Ripping Lips

So you’ve been throwing that lipless since October, the water levels are up and the grass has just exploded. That’s it, retire the traps until winter or the grass dies down? That’s the safe bet but you will also be missing out on a pattern most anglers haven’t even considered yet. Ripping a lipless or squarebill isn’t anything revolutionary, the KVD’s, Keith Combs and Roland Martin’s of the world have been doing it for ages. Cast the bait out, start a retrieve on cranking gear and when it hangs, reel up the slack and pop it out. If you don’t get bit, retrieve cast and repeat. But by end the end of February many of the highveld dams are choked with pondweed or oxygen weed, and as summer progresses the grass gets so bad you just can’t rip the bait free. A softer crank rod, even a medium heavy just loads and loads when hooked up in the grass but it doesn’t have the power to catapult it free. By late summer many shallow water dams have large areas covered in matted vegetation. US Angling celebrity, Matt Allen advises putting the softer parabolic rod away but not the trap, at least not if there are large expanses of open water mixed in with grass like at Boskop, Klerkskraal and even Rust de Winter. But targeting dense cover requires a mindset change, upgrading to 65lb-plus low carrier braid as your main line, and switching out the trebles to heavy-duty wide gape versions and beefing up the split rings significantly. Gear Selection: Moderate Heavy Cover Depending on the grass in your area the first change is to a 7’ Medium Heavy powered, fast action worm rod paired with 20lb fluoro leader and braid paired with at least a 7:1 reel. Bass in dense cover don’t seem to be bothered by the thicker diameter fluoro leader and you will need a high-speed reel to keep the bait coming toward you when you rip it free. Choked If you’re struggling to shake the bait free upgrade to an even stouter rod like a 7’6” Heavy Powered Jig rod. The extra leverage the longer rod offers will generate enough energy to shake the bait free when paired with a low diameter braid such as Spiderwire Dura 4 or Boss Braid Premium Plus. Four Carrier Braids are much harder with a thinner diameter and cut through weed like a razor blade. Strategy: There are two main techniques, ticking the tops of the grass and yo-yoing the bait around heavy cover, but the most important factor is ripping the bait free. The action is a violent hook set, reeling down until the line tightens up and then slamming the rod back. The rod will build up enough energy to rip the bait free and rid the trebles of grass, while it also triggers some violent strikes. When you do eventually have a bass on the line there are no niceties exchanged - crank down and keep reeling until the fish is in the boat. An ideal situation is to be keep its mouth open and filled with water as you want to prevent it from leveraging the weight of the bait to shake it. Hardware: You’re going to need some pretty stout tackle when fishing braid and heavy action rods and Owner’s ST-41 and Mustad Ultra Point #3 Triple grips are a must. Braid will straighten light wire trebles when ripping the bait free, let alone wrestling a bass out of heavy cover. You also need to switch out all three split rings on your lipless to heavy-duty versions such as Owner’s Hyperwire rings that are rated to withstand lateral force greater than specified on the actual packaging. Lures: Any lipless above 3/8oz is recommended, but Sebile’s Flatt Shad, Rat L Traps, and more specifically Strike King’s Red Eye Shad, are good producers. The Red Eye Shad has a very unique shimmy on the fall, which can pay dividends when yo-yoing the bait above grass. Tip: When yo-yoing a lipless drop it back down using your rod tip – don’t rely just on the slack created in the line when lifting the rod. The idea is to reel in while lowering your rod tip to maintain contact with cover at all times as bites can be super subtle with fish often engulfing the bait and swimming toward you. If you don’t feel the bite when it occurs bass will dive into the grass and tear the hooks out.