Ripping the Grass for Bass – Part II
By Chuck Bailey
Which Way To The “Sweet Spot”?
“Generally speaking,” says our tournament pro Bernie Schultz, “in the spring you may fish 30 acres of grass and they’ll be in a half acre of it. Naturally they are not all going to be in a spot the size of your couch. But what I am looking for is that high percentage area in any given grass bed.”
With fish sometimes concentrated in one section of a large weed bed, ‘inquiring minds’ often reflect on makes that area unique. But the complex environmental variables often make it hard to pinpoint what makes up a ‘sweet spot’.
“It’s whatever the fish like,” says Bernie, “they could be relating to something on the bottom where the grass is growing. It could be muscles, or rocks in the grass. It could be a bare spot they are relating to, and they are holding on the fringe around the bare spot. There are all kinds of reasons for a sweet spot, and there is no way to pin it down.”
Keep Moving!
“The point is; keep moving, use the crankbait as a search tool.” Bernie covers a lot of water looking for those sweet spots, but he readily admits, they don't always exist. “You don’t want to get hung up on one little area, because there are times when the bass can also be dispersed throughout those 30 acres.”
Though bass concentrations often happen, Schultz doesn’t want beginners to get the idea that fish are always clustered in one small area. “The bass are usually in ‘sweet spots’ in the area, but remember that there may be more than one group of fish. And the thing is... they can move.”
“If you have wind, current, or tidal influences,” teaches Bernie, “fish are going to reposition throughout the day. So you have to be open-minded and look for the fish as they move.”
Boat Control and Casting Angles
When it comes to giving advice on boat control and casting angles, our pro admits that there are no hard and fast rules. “All I can suggest is to position the boat at whatever angle gives you maximum contact with the grass, (what ever keeps your bait in the strike zone).
Fishing By Brail
As the bait lands in the water and reaches the proper depth, “I let it get down to where the crankbait makes contact and then I’ll rip it free – you are sort of fishing by brail. You have to let the bait tell you what’s down there.”
“And you are going to know in the first couple of casts as to what kind of retrieve you are going to need in order to allow the bait to make occasional contact, and not get hung up or balled up.”
Schultz admits, “There is a fine line as to how much contact you can have to be effective. You can actually have too much contact, and defeat the purpose of the technique.”
Experimentation
When it comes to the actual ripping motion, Bernie says an angler is “Just snatching it.” And sometimes that requires some experimentation also.
“On Lake Guntersville one time, in an early and cold March tournament, the fish weren’t even thinking about the shallows yet. I found them instead in 12 feet of water, sitting on top of stranding hydrilla. The grass was about 6 feet off the bottom.”
“I was taking a ¾ ounce lipless crankbait,” recalls Bernie, “and I was making contact with the grass with the initial cast, ripping it free and letting it fall. When I felt it hit the grass again, I’d rip it again and let it free fall.”
“I caught a tremendous stringer that tournament doing that. And the fish hit it on the drop every time. That was very unique because usually the bass hit it when you rip the bait free from the grass. The point of that illustration was... you have to experiment.”
Open to Variations
So there are times when Bernie will rip the crankbait by pumping it, trying to make contact every time the bait falls back down. “But there are other times,” says Schultz, “when you just steady retrieve over the grass bed.”
Why? “Anytime you are throwing through grass that is stranding, there are going to be taller strands, and shorter strands. There will be a ‘mean’ gap that most of the strands are at. You want to find and run your crankbait at that mean depth, so it’s not in the grass too much, but it’s making consistent contact with the taller strands. And that is when you are going to catch fish!”
Snatch It!
“If and when the bait gets hung up - snatch it. The motion might be from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock with the rod tip. You don’t sweep it, and it’s not a real exaggerated motion like you use with a suspending jerkbait. It’s more deliberate – you are snatching the bait, literally snatching it.”
“What you do after that is largely decided by the fish – by how they react. If they eat it when it tears free then that is what you keep doing. But if they eat during a pause after it is torn free, then that is what you want to do.”
“With this technique you have to be open minded, because how the fish react can change. It can change from spot to spot, or hourly on the same spot.”
