As a good friend and I have been beating up the backwaters of the Mississippi River taking both large and small mouth bass, pike and even some dogfish using the hook-slot modified Rippers we've been paying attention to what we have on the line for color and how the fish respond. The water we are fishing is fairly clear for the Mississippi River, which always has some stain to it. Basically we are fishing a trough with water anywhere from 15 feet to about 4-6 feet in depth thru the center of the trough with shelves on both sides that top out in as little was 1 foot. The sides have substantial emergent and submergent weed growth with the shallower portions of the trough itself having some submergent growth. The deeper water offers some cooler water while the food is in the shallower areas so fish can be taken anywhere in this location.
As mentioned, we pay particular attention to what the fish are hitting well with color being our focus on the baits. On the trip before last we fished Ripper with a heavy silver string glitter belly over a watermelon top heavy with .040 purple and .015 garnet glitters. At one point I had five hits on five consecutive casts. My partner was poking fish with regularity using the color too. We agreed that since we'd tried similar colors with pearl bellies that the fish were beginning to focus on the flash from the baits having the silver bellies so I cooked up a new color that we used yesterday thinking more flash over-all might be good and it was hands down a more consistent color.
I call this Super Sunfish. All clear plastic, just super over-loaded with silver string glitter in the bellies and equal parts of green and blue .040 [about a healthy teaspoon of each in 4 ounces] plus about 1/2 teaspoon of purple .040. This was injected thru the twin injector into the 4" Ripper molds that are converted to end injection and have the metal blanks to create the hook slots. Bass loved the color. We actually had a double on pike with it and no dogfish for a change.
I know the picture appears to have two sizes of Rippers but its the angle the shot was taken, not a difference in size. These baits are all flash having zero colorant or hi lite of any size in them. I am using straight Essential plastic and even with the glitter overload these baits are far tougher than the Kietech baits we'd been throwing earlier this summer. Using a thin punch metal blank in the modified mold to create the hook slot, we can bury the point of the hook and keep it fully covered along with the tie on to keep these very nearly weedless yet hook sets are still quick and easy. My buddy fished almost the entire trip yesterday with one of these and caught plenty of fish coming home with that bait still rigged. My original Super Sunfish bait got mangled by the best pike I caught yesterday, but number two is still on the line until next trip.
We started the yesterday with 74 degree water and high skies. Things warmed up pretty quick but we still took the bulk of our fish from the shallower water and when the sun was out strong with these glkitter hogs and we both agreed that its the flash of all the glitter that put our fish in the net. All of the baits with at least the belly portion full of silver glitter have out-produced the more traditional bait colors with the pearl bellies.
