Okay, that question may sound stupid but hear me out. I see people talk about "ripping" a bait all the time...usually in reference to a spinnerbait or a crankbait...but how exactly do you do that? I mean for instance a pond I fish often has a lot of weeds growing at various heights in the water column, sure i could let my bait sink or dive down into the weeds and use my rod to yank them out but with those hooks (trebles especially) catching on the weeds those baits will come out with some serious vegetation attached and resemble one of these...

...I would think a bait covered in weeds wouldn't attract too many fish. Is there a trick to ripping your bait without bringing about a pound or two of vegetation out with you?

Generally when I think of "ripping" a bait it just means aggressively working it. Usually hard fast twitches of the rod. The other kind of "ripping" I think of is what you would do with a lipless crank bait and literally rip it free of the weeds. The key with that though is to allow it to just catch the top of the weeds and then immediately rip it free, not allow it to fall through 5 feet of milfoil and then reel back a salad. 

ripping just means a strong upward/side jerk of the rod to try and shake the bait free of vegetation.

2 hours ago, BaitFinesse said:

Ripping the bait off the vegetaion incourages the bait to come off cleanly.  Simply pulling the bait free will result in vegetaion clinging to the hooks.

 

This ^

 

I often fish a spinnerbait by "ripping" it through grass. I toss it out, let it fall for a second or two and start slow rolling it. When I feel it start to get bogged down in the grass, I "rip" it as hard as I can and this will usually pull it free of the weeds and it will also draw a lot of strikes.

The guys covered what "rip it" means pretty well. Also keep in mind what type of vegetation you are working when selecting a lure. For grass I prefer ratltraps as their profile makes it much easier to work through. If the vegetation is matted or you're on a pond with a lot of slime trebles become almost useless.

21 minutes ago, BuzzHudson19c said:

The guys covered what "rip it" means pretty well. Also keep in mind what type of vegetation you are working when selecting a lure. For grass I prefer ratltraps as their profile makes it much easier to work through. If the vegetation is matted or you're on a pond with a lot of slime trebles become almost useless.

That slime or the black fibrous decaying vegetation is the worst. 

To me ripping a bait is reeling up the slack , then rip it hard  and repeat . I usually do this with crankbaits and Bomber Long A minnows .

You have a good definition of "ripping" a bait.  To simply reel very fast is called "burning" a bait in most circles.  If you burn a crankbait or spinnerbait there is a point at which either will roll so you have to match your max retrieve speed to the bait.