I rarely have fished riprap for any length. The other day I walked down to the dam at the local lake and I realized, I don't really know how to effectively fish it. I fished a crankbait some, fished a fluke some, fished a texas rigged baby brush hog some, with none producing. I fished about 50 yards of it, but there was probably 250 yards total.

 

There is a water intake in the middle, so I assume it'll fish like any other structure.

 

I assume you hit any bigger rocks, any sparse bushes, anything out of the ordinary, just like fishing any other bank. But what about when it all looks the same and there isn't anything distinguishing?

There’s no “right” spot to target in a riprap bank. The nooks and crannies are where crawdads and baitfish congregate. My personal favorites for a riprap bank are a spider grub on a 1/8 oz football head, or a tube on a 1/8 oz Jighead. 

I like to cover every inch of bank that I can reach, since fish can be watching every single gap between the rocks.

Cover the water. Cover it quickly at first to see if they are there and active.  If they are then great, if not then slow down a bit.  Time of year plays into it a bit, but this time of year, a lipless crankbait will let you cover 0-15’ of depth and cover water while doing it.  Once you find what they are doing (holding at a depth, chasing or not, etc) then you can slow down to something like a Ned that you swim through it.  Just beware that it is snag city if you start dropping down into it (heavy riprap that is, like bigger than a basketball).  That’s why a lighter Ned will swim over and around it.  

2 minutes ago, ElGuapo928 said:

There’s no “right” spot to target in a riprap bank. The nooks and crannies are where crawdads and baitfish congregate. My personal favorites for a riprap bank are a spider grub on a 1/8 oz football head, or a tube on a 1/8 oz Jighead. 

I like to cover every inch of bank that I can reach, since fish can be watching every single gap between the rocks.

 

Great minds and all that.  

 I  use sinking lures. Beetle Spins, Swim baits, lipless baits... I cast to different depths, allow the lure to sink to the bottom, hop it up real quick and  retrieve while staying close to the bottom. Then move a few steps and repeat. 

Thanks, that helps a bunch. Okay, I'll have to spend some time fishing this riprap and see if there are any particular spots that hold fish.

17 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

Thanks, that helps a bunch. Okay, I'll have to spend some time fishing this riprap and see if there are any particular spots that hold fish.

 

With most riprap banks, there aren’t spots per se.  a rip rap bank is usually blowing ball sized rock that has been spread evenly from the surface down to the bottom for the length of the stretch.  usually to stabilize the bank or similar.  Sometimes you’ll find a log that has washed in, but most are just a long stretch of rocks that looks the same.  You have to cover the water.  They might be at 1’ staring at the bank or they might be at 15’ staring into the blue.  That’s why baits that can cover the water column from the surface down are useful for search baits.  If you’re casting along the bank and you find them hitting your lure in the first 2’ of shore, then you know they are shallow and looking in/up.  Then again, they might not be doing that so you have to keep making casts until you see where they are and how they are behaving.  

31 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

With most riprap banks, there aren’t spots per se.  a rip rap bank is usually blowing ball sized rock that has been spread evenly from the surface down to the bottom for the length of the stretch.  usually to stabilize the bank or similar.  Sometimes you’ll find a log that has washed in, but most are just a long stretch of rocks that looks the same.  You have to cover the water.  They might be at 1’ staring at the bank or they might be at 15’ staring into the blue.  That’s why baits that can cover the water column from the surface down are useful for search baits.  If you’re casting along the bank and you find them hitting your lure in the first 2’ of shore, then you know they are shallow and looking in/up.  Then again, they might not be doing that so you have to keep making casts until you see where they are and how they are behaving.  

Thanks, this gives me a lot to go on too.

Don’t overlook a Rebel wee craw and deep wee craw in ‘ditch’ and ‘stream’.  

One of my most productive baits fishing rip rap from the bank is a buzzbait. I love to parallel the rip rap with it. I will often follow that up by hitting the little pockets in the riprap with a wacky rig. 

From the bank try to be as parallel as possible to cast a weightless T Worm or Senko type bait. If you have some elevated areas while walking the rip rap, if you can, you're probably in a position to gently pitch a plastic of your choice. For a T-Rig use a 1/8oz bullet wt. that is rounded not pointed to minimize hang ups with baitcasting and spinning. Keep your rod tip high and cast some lipless crankbaits, too. Put a grin on your face.

Be extra cautious while walking to avoid an accident falling. 

Good Fishing

Squarebill banging off the rocks.

 

Only problem is if you are from shore you probably won't get it back if it hangs up.

