fishing rip rap

[northstar]

What are your go to presentations when fishing miles of rip rap? Heading to a southern res. with miles of the stuff. I've got a few techniques that I've had success with, just looking for some different options. Thanks

[SWbass]

jerkbait is my favorite, but topwater, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and squarebills all catch fish for me

[scott c]

Spro little John crank bait

[coreynov902]

For me it's usually a crankbait, but first you've got to figure out if there's a certain depth that they are holding at. If they are up really shallow on the rip rap, then I'll throw a buzzbait, plopper, spook, or popper. If they're in that 2-4 foot depth range I'll throw a squarebill. If they are deeper than 4-5 feet then I'll usually tie on a DT10 or any other crankbait that dives 8-10 feet. The places I fish that have rip rap, the rock doesn't extend out past about 10 feet deep, so I don't have experience beyond that depth. I have had some success fishing a weightless T-rigged or wacky rigged Senko or Fat Ika if there's little to no wind.

[krindgen]

Have done well just pitching a jig into rip rap. Dicey though, need to maintain contact with the bait the entire retrieve or lose a bunch. Otherwise I like banging a big, wide wobbling squarble through it.

[northstar]

Good stuff guys.

[NoCAL]

3.8" Keitech on an underspin.

[Wackyjig]

Buzz bait, 6" or 8" magdraft depending on the lake, and a jerkbait paralleled.
Jig or craw stroked perpendicular.
Like krindgen said it's a battle to keep your bait from sliding in a crack but it can be done. I pitch it up shallow and keep my rod up so the bait swims down a little bit. As soon as it hits a rock I'll twitch the tip up, pull up the slack to keep the line tight, and let it swim down again. Letting it settle is when it'll slide into the deepest darkest cracks. You're guaranteed to lose baits that way, but minimizing time settling will drastically lower your hang ups

[NumberOne]

Buzz bait, 6" or 8" magdraft depending on the lake, and a jerkbait paralleled.
Jig or craw stroked perpendicular.
Like krindgen said it's a battle to keep your bait from sliding in a crack but it can be done. I pitch it up shallow and keep my rod up so the bait swims down a little bit. As soon as it hits a rock I'll twitch the tip up, pull up the slack to keep the line tight, and let it swim down again. Letting it settle is when it'll slide into the deepest darkest cracks. You're guaranteed to lose baits that way, but minimizing time settling will drastically lower your hang ups

Love this idea. Thanks

[Squire]

two things I like to do. DD22 to work down the entire rap depthwise....second is find where the rap has ended and throw a jig 1-3ft outside the rockline....they often hang on the edge at certain depths. You can idle around with your side scan and pick them up on how they are relating to the rip/rap any particular day....and don't forget the a-rig....cloudy equals shallow, clear skys equals deep assuming threadfin. If you have Herring, reverse.

[eyra_kid]

One of the best baits for riprap is the ole Ned rig. Won my first tournament from the back of the boat doing just that. Same bait all day, never lost one. I wouldn't want to pick apart miles of riprap with it, especially if the fish are hitting a buzzer or crank. But if I got bit in an area on something else, I'd sure pick it apart with a Ned rig before I moved on, especially if the fish were somewhat negative that day. 1/15 or 1/16 is the magic weight. Anything heavier and I'm donating a bunch of lead to the lake gods.

[Walkabout7781]

My "Dumb-Bass Rig" works pretty well in rip-rap. Alternately, a Senko-type, unweighted, or if you've only got LM, then a 10" Powerworm with no weight.