(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Like many successful anglers, one of the first places Hank Cherry looks on a new lake – or a familiar waterway, for that matter – is riprap. “Fish use it consistently 365 days a year,” He said. “They use it to stage, they use it to feed and they use it to hang out. The biggest thing they do that people don’t understand is they use it for travel zones.” That means bass heading into or out of a creek, cover or river arm naturally congregate on it.
While pinch points and corners are among the most obvious stopping points, Cherry shies away from them because they get so much pressure. He gets “as far from the corners” as possible to chase less educated and pressured fish.
As noted above, this is a 12-month-of-the-year zone, but Cherry tailors his approach and lures to the seasons. In the spring, he starts with a jerkbait like the Berkley Stunna, which allows him to fish up on the rocks out to 30 feet deep. With forward-facing sonar he can tell whether the bass are tight, suspended or pushed off due to boat traffic. The biggest mistake, he explained, is that most anglers only fish straight at the rocks or at a 45 degree angle. He’ll start parallel to the riprap and then swing the boat out to change angles. Indeed, boat positioning is a key element of his success.
His next offering is a square-bill crankbait like the Berkley Pit Bull, which gets down to 7 or 8 feet deep. Sometimes he’ll fish it “old grandpa style,” slow and banging into the rocks, but nine times out of 10 he relies on a warp-speed retrieve, even when it’s cold. He’ll burn it, make contact, and then kill it. Most bites come on the pause.
Once the water continues to warm, he’ll turn to an oft-overlooked option – the spinnerbait. Usually he starts off trying to imitate a gizzard shad, noting that “big fish eat big baits, especially in the springtime.” As they turn to smaller prey, though, he’ll downsize his offering. Like the jerkbait, it covers a wide range of depths and is remarkably versatile.
After that, it’s a jig until it gets cold again. It can be aggravating to fish because it will get hung up, but it’s so effective that it’s worth the occasional frustration. By letting it glide down, rather than settle in, Cherry minimizes the unnecessary snags. He prefers a trailer with little action. “I want to make that bait move,” he said, adding that once the jig and chunk get to the bottom he’ll hop the combo and then swim it back to the boat.
As for colors, he keeps it simple: green pumpkin, black and blue and green pumpkin blue. “No other color anywhere I go across the country, that’s it.” Ninety percent of the time it’s a 3/8-ounce model.
If you want to learn some of the back-to-back Bassmaster Classic champ’s riprap strategies, including why he almost never uses a reel with a gear ratio slower than 7:1, check out his full on-the-water video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