Try to find some sort of vegetation growing along the rip rap, or look for wood that has washed up.  Another thing I like trying is looking for the edge of the rip rap out in the water.  If the water is low enough, you can see it.  Most of the time I will cast out a pretty good distance with a heavy Texas rig, and bring it back slow.  I try to gauge how far out the bait is when I start hitting rocks.

If rocks are large with many wedges, you will lose bottom contact lures from

the bank. My advice is to use anything that you can keep up off the bottom. 

Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

Most of the rocks on this particular riprap is basketball sized or smaller it appears. There is a gravel walking trail at the top of the riprap/bottom of the dam, so it's easy enough to walk without breaking an ankle.

The lakes I fished where I grew up were basalt rock canyon lakes.  The only place I could fish from shore were rip rap banks.  The riprap was natural, so it may be different from the man made riprap more common to other parts of the country.

 

The biggest thing I learned fishing riprap banks from shore was either I had a full tackle box and didn't catch bass, or my box was depleted and I caught bass.  Nothing makes the Bait Monkey happier than fishing riprap banks from shore.

 

Exposed hooks are not what get snagged on riprap.  Sinkers are snag magnets.  They wedge between the rocks and game over.  I recommend using tubes with the wight inserted in to the tube over any other kind of jig.  No T Rigs and if you insist on fishing a T Rig peg the sinker against the bait, making it harder for the sinker to wedge between rocks.

 

Spinnerbaits crawled through the rocks can be deadly, especially when there is wind.  They will get snagged but not as often as other baits.  Crankbaits excel in riprap, but like all crankbait fishing, you have to bang them against the rocks and other cover.  You will lose lots of crankbaits fishing them from shore.  Lipless crankbaits work well too, but do snag more often.  I spent almost a hole summer throwing nothing but a rattle trap parallel to riprap banks.  I didn't lose my trap, but I did go swimming to retrieve it more than once.

 

I was young and athletic when I fished riprap banks from shore.  It was nothing for me to hop from rock to rock, and cover a mile or more of bank.  Now I wouldn't be able to fish more than a few yards.  Where I grew up there were lots of rattlesnakes living in the riprap.  I never was bit, but had a close call or two.  I don't know if the snakes like the rocky banks in other parts of the country, but in Eastern WA they were plentiful.

 

Topwater lures can be successful cast parallel to the bank making helping out with the tackle budget, but there are many days when you simply have to accept the fact you may lose a small fortune to the rocks if you want to catch bass.  I'm sure weightless plastic worms will work, if you have the patience to fish them.  

 

Pay attention to the angle of the bank, and size of rocks when you catch a bass.  Many days I was able to skip over much of the shoreline, and only fish the size of rocks the bass were using that day.  Any other cover, such as wood, vegetation, or floating pollen, are excellent places to cast.  Points and pockets are also prime locations.  Remember you do have to walk back, so don't make the mistake I made many times and walk further down the bank looking for that magic spot than you are able to walk back from in the daylight.  Walking over rocks in the dark without a light was difficult even when I was young.

 

Thinking about fishing riprap from the bank brings back many fond memories.  Thanks for the post, and good luck.

If you are going to bottom fish ie drop shot , weighted t rig, etc. , be prepared and expect snags. That is just the price of doing business and an option when the more active presentation aren’t working. 
 

drop shot in rip rap is a killer method. I won’t hesitate to risk the snags and break offs when the non bottom presentations have been exhausted without success. 
 

I am also a shore bound angler so I’m speaking from experience 😇

9 hours ago, islandbass said:

If you are going to bottom fish ie drop shot , weighted t rig, etc. , be prepared and expect snags. That is just the price of doing business and an option when the more active presentation aren’t working. 
 

drop shot in rip rap is a killer method. I won’t hesitate to risk the snags and break offs when the non bottom presentations have been exhausted without success. 
 

I am also a shore bound angler so I’m speaking from experience 😇

Thanks, I never would have thought to use a drop shot.

@Bazoo You’re welcome. 
 

The snag risk does exist and because of that, I have stopped using standard DS weights. IMHO, for rip rap these weight are not cost effective. 
 

I have not purchased DS weights in over 15 years. So to answer the $64,000 question… 

 

A special set of pliers exist that river anglers in my area use to cut and prepare pencil lead when targeting salmon and steelhead in rivers. 
 

When I really got serious about DS fishing in rip rap, it was starting to get costly. I could lose 3 weights in ten minutes. The gears in my brain started working on ways to resolve this issue.  
 

Since I target salmon in rivers too, I already had such pliers and pencil lead. Once in a while, even for me, the light 💡 bulb turns on. As I was going through some fishing gear, I noticed something about coil of pencil lead I was staring at. Hey… it’s the approximate shape of regular DS weights …. Ding, ding, ding! I will use the pencil lead instead of DS weights. 
 

