rippin raps

Just wondering how everyone else fishes rippin raps through the ice? I did alright last week by rippin them hard till I got fish then just jigging them like I would a spoon and some fish would smash it had a few white bass bigger crappie and walleyes hit it so hard when they came out the whole I couldn’t see the rippin rap. Many other fish would come up to it pretty fast then just follow it and never hit it. What other ways does everyone else fish them?

Going to really put them to the test on upper red this weekend. A tip I learned from a guide is to use a quick clip or tie directly to the contact on the rap. Don’t tie or clip to the ring. Otherwise you can hook the line with the back treble hook. I’m hoping I whoop them on a #5 perch pattern.

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Going to really put them to the test on upper red this weekend. A tip I learned from a guide is to use a quick clip or tie directly to the contact on the rap. Don’t tie or clip to the ring. Otherwise you can hook the line with the back treble hook. I’m hoping I whoop them on a #5 perch pattern.

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Hopefully that works for you, and please let us know. I haven’t gone that route yet. The last few years that I have been using lipless baits in place of blade baits (open water and through the ice), have had a problem with the balance point of the bait while it sinks. The old style lipless with the square face tends to roll and spin. The Rippn raps that I have used were much better, but had a tendency of going more vertical on a faster drop allowing the rear treble to be completely on top as you described and catching the line frequently. I’ve had the best results with the Live Target Gizzard Shad having a better balance point. They still go near vertical, but not as dramatic. Just a bait you may want to give a try.

Mike,

I will generally do a controlled drop. Once on bottom I will work the bottom 2-3′ with rips, twitches and pauses. If no action I will move up to 3-6′ above the bottom and work this area with bigger rips and subtle twitches and pauses. I will repeat this process till I feel I am to high in the column. This is generally higher for crappie then walleye or perch.

I use some form of a quick connect for spoons, raps, blade baits and lipless. Most times I an connecting to the anchor point and not a spit ring.

For walleye, I usually rip them about 2-4 feet off the bottom with 1-3 foot rips until something shows up, then smaller rips like already mentioned.
For Lakers I spend a lot of time ripping them about 8 feet off the bottom with some 4-6 foot rips mingled in and controlled drops; then I go to anything from jiggles to 2-3 foot rips once a fish comes in. The deeper you are fishing, the more vital it is to have a swivel somewhere in your line as these baits can twist your line up without one. I try to avoid using a single ripping pattern, so my pattern may look like this: 1 foot snap rip, 3 second pause, 2 foot rip, 5 second pause, jiggle jiggle, 2 second pause, 5 foot fast rip, slow drop–jiggle at bottom of drop…

I use them with 1-2 foot rips depending on water depth that I am fishing. When a mark comes in I will slow down to smaller rips of a few inches and some short twitches. If a fish sits there and doesn’t move what do you got to lose mix in a long rip again. I have had times where the fish will “kneejerk” react and nearly rip the rod out of your hand. – QB