After the Hook Set?
The fish are also unpredictable as to what they will do after the hookset. “Every fish is different,” says Bernie, “some will stay above the grass and you have to wear them down, and some will burying up in the grass and you have to go to them.”
Back to the Billed Crankbait
When ripping demands a bait go a little deeper, Bernie doesn’t hesitate to set the lipless crankbait aside and use a billed crankbait. But the technique doesn’t change, and he runs it the same way. “Yeah, with lipped baits it’s about the same; it’s just a matter of making contact and snatching that bait free from the cover.
The Rapala DT’s
While a host of billed baits will work, Bernie says “I like to use the DT series made by Rapala. What’s so sweet about them, and why I recommend them to a novice, is these baits allow the angler to know right out of the package how deep that bait is going to run.”
“Rapala was really smart – they didn’t come up with a 3 to 6 foot range or a 4 to 8 foot range in these crankbaits, they made it more precise and incrementally. So a DT 6 on 12-14 pound line is going to run 6 feet deep. If you go up in pound rating on the line, (increasing the diameter and the water resistance), obviously the bait is going to run a little shallower. So you need to factor that in.”
“But when you buy a DT 4, or a DT 6, or a DT 10, or a DT 16 – you know that bait is designed to run at that depth with the line that it is designed for.”
Deeper Variations
Recognizing that many anglers may be attempting to rip billed crankbaits in much deeper water than Florida fishermen contend with, Bernie adds, “If you are trying to get deep, (for instance - ripping the bait in 15 feet of water), you can’t throw 20 pound line. It would take forever to get the crankbait down there.”
“So in that case you are going to have to downsize your line diameter. Overall, you want to maximize the rating of your line, and still allow the bait to reach the depth you are trying to fish.”
A Common Mistake
One of the most common errors beginners make while learning the ripping technique has to do with endurance and focus.
“The beginner may get lackadaisical,” Bernie observes, “that is, the angler doesn’t stay on the technique. Ripping is a very deliberate technique that can be hard work. Using this technique for eight hours will absolutely wear you out. But the rewards are huge.”
Is it a high focus, deep concentration technique? “Well, you can go subconscious on it as long as you are doing it right and you get in a groove. You don’t have to constantly concentrate like when you are drop shotting, but I would say you want to be consistent with the technique.”
It’s Power Fishing!
“The mistake most novices make,” notes Bernie, “is they won’t be deliberative enough with the technique. They’ll want to finesse it too much. ‘Oops I’m in the grass’, so they’ll give it a little snatch, and they will reel a little bit. You have to be forceful and deliberate. It’s power fishing to a T.”
Reduced Losses!
Another advantage to ripping, is that lost fish are not as common as with other crankbait techniques. “Of course, much of that depends on the time of year. For instance, the bass don’t usually jump in the early spring, they just tend to carve around, or shake around in the water. And usually, (because the bass take the bait down deep into their mouths), you don’t have a problem with lost fish.”
“Later, as temperatures rise, the fish get more acrobatic, and they jump, and that’s when the tendency to throw baits can happen, but again, with this technique the lure is pretty well stapled to the fish.”
Using Electronics
Many anglers mistakenly think that when a shallow water angler fishes visible grass they would not utilize the boat’s electronics much. Schultz, however, uses his bow unit constantly and for several reasons. The first is obvious - to check the depth. But he also uses it for marking his trail across a large weed field.
“If I am just working over a weed bed, traversing the top of that grass, and there is no wind, then I am obviously going to use a trolling motor. But on a windy day I try to use a controlled drift. We’re fishing shallow in most cases using this technique, and I don’t want to have to fight the wind or disturb the grass bed with a lot of trolling motor noise.”
But whether his path is propelled by motor or wind, his desire to fish through that ‘sweet spot’ again using the same trail is guaranteed by paying attention to his electronics and GPS. After the initial pass has been made, he will loop back around taking a wide birth, so as not to disturb the area with motor noise.
“Then I will approach that same path just as I did before,” explains Bernie, “and that’s when your GPS trail can pay off. It’s good to record any productive trails through a grass bed, because the fish will usually sit right there, (unless you disturb them).”
