Rapala RipStop Deep

The Rapala RipStop Deep:

The only way to get more from a RipStop® is to hit more depths. So Rapala® developed the new RipStop Deep, which dives 3 to 4 feet deeper than a No. 12 RipStop.

“It’s got a deep-diving bill that allows me to get the bait down really quick,” says Rapala Pro Seth Feider, a Bassmaster Elite Series competitor. “With two to three quick twitches, I can get that bait to the strike zone, where with a shallower-running bait, you’d have to cast a long way past it.”

At 4-¾ inches, the RipStop Deep is the same length as a No. 12 RipStop but will dive as deep as 8 feet. A No. 12’s max depth is 5 feet. At 9/16th ounces, the RipStop Deep weighs 1/16th ounce. more than the No. 12.

“You can get some pretty good-sized depth out of it, with a 10-pound fluoro leader on 10-pound braid,” says legendary angler Al Lindner, co-founder of In-Fisherman and host of the influential “Angling Edge” and “Fishing Edge” TV shows.

Rapala’s new RipStop Deep comes armed with three No. 3 VMC® Black Nickel round-bend hooks. “The hooks on this sucker are amazing,” Lindner says.

Looking like a cross between a jerkbait, suspending twitch bait and a swimbait, a RipStop will stop in place and suspend almost immediately when you stop reeling it in – something no other bait does.

“It’s erratic in its action, but it just stops instead of gliding when you kill the bait,” explains Rapala Pro Davy Hite, a Bassmaster Classic Champion. “I give it slack line and it just freezes right there.”

When it’s in motion, a RipStop’s unique hard-plastic boot tail creates a hard-rolling, slashing action that mimics a live minnow swimming.

“It’s got this really seductive, slow nose turn-up – kind of looks like a dying shad kind of fighting its way to the surface,” Feider says. “You get a lot of bites right after you pop the bait.”

The RipStop’s one-of-a-kind hard-plastic boot tail “was a brilliant idea on Rapala’s part,” Lindner says.

“That little tail is kind of like a little strobe light back there,” Feider says. “So, it works really well for calling in fish.”

Although soft-plastic boot-tail swimbaits elicit bites well on the retrieve, many sink like a stone when paused, scaring off fish still considering whether to commit. The RipStop’s ability to stop, suspend and then resume swimming will convert lookers into biters.

“Smallmouth come up behind it, they get so cranked up,” Linder says. “It triggers fish.”

Featuring a modified flat-sided body, the RipStop Deep cuts easily through water and shimmies in a way that “throws some really nice flash off,” Feider says. Containing no rattles, they swim silently.

RipStop Deeps come in the same 14 colour patterns as do original RipStops: Albino Shiner, Carbon, Clown, Goby, Herring, Houdini, Marilyn, Moss Back Shiner, Purpledescent, Silver, Yellow Perch, Elite Blue, Sneaky Pete and Speed Monkey.

“The variety of colors will cover any fishing situation you’re faced with anywhere in the country,” says Lindner.

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