This spring, Ive been fishing the Rippn’ Rap quite a bit, and Ive got to say Im liking it! Im still more confident in a blade bait most of the time, but I think that could change as I learn how to fish it better. The episodes that James put out this year focussing on that have definitely helped a lot in the learning process!
Anyways…. Ive been catching lots of fish on these things this year. Walleyes, pike, bass, even a couple panfish, but I never expected what bit my line last weekend up north while fishing a rippn rap.
We were set up on one of my favorite little rock/ weed humps an hour before sunset with a couple slip bobbers out hoping to catch an eater walleye or two for a fresh fish fry. A little time had passed and we had only caught a few rock bass, so I decided to toss the rippn rap a few times before darkness hit. First cast, I caught a decent smallie. Couple casts later a caught a gigantic sucker 24″+ in the mouth! But that wasnt the big suprise. Next cast after the sucker, I had just ripped the bait off the bottom after the initial drop and felt that feeling we all love. A big, authoritative “THUNK” I set the hook and just looked at my buddy as my drag slipped and the fish didnt budge… “BIG WALLEYE” I said, “get the net” The fish came slowly towards the boat, just hugging bottom and big headshakes. I got the fish right under me, and a stalemate ensued. At this point, I realized, this is too heavy to be a walleye, so I started to put a little more pressure on the fish. Got it up a couple feet below the surface and saw it. Nice musky! After my initial excitement, I realized, weve got an “eater” net and this is going to get tricky…. Brought the fish boatside and my buddy went for the scoop. That went predictibly awful and I watched with horror as the musky flipped out of the net while the rap stayed in! Somehow, while flipping out of the net, the fish got wrapped in the line, so when it landed back in the water, it just sat there for a second. Not knowing what to do, I threw my rod down and just tailed it like a steelhead. The fish went nuts, but I held on for dear life and a second later got another hand under her and lifted into the boat!
High fives were exchanged and somehow the fish unwrapped itself while i had it tailed and with no hooks to remove, we snapped a quick pic and sent her on the way.
Sorry, for the long fish story, but it was one of the coolest things Ive ever had happen to me on the water, so just wanted to share. Also shows how versatile the rippn’ rap is on all sorts of waters. Hope you all had as good of a memorial day weekend as I did!
