Help Wanted Improving Hookups on Ultralight Rippin Raps

Can anyone shorten the learning curve on how to improve hookups on this bait?

It seems maybe only 50% of the fish that are biting are coming topside; at least for me. We’re talking crappies here; generally big ones. I previously up-sized the middle hook one size with a super sharp Gamakatsu treble, but find the two hooks now tangle more – which could be the problem? There is a possibility the fish are eating the bait when the hooks are unknowingly tangled as a result of the slight jigging and lift/drop motion imparted to the bait.

Before suggesting ‘use a different bait’ realize that the last time out this bait accounted for 81 crappies before noon. Problem is I probably had bites from 2X that number of fish. Yes, it was incredible…but coulda been more incredible-er had I caught a higher percentage of those bites.

Toying with the idea of removing one hook or possibly shrink-tubing the rear treble. Anyone have experience/ideas on how to improve the hookup percentage with this bait?

change the rear hook and shrink tube it

Ready for the weekend…

I’ll let you know how this mod works out.

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Yes please do I would like to know. And what size treble did you up the front one to

They’re both size #12 Gami’s. Though a size #10 will also work on the front.

With the fish you catch do you fish them like that or tip with minnow head ?

I never tip them with bait. Just fish plain.

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Update: The modification failed to achieve desired results. Actually made matters worse. Of the first 12 that hit, only two came topside. Hurriedly undid the tubing and just went with a belly hook. Going back to the drawing board…

Aaron Wiebe did that with the live target lipless to prevent tangling while jigging.

I would recommend trying a larger treble hook or maybe just a sharper one. If you go with a larger one, it might help to add an extra split ring to give the lure more freedom to vibrate as designed. Adding the larger hook will add a little drag and result in a little less vibration.

Sorry, somehow I scrolled through your first post without reading it.

Aaron did the shrink tube mod on a larger lipless rattlebait. On the UL version, it kills the vibration completely. Not that important in winter ice fishing, but the hook-ups were atrocious – and that was my main reason for aborting the modification. Went with a larger Gamakatsu treble belly hook. That got me back to about 50% hook-up success ratio. If you know of a sharper hook, let me know.

The double split ring idea might help. Will try it. My other notion was to simply have one larger free-swinging tail hook and no belly hook. When they rise up to suck it in, the idea is the lone hanging hook will get sucked in more easily.

I’m on a torrid crappie bite. Caught 40 on about 100 strikes this morning, then thought ‘the heck with this’ and went to a 1/16 oz Tumbler with a feathered tail and caught each of the next 12 that hit, except one. That’s the percentage I want to achieve with the UL Rippin Rap.

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sounds to me like there is nothing wrong.

Are you using the #4 Rap? If so have you tried the #3? Any chance a lot of the fish you are missing are a little smaller and just having a hard time fully eating the bait? Does your bite rate drop if using something like a 5mm tungsten and plastic?

Using the #3, not the #4. These are big crappies. Most are 12” to 14”. They respond to a tungsten fly, just not as well. And the hookups with those small hooks are just as poor. These are fish eaters that like that bulky profile. That’s why figuring out the hookup problem with the UL RR is of such interest.

What rod, reel, line set up are using? Could be you need a slower action rod.

Have you tried waiting a second before you set the hook? Considering you have the same issues with the tungsten, I’m not too convinced that the bait isn’t doing anything it isn’t suppose to do.

Could just be super light biting fish and you’re hooking the more aggressive biters. I’ve had trouble hooking crappie and gills with 2.5-3mm tungstens before just because they were that light biting. Didn’t matter the size of jig/spoon/rap used.

Could also be that the fish you’re missing are young and dumb and aren’t too accurate at taking in targets. I see a lot of fish miss strikes just because they have a hard time seeing super tiny jigs while rushing them. They do it all the time in the summer fishing surface baits. I mostly see it with crappie actually.

Sounds to me like you just need a little more practice and possible a little more patience. At least you’re on top of them.

Softer action pole and stretchy mono may help. Let me know where u r fishing and I’ll come to help u out,…lol.

BrianF wrote:

Using the #3, not the #4. These are big crappies. Most are 12” to 14”. They respond to a tungsten fly, just not as well. And the hookups with those small hooks are just as poor. These are fish eaters that like that bulky profile. That’s why figuring out the hookup problem with the UL RR is of such interest.

If those crappies will hit a hard bait of that size they’ll hit a 1/32 jig and plastic.

Ryan Wilson wrote:

Have you tried waiting a second before you set the hook? Considering you have the same issues with the tungsten, I’m not too convinced that the bait isn’t doing anything it isn’t suppose to do.

Could just be super light biting fish and you’re hooking the more aggressive biters. I’ve had trouble hooking <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie and gills with 2.5-3mm tungstens before just because they were that light biting. Didn’t matter the size of jig/spoon/rap used.

Could also be that the fish you’re missing are young and dumb and aren’t too accurate at taking in targets. I see a lot of fish miss strikes just because they have a hard time seeing super tiny jigs while rushing them. They do it all the time in the summer fishing surface baits. I mostly see it with <em class=”ido-tag-em”>crappie actually.

