Help Wanted Improving Hookups on Ultralight Rippin Raps

My gosh… This guys’ got the same problem!

captddh wrote:

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

My thoughts exaclty haha. First thing I would do is switch to mono. Used to have this issue with lindy darters and flouro

Follow-up: Haven’t been crappie fishing for quite a while, so after a half day trip for them Saturday, thought a follow-up report might be interesting for those who followed this thread.

After trying all sorts of hook size and configuration experiments trying to improve the hook-up percentage of this great bait, I may have stumbled across a solution to the problem.

Having settled on up-sizing each treble with a Gamakatsu as probably being ‘as-good-as-it-gets’ – though still experiencing a disappointing level of lost fish – I just happened to remove the split ring and Fas-snap from my line for purposes of increased stealth, tying directly to the line tie of the lure.

After being driven nearly mad with lost fish this winter, the simple act of tying direct to the lure resulted in catching virtually every fish that hit Saturday morning. What struck me was that this was happening when the bite was a little off vs. earlier in the year when the crappie were much more aggressive. Light nippers were even getting caught.

Not sure how the mechanics changed by making this simple adjustment, but the results couldn’t have been better. My bite/land ratio went from probably 50% to perhaps 95% just that quickly.

Thought I’d share my most recent experiment for those having the same issue when using the ultralight Rippin Rap for crappies. I went from frustration and befuddlement to complete confidence with just that simple change – and that’s a good feeling.

what an awesome update, especially as crappie season is now upon us.

Going to give that a go this weekend and see what happens.

That’s interesting! I just came back from 3 days of fishing for stripers and wipers. A finicky bite on one of the three days and had a 3/1 hook up ratio on the rippin rap. Interstingly, the Phantom Tilly did not have this problem with near perfect hook ups. It has to be how the lure reacts with the split ring attached. Did it affect the lure action?