Geared Up Publications

Rudow's Guide to Rockfish examines every aspect of fishing for striped bass--when, where, and why they feed, what lures or baits to use, and how to understand the most effective way to target this fish in any circumstances. Check out this free sample, from the section on the Anatomy of a Rip:

To properly fish a current rip with lures, one must understand its anatomy. Any current-created surface rip, regardless of what form the structure creating it takes, can be broken down into several different sections. The face of the rip is the section where the current actually meets the structure. Often, small whirlpools, waves, and other visible surface disturbances are visible. Although you may draw a strike or two by casting into the face of a rip, this is not the primary feeding zone. If you make a cast at the feeding zone and hit the face, however, much of the time the current will naturally take your offering into the feeding zone. You may be able to wait for a few seconds and allow the current to do its work, then begin your retrieve and effectively draw your offering through the feeding zone. The limiting factor here is the weight of your lure or bait. If your offering will sink and hit bottom or the structure before reaching the hotspot, there’s a good chance the fish won’t see it or it will become snagged.

The eddy of the rip is the pocket of calm, protected water behind the structure. Rips that form around points as opposed to structure often won’t have visible eddies, but will have a calm pocket of water inside the rip. (The face, feeding zone, and the rip itself will be the same when forming off a point, except that it will occur on a single side instead of each side of the structure.) Fish will often hold in eddies and calm areas, but this is not the area where they feed most actively. Yes, I know, many people believe that this is where the fish are, and thus should be your target area. This is a commonly held but incorrect belief. In fact, fish that sit in eddies continually are inactive and those on the hunt spend their time darting from the eddy into, out of, and across the feeding zone. So why have you caught fish, while casting into eddies? Because casting into them will still lead to success if you retrieve your offering up-current or cross-current, out of the eddy and into the feeding zone. This is an accidental but real result which perpetuates the myth. When you understand how the fish holding around rips and eddies behave, however, you’ll quickly discover that you can catch more fish by focusing on the feeding zone, in the first place. If you’re observant, you may have noticed that when you are positioned down-current and cast up into a rip, you almost never catch fish. That’s because your lure never passes through that magic feeding zone. Even worse, your lure is traveling with the current and most of the time, baitfish will be facing into the current. Your lure looks unnatural, does not travel through the area where feeding fish are hunting, and the fishbox stays empty.
Learn more - lots more - in Rudow's Guide to Rockfish!