(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
While cover like milfoil, shipwrecks and shell beds may not exist on every bass fishery, there’s one type of bass attractor that is available almost universally.
“Everybody that bass fishes has this type of habitat where they fish,” said Bass University co-founder Pete Gluszek. “Whether you’re on a natural lake, whether you’re on a manmade reservoir, here we’re on a tidal water system, there is rip-rap on your body of water.”
Of course, rip-rap consists of rock placed strategically for erosion control, but Gluszek notes that it also “creates a lot of opportunities for the fish.” He fishes it almost 12 months out of the year, whether it be a fast-sloping environment along a dam or shallow residential-land buffers. Not all rip-rap is created the same, though, and within a given stretch there are usually areas that outproduce the rest. Gluszek uses his electronics to find those high-percentage areas.
“One of the really cool sweet spots that I’m always looking for is the boulders that have fallen off the rip-rap during construction,” he said. He also looks for pieces of wood that have washed up against the rocks, either where he can see them with his eyes, or deeper down with his electronics. Docks also serve this same purpose.
He added that “any transition” is worth exploring. That could be where the rocks turn to gravel, or where they turn to mud. He’s also constantly aware of how current impacts the positioning of the bass. On fisheries like the Red River, he knows that there is riprap running both parallel and perpendicular to the current and depending on the season and the conditions, one might substantially outproduce the other.
When it comes to lures, he has three favorite categories for most conditions.
“I keep it pretty basic,” he said. “I use a variety of tools, but none more important than a crankbait.” In all seasons except the spawn, it’s his No. 1 tool because it allows him to cover water, contact the rocks at a variety of depths and imitate a number of different forage types. When he needs to slow down and pick apart a particular piece of cover, or if he’s targeting a big fish, he’ll often switch to a jig. Finally, he never leaves any promising stretch of rip-rap behind without going to a finesse approach. While a dropshot, a Ned Rig and a weightless Senko all have their time and place, his go-to spinning-rod choice is a shaky-head.
Gluszek also works to remain aware of changing conditions or how far the rocks come out to influence his boat position. On a quickly sloping deep bank he’ll often get tight to the rocks and make parallel casts. If their descent is more gradual, he might get farther away. In high-tide situations or on a flooded reservoir, he expects the newly flooded cover to expose “all kinds of critters,” so he’ll fish as far up as he can.
If you want to learn some of the other secrets of how Gluszek fishes rip-rap, including why he shakes his shaky-head more actively for smallmouths than for largemouths, check out his full video filmed on the water, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