Sounds to me like you just need a little more practice and possible a little more patience. At least you’re on top of them.

Same with other lure types and especially with these types. Even a Chubby Darter has same results. That bite…maybe head bite. It’s an obvious thump on the rod tip, yet no hook up. When the rod tip actually has weight loaded on it, or lifted on it, that’s 99% hook set stick’m.

Lots of good stuff to think about here.

For those following this thread:

Rod: TB Perch Sweetheart
Line: 6lb PLine flouro
Hooks: size 10 and 12 Gami trebles

These aren’t light biting fish generally. There is so much competition going on in this secret spot, the strikes are hard and aggressive. Typically, they’ll appear and *boink* there will be a hard strike. Upon hookset, the rod is loading up for a split second, then…off. These are big marks on the vex and the average and top end size of the fish being caught is impressive. Not dealing with potato chips here. Quite the opposite.

Noticed most of the caught fish were hooked on the belly hook, so removed the tail hook to see if that might help. Results were about the same as with both the original hooks…maybe 50% of the hookups were landed. The number of missed fish has been maddening!

I have a softer rod to try, but the fact nearly every fish that struck the Tumbler spoon got landed has me focused on the lure…and that lure is out producing all others in terms of both attraction and triggering. It’s been somewhat magical from that standpoint.

I’m on a mission to figure this out, shooting for a +90% hookup/land ratio – which I think is achievable. Thx to those helping to achieve that goal. The feedback has been good.

It sounds like you are on a mission to figure it out with the Rippin Rap and I get that. Just wondering if you have tried the smallest Slab Rap though? Maybe the thinner profile of that bait would help a little and is similar enough to draw similar attracting and triggering qualities.

Also, do you have a camera? Lowering a camera down might give you an idea about what’s happening. I have a feeling it has something to do with how the fish are hitting the bait. Maybe they aren’t getting hooks in their mouth very well.

If these fish are aggressive, maybe try making them come up after the bait. Hooks are on the bottom, make them eat from the bottom up.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

If those crappies will hit a hard bait of that size they’ll hit a 1/32 jig and plastic.

At the risk of sounding contrary, not my intention, the more I use the larger profile baits the more I find instances where big panfish, bluegill included, will want little to do with a typical jig and plastic offering but will come unglued when you put a large profile bait in front of them. Just because a crappie or gill is aggressive enough to hit a large profile bait doesn’t mean it will eat anything you put in front of it. My experience has been just the opposite. On the days the Rippin Raps and Slab Raps are the ticket the fish seem all but negative toward smaller presentations.

With regards to the original question regarding hook up percentage, if water clarity allows I’m willing to bet an underwater camera will provide the definitive answer. I’ve watched my share of crappie hitting larger baits underwater and they’re notorious for doing a “closed-mouth” push of the bait that almost looks like a headbutt of sorts. They’re “testing” the bait before eating it. When they do this push you feel the collision but the hooks aren’t in the mouth. On hookset the hooks grab skin around the mouth briefly… and then they’re off.

Sometimes a fisherman’s worse enemy is their brain… Wanting a bait to work when another is, 100%.

When I’m on a school of crappie like that, I have issues with up bites. By that I mean the fish races straight up and makes the line go limp. Sometimes it’s hard to see that when your outside. Are you making the fish chase when you are getting these bites or are you holding still? I make them chase when they are that aggressive. That will give me up bites, but they usually have it by the tail hook and are hooked well.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Sometimes a fisherman’s worse enemy is their brain… Wanting a bait to work when another is, 100%.

I could be a little stubborn…

Yes, the hook-ups were nearly 100% with the spoon, though fewer in number.

Is it wrong to strive for the best of both worlds?? Super high attraction and triggering qualities, plus a very high hook-up ratio??

Got some assignments to complete based on this thread. Will report back with any material improvement.

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tom Sawvell wrote:</div>
If those crappies will hit a hard bait of that size they’ll hit a 1/32 jig and plastic.

At the risk of sounding contrary, not my intention, the more I use the larger profile baits the more I find instances where big panfish, bluegill included, will want little to do with a typical jig and plastic offering but will come unglued when you put a large profile bait in front of them.

I’m sure we’ve both seen fish contradict what is usually considered a normal bite. I’ve had many great crappie days in the winter using a simple jig and plastic typically used in open water. Like you, I’ve also seen where the fish hit a larger profiled bait too.

Get a camera down the hole! You’ll be ale to see whats going wrong

BrianF wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
Sometimes a fisherman’s worse enemy is their brain… Wanting a bait to work when another is, 100%.

I could be a little stubborn…

Yes, the hook-ups were nearly 100% with the spoon, though fewer in number.

Is it wrong to strive for the best of both worlds?? Super high attraction and triggering qualities, plus a very high hook-up ratio??

Got some assignments to complete based on this thread. Will report back with any material improvement.

I’m with you on that! Looking forward to report.

My gosh… This guys’ got the same problem!