How do bass USE rip-rap? Hey boys, Happy mornin' to y'all! I posted something the other day and someone mentioned bass using rip-rap as something that they move along

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

Hey boys,
Happy mornin' to y'all!

I posted something the other day and someone mentioned bass using rip-rap as something that they move along - I am probably paraphrasing that incorrectly, but it made me wonder:

How do largemouth and smallmouth (and Kentucks) actually use rip-rap?

I always assumed they would just "move in to eat"... to pick at things in the rocks, move in at a 90 degree angle, turn around 180 degrees, move straight back out. But now I'm wondering if there is much more to this type of structure - what do you think?

Appreciate any input - thanks fellas. Best, -AJ

(Attached is one of the reasons I love rip-rap...)

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

TheMinimalistFisherman wrote:

Hey boys, br Happy mornin' to y'all! br br I pos... (show quote)

Rip-rap usually holds a lot of bait. As in minnows and crawdads.
Bass and other fish cruise along the rocks and feed.
They often will cruise the bottom just above the rocks and look for food.
You can find them in 20 to 30 feet of water over rip-rap or right next to the shore. It just depends on where they are findin most of the food they're after.
Out on Lake Sonoma the whole length of the dam is covered in rip-rap.
If you get too far off the face of the dam you might be in 60 feet of water or more now that it's full and still have rip-rap on the bottom.
Last few years we were fishin off the face of the dam in bout 35+/- feet usin a dropshot rig and were catchin fish.
All rip-rap usually holds fish. You just have to determine WHERE they're holdin and WHAT they wanna hit.

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

saw1 wrote:

Rip-rap usually holds a lot of bait. As in minnows... (show quote)

Very helpful - thank you very much. I always just spent my time running swimbaits or cranks up shallow... I'm thinking I may have passed over a LOT of fish...

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

TheMinimalistFisherman wrote:

Very helpful - thank you very much. I always just spent my time running swimbaits or cranks up shallow... I'm thinking I may have passed over a LOT of fish...

If your FF is good enough to determine where the rip-rap stops under the water you might take a look at that. That is also a good place to find fish.

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

saw1 wrote:

If your FF is good enough to determine where the rip-rap stops under the water you might take a look at that. That is also a good place to find fish.

So they're using the transition from rock to whatever the bottom is - for travel & food?

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

TheMinimalistFisherman wrote:

So they're using the transition from rock to whatever the bottom is - for travel & food?

Yep. They also travel up the slope of rip-rap to the shallows lookin for food.
You'll find em wherever they find food OR find em lookin for food.
Crankbaits and swimbaits usually work very well there because you are covering a lot of water.
That's why they call them search baits.
Movin quickly along coverin lots of water quickly.
Once you find the fish you can try to dial in exactly what they might like more than your crankbait.
However, a lot of times you will catch enough on your crankbaits that you don't need to worry bout tryin to find something better.

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

saw1 wrote:

Yep. They also travel up the slope of rip-rap to t... (show quote)

This is a big help - thank you very much my friend! I need as much help as I can get - the rip-rap on the cooling lake I'm considering fishing first this season is just... I mean we're talking miles and miles - runs the whole shoreline. I KNOW there are good fish in there, but I need to figure out how to be more productive with my time.

Thanks again - hope a few more chime in too :D

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

TheMinimalistFisherman wrote:

This is a big help - thank you very much my friend! I need as much help as I can get - the rip-rap on the cooling lake I'm considering fishing first this season is just... I mean we're talking miles and miles - runs the whole shoreline. I KNOW there are good fish in there, but I need to figure out how to be more productive with my time.

Thanks again - hope a few more chime in too :D

If you start to find some fish you can also throw a Senko to them or a Craw imitation.

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

saw1 wrote:

If you start to find some fish you can also throw a Senko to them or a Craw imitation.

* scribbles notes down furiously*

Got it - thanks!

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

TheMinimalistFisherman wrote:

* scribbles notes down furiously*

Got it - thanks!

No problem. Please let us know if any of this helps at all.
If the water's deep, as in 20+ feet. I would use a dropshot with a Robo worm. Either Texas or whacky rigged.
Can also use Senkos or Keitech swimbaits on a dropshot as well.
We dropshot in water as deep as 70 feet.

OJdidit Loc: Oak Creek Wisconsin

I would suggest a crayfish imitation on a drop shot, crawled down the rip rap slowly to see if they are feeding on those, or a tube and jig fished the same way.
Good luck!

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

Nice one ☝️

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

saw1 wrote:

No problem. Please let us know if any of this helps at all.
If the water's deep, as in 20+ feet. I would use a dropshot with a Robo worm. Either Texas or whacky rigged.
Can also use Senkos or Keitech swimbaits on a dropshot as well.
We dropshot in water as deep as 70 feet.

From the bank? The drop-shot is a low-confidence technique that I need to spend some serious time with, for sure. Might have to do that on some of the clear, deep quarry lakes (attached) I started fishing more last year to get my confidence up!

OJdidit wrote:

I would suggest a crayfish imitation on a drop shot, crawled down the rip rap slowly to see if they are feeding on those, or a tube and jig fished the same way.
Good luck!

Really, a craw imitation on a drop shot can be worked through rip-rap without a bunch of breaks offs (and swearing)?

Thanks boys!

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

TheMinimalistFisherman wrote:

Really, a craw imitation on a drop shot can be worked through rip-rap without a bunch of breaks offs (and swearing)?

Thanks boys!

A dropshot works best if you're in a boat and can drop it STRAIGHT down. That way there is less of a chance of you getting hung up.
I fish submerged trees a lot and you can't throw out away from you or you get hung up EVERY time.
When you fish straight down and hit a tree limb on the way up be very gentle and keep lowering your rod tip to try to get it to pass by the limb on the way up. If the hook gets stuck in the wood too hard it's done.
Gentleness is the key on reelin your line up. Let your weight drop back down over and over and hopefully it will eventually make it past the branch.

TheMinimalistFisherman Loc: Northern Illinois

saw1 wrote:

A dropshot works best if you're in a boat and can ... (show quote)

Got it - thank you - will start with some other techniques from shore, and look for submerged trees and such to fish from the 'ol jonny boat later this year!