There are no "rip-rap specific baits" so one day a spinnerbait will work; the next a Chatterbait; then a Shad Rap; followed by a crankbait; etc. Sometimes crawfish colors will do great; other times they will not produce any strikes.

7.  You can use your baitcaster or spinning rig depending on your presentation and technique. I use spinning for the drop-shot and Texas rigs while the baitcaster comes out for cranks and Carolina rigs.

8.  Do not be concerned about losing your baits. You will lose your baits in the rip-rap on shore and under water. It goes with the territory. Bring lots of drop shot weights with you 

9.  Go to one end of the rip-rap; turn off motor and raise it out of the water. Using your trolling motor float down the entire rip-rap bank.

10.  Turn boat around and float back to where you came from, hitting the rip-rap with casts from another direction. Continue this process for at least four passes before leaving the area.

11.  Wait an hour or two and return to the rip-rap and do it all over again!!!!!

12.  Once you catch a bass, look around and note the depth, bait, what rocks are along the shoreline, the direction of the boat, any water current from dams releasing water, etc.  This is the secret to catching more bass and creating a pattern for the day and time.

Good luck and let us know of your success and what other things you decided to do.

[Sam]

P.S. You can throw parallel to the bank; into and out of the rocks; to and from the bank back to the boat; cast and let it sit; bounce the bait off the bottom; swim a jig; use a deep diving crankbait to stir up the bottom; or anything else you want to throw.

If you are fishing from the bank, be sure to be on the lookout for snakes.  ;D   ;D   ;D

[BassChaser57]

Some rip-rap observations for your consideration:

12. Once you catch a bass, look around and note the depth, bait, what rocks are along the shoreline, the direction of the boat, any water current from dams releasing water, etc. This is the secret to catching more bass and creating a pattern for the day and time.

Good luck and let us know of your success and what other things you decided to do.

The main consideration for me on rip rap is to fish from the bank to deep water, when I get any action at all I note the depth/ distance from shore, after a couple of times I am starting to see what depth the bass are working. At that point I will work parallel to the bank at the depth/distance from shore where I got the action and hopefully I can establish a pattern. My bait speed whether fast spinnerbait or slow plastic depends on how active the bass are and if they are willing to chase.

[Jig Man]

What's the best approach to fishing rocky rip rap, casting paralell to the rocks, casting to the rocks back to deeper water, or casting to deeper water and bringing to the rocks ? I use top water lures and crank baits. Any advice from the "pros" ? thanks

One of my favorite banks is a 1/2 mile long stretch of rip rap leading to a dam.  When I am doing the top water, crank bait, etc.  I fish it with the boat in less than 20 fow and run the bait at about a 10° angle back to the boat.  That gives me several feet of variance in depth on each cast.

When I use jigs or plastics I set the boat a cast away from the bank and fish back to what ever depth it takes working the bait up and over the rocks.  On my rip rap bank a cast away puts me in 40-50 fow.  I use worms, jigs, and tubes in the lightest weights possible to minimize hangups.  I have found that the lighter weights come home better than the heavier ones and I don't go after hung up baits and plan to lose 6 or more on each pass.

[Nick]

I like a lot of what Sam has to say about rip-rap, but 4 passes is just too much unless I have absolutely no other options. Also, I like Jigman's idea of lighter weights for crawling baits through rip-rap.  Jigs are a last resort for me because I can't stand to lose lures. Try for aggressive fish first with spinnerbaits and cranks.  Try to tick the rocks occasionally, but don't bury the lure into them. Craw pattersn early in year, and shad patterns later on. Windy rip-raps are usually better, and look for those small differences in depth or contour or size of rock along each rip-rap bank to be key areas. When the rocks extend out several away feet from the bank and into deeper water at least 8 feet, those are the ones I like to target esp. in the warming early spring evening if that rock is exposed to a southern sun. On a really flat lake with few other features the rip-rap may be your best fishing option.

[Pa Angler]

Don't be afraid of using a frog bait I toss a Zoom Horny Toad on those locations as well as spinnerbaits and crankbaits a 1/8oz Road Runner bladed jig with a 3" grub works to.

Tight Lines

Pa Angler

[Shane J]

I work shallow to deep with a football head jig with Rage Chunk, or parallel to the bank with a swim jig.

[CWB]

Check the depth about 3/4 of a cast out from the rip-rap and tie on a crankbait that will hit that depth. Position the boat and make casts towards the bank at 45 degree angles and try to bump the bottom as much as possible. This way you can cover a greater depth range. Have caught alot of fish pulling in behind boats paralleling the bank or tossing a jig this way. Always try to fish rip-rap with wind blowing into it.

[WRB]

If you are asking about man made rip rap being broken rock used to protect the water from damaging the bank above and below the water line;

Reservoirs; start by fishing close to the shoreline as if walking the bank about a boat length out and make casts parallel and slightly outwards, then move out and make casts about 45 degrees towards the bank. Let the bass decide how they want the lure presented.

Rip rap is basically open water and the bass will be active feeding if located there. Your highest percentage lure is a crankbait, type depending on the depth of the bass. If you see cover near rip rap such as a shaded bridge, tree, dock, isolated piling or structure that gives a bass a place to hide, then consider using a slower presentation like underspins or round head light weight jigs. During the winter or cold water period structure spoons can be good on deep under water rip rap areas.

WRB

[BassThumb]

Well I see you're a river smallie angler. Maybe the Smallmouth Forum would provide for more useful discussion. I'd say your best bets would be fishing parallel to the rip rap with small buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, flukes and light-wire tube jigs.

I like these around rocks:

http://www.cabelas.com/roundhead-specialty-cabelas-fisherman-series-tender-tube-jigheads-standard.shtml?type=product&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleBaseUSA&WT.z_mc_id1=738899&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=010B88CC-958E-DF11-A0C8-002219318F67&mr:referralID=NA

[WRB]

Rivers & smallmouths; similar to fishing lake rip rap except current becomes a major factor. Fish the wing dams where you see current current breaks and fish a little deeper with smaller lures then you normally target LMB with.

Good luck.

WRB