Repositioned?
“Bass are usually not migrating fish,” notes Bernie. “Now there are times when they can reposition themselves according to other factors like tide, or in the case of a reservoir if the dam start generating water – then the fish may move.”
“But there is a reason the bass are there in the first place, and usually it’s a good reason, and they don’t want to move. So if you don’t disturb them with your tackle and approach, you can return after giving them plenty of room while looping around, and then approach them from the same angle again as long as it is productive. If that’s not productive I’ll change my angle of approach or I’ll move to another area.”
Socking the Wind
On windy days, Bernie will often utilize a drift sock. “A drift sock is a big advantage when you are ripping baits through submerged grass beds, especially in large expansive areas of grass.”
Bernie finds it is easier on windy days not to have to worry about the trolling motor and fighting the wind. He simply throws out a drift sock and works over the area, making his casts down wind. “That way you are concentrating on the technique rather than on boat position all the time.”
Friend or Foe?
Some anglers think of the wind is a friend. Some see it as a foe. Bernie says, “It can be both. It depends. Every situation and ever scenario is different. Wind can be really good, and it can also work against you.”
“I’ll put it this way,” explains Schultz, “if the bass are not biting, and it starts blowing, I’m going to get more optimistic. If the fish are biting good on a calm day, and it starts blowing – I don’t want a change. In other words, when the bass are biting - I want what I've got. But if it’s not productive, a change in the wind speed can help.”
The Light Factor
Cloud cover, or lack of, is another factor affecting where the fish are located. Our pro says, “Fish will position in grass according to light levels. In early pre-spawn they want sun, and they will sit on top of that grass to warm up.”
“And in hotter months, a low sky, (an overcast day), will put them on top of the grass. So you have to be conscious of seasonal patterns and daily climate conditions. Some days the sun is a good thing, and some days it is not. But know this; the sun or lack of it is going to position the fish.”
Water Temperature
Because the ripping technique elicits a reaction bite, it works over a wide range of water temperatures. “It works in 50 degree water,” explains Bernie, “and all the way up to 90 degree water.”
Shhhh….!
Bernie cannot stress enough the importance of a quiet approach and the desire to traverse the grass fields without disturbing them any more than is necessary. Experience has taught Bernie that a trolling motor “…can absolutely spook the bass, and I know that from sight fishing.”
“I was raised fishing clear water, looking at fish that can see me, and I can tell you they react to boat noise more than people realize. And a sloppy trolling motor bracket can be the kiss of death. The noise can shut them down, or they may even swim away.”
“Finesse exists on multiple levels; not only do you need to be finesseful with your spinning tackle, or your jerkbait, and so forth… you have to be finesseful with your boat handling.”
Small AND Big Fish!
Being a reaction triggering technique, it may have occurred to those studying it for the first time, that ripping could be both a large and a small fish technique. To which Bernie excitedly concurs, “Oh yeah, big time! In Florida you might be on a field of fish and hit 30 small fish and suddenly you catch a nine pounder.”
“Here, it is not like the reservoirs or other places further north where fish swim or school according to size; that can happen in Florida, but most often, if you are in a good area, you are going to catch all sizes of fish.”
Hard but Rewarding!
Bernie’s “final tip” addresses the learning curve required for those anglers who have never ripped crankbaits before, “Just don’t give up too soon. Give the technique a chance. Sure, it can be pretty fatiguing, but hang in there because when you find them, it can be really rewarding.
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in Part I - our Florida expert Bernie Schultz discussed the technique of ripping. We looked at the technique, the lures, rods, reels, lines, and crankbait colors that make ripping a highly effective technique when fishing stranding grasses and weed beds.
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Bernie Schultz has become one of Florida’s most accomplished anglers. His achievements include two Canadian and two U.S. titles, while qualifying for eight Bassmaster's Classics and five FLW Championships. He is a freelance illustrator, author/columnist, TV host, conservationist, lure designer, educator and promoter of angling. To learn more about Bernie, please visit
Bernie Schultz Fishing
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