I am happy to tell you that this was an excellent solution. 
 

A pair of lead post pliers can be anywhere from about $10-23 and there is a pair from PLine that I am currently using. Consider buying these pliers as an investment. 
 

Here is the scoop. I just looked at Amazon and a pack of 25 1/8oz DS weights is $10.78 doesn’t seem so bad, right?
 

1/8 oz = 0.125oz  x 25 = 3.125 oz => $3.45 per oz

 

Okay.
 

A 1lb coil of pencil lead at Walmart is about $5-6. 1lb = 16oz = $2.90 per ounce.

 

Doesn’t seem much cheaper, but I soon discovered that pencil lead has one superior advantage — and that is, I had the ability to customize how much lead you want to use — on the fly. 
 

The Amazon example shows a set of 1/8oz weights. What if your situation called for 3/16, 1/4, 3/8, or even 1/2 oz? You’d be forced to buy all those other weights. That adds up. Not to mention, losing them in the rocks might start to get upsetting. Speaking from experience, lol. 
 

The 8” lead post pliers I have

https://a.co/d/aIl1h8f

 

they make a  6.5” version that is cheaper and just as good. 
 

Here is a YouTube video I just searched for that shows what to do and I was pleasantly surprised he mentioned drop shotting. The video is 3 years old and it is kind of cool that others too have realized this independently as I did the way back in about 2006. I guess great minds think alike 😇😂😎
 

You could even add a swivel, but I don’t. 
 

Lastly, I used an improved clinch knot tie the line to the pencil lead, but modified in this way — I will only use 3-4 wraps and snug the knot lightly.

I do not want a full on tightening that is normally used when cinching a knot.

 

The reason is that tying it this way allows me to break off easier. In a sense, it acts as the clip of a DS weight does to break off. 
 

islandbass = nerd 🤓 

I dont use drop shot weights. I just use a cheap lead bullet weight with a bobber stop and overhand knot at the end  of the line.

Riprap from the bank?  I would ensure I have a spinnerbait, topwater, and weightless Senko (t-rigged or wacky).  Dropshot?  That's a risky deal.  Island Bass has the best solution, but still be prepared for breakoffs.

 

Also, the notion riprap is just a straight, featureless bank is a myth.  Changes in contour, bottom composition, weeds, culverts, and depth make for a very dynamic bank.

 

Here's a video that goes into detail about finding and fishing those features:

 

@Glenn  indeed, it is certainly risky, but the rewards are worth the endeavor.  

I also agree with you 100% those myths you mentioned. 

 

where I fish the rip rap has potential for bull dog spirited smallies from the shore and I will gladly give up some pencil lead for the opportunity to battle them on 6# test.

 

indeed 6# line  because it is easy to break off and I can retie in and be back in action in less than a minute. I used to use invizx when it used to be about $8 (yeah, a longggggggg time ago, lol) but discovered 6# mono pretty well for the most part. 

 

after some time and experience, you will develop a feel to sense a snag about to happen. Then, you proceed to pop the rod to avoid the sang. It becomes second nature and an instinctual motion/reaction. 

also, we shorebound anglers don’t have the luxury of coming up to the bass by boat so every opportunity to target them from the shore must be taken advantage of. And if it to DS the rip rap, the. So be it 😂😇😎

 

Edited August 9, 2025Aug 9 by islandbass

I like lures that I can cast a LONG way in this scenario.... @HawkeyeSmallie already mentioned a squarebill in my case and that would probably be my top pick. While I don't normally like expensive crankbaits the evergreen sh-3 is one of my favorites for the casting distance specifically...I also like a fluke on a swimbait hook with a little weight (eg. 1/16oz) on it in this scenario...bonus with that is you can swap over to a paddle tail on the same hook if you want to cover water a little quicker. The other lure I would recommend would be something like a zoom ultravibe speed worm texas rigged with a bullet weight on the head with a stopper. Especially if the water is dirtier I've found junebug red can turn out to be your friend. One last one I'll mention is topwater and specifically a walking bait as long as the water isn't too choppy. 

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this till right now, but last year we won a tournament on a rip rap bank  throwing 10” Power worms (Motor oil/red) Texas rigged with a 1/16 oz sinker pegged. 

I throw rattle traps all the time from the shore...I have lost maybe two in a decade. It's not that bad. you just need to feel it and you would know when to speed it up when the line gets closer to you. 

Rebel Crawdad Crankbait. Awesome little bait.Shallow runner