Carolina And Drop Shot: I Can't Figure Them Out

[prjavelin]

My little history on these:

Carolina rig I have thrown it a couple times. I have caught fish on it. One I think and lost one the same day. So I think it works in my deep clear reservoirs. I have a kinda long distance from the weight at around 2.5 feet. I have an important tournament coming up and I will love to be able to use this rig for deeper water if my finesse rig on shallow waters is catching me little fish like it did the last tournament I fished there. So his do you detect bites? How fast do your drag this? Best baits?

It's a very hot summer here in Puerto Rico.

Drop shot: do you shake it? Leader length had always puzzled me. Where do you guys fish this?

[WRB]

Drop shot is a saturation type presentation, you should know the bass are in the area to put the soft plastic worm in front of bass. Use your sonar to determine the right depth to fish. You easily feel bass strike.

Drop shot is dropped straight down, the weight sets on the bottom, you slightly shake the line against the weight.

C-rigs are more forgiving because you cast it out and retrieve the rig back along the bottom slowly dragging the weight. Strike are more difficult to feel, the bass needs to pull line against the weight.

4" to 6" finesse worms for drop shot using size 1 drop,shot hook.

6" to 7 1/2" worms for C-rig using 2/0 to 3/0 worm hook.

Good luck.

Tom

PS, search tool will get your to more details.

[kikstand454]

Carolina rig: personally I rig mine with a 3/4-1oz cylinder style weight, glass beads (2), swivel, and then about 2' of leader to a 3/0 hook. My FAVORITE all time lure on a c-rig is a black zoom trick worm. But pretty much any plastic will do GREAT on a c-rig. Trick worms and the like are great in clear-stained water, and I like creature baits and beavers in dirtier water. I find the c-rig is best in 20FOW or less, and a heavy football jig or drop shot seems more productive deeper than that. To fish, cast out to submerged humps, offshore bars etc, and drag it back with a sideways sweeping motion. Don't pivot too much at the waist, only pull the bait about 2'-3' at a time with your rod. This will keep you from being out of position when a fish strikes, as your hookset should typically be reel down to the fish and then a solid sweepset. Feel the bottom and make a mental map of what is happening down there. When you hit a piece of trash, shake a few times to click your glass. Then ease it over and continue on. You can occasionally lift your rod UP and work it like a t-rig, but doing it that way constantly hops your weight back to you and you lose contact with the bottom too much. Anytime you're throwing a c-rig, its good to have a jig and a crankbait that will dive to the depth your fishing nearby. This will change things up if your school stops biting, or if you find something on the bottom you want to probe more carefully with the jig.

Your bite seems like its always either at the end of a drag ( that's why I try not to be out of position) or when you are shaking the glass on submerged cover. Alot of bites will be pick N swims, so watch your line. Other times it will be just like a t-rig with a solid thump.

Alot of people like to go with braid as a mainline on their c-rig with say 40# braid to a 12-14# flouro leader. This is super sensitive and will translate the bottom to you very well. I did that for a while but found that my lead got hung up WAY more than my hook did, and so I switched back to. #15 yozuri ultrasoft and a 12# flouro leader. This lets me break off easier if I need to... But I feel still gives me more than adequate bottom sensitivity.

Ymmv.

As far as a dropshot goes, there are far more qualified people on here than me to advise you on that technique. I have used it time to time with fair success, but in the waters I fish, I find myself always going back to a c-rig. I like a trick worm, roboworm, zman finess worm or a senko as my drop shot baits. Same as what I use as a shaky head.

Good luck! Hope I helped a little.

[fishguy613]

i pitch out the dropshot a few feet from the boat to stay somewhat vertical on it, when the weight is on bottom and line tight your rod tip should be at 9-11 o'clock. Then if you drop your tip a quarter inch, the bait will fall approx. the same distance, so when im fishing the ds it doesnt look like im doing much but i am in fact imparting action most of the time

[Raul]

A tournament IS NOT the right place nor the right time to put in practice a technique/lure that you don´t master.

[Felix77]

Drop shot ... I struggled with the drop shot all last season.  One question to this forum helped me out a ton and now it is one of my favorite rigs next to my mojo rig.  Here is what has worked for me ....

 

1 - Weight is absolutely critical.  To me it is not enough to "feel bottom" with the bait.  I also need to keep a relatively tight line between the weight and my rod tip.  I was fishing it previously with too much slack in my line.  Somewhere between semi-slack and taught is best IMO.  With all that said I tend to begin at 1/4oz and work up/down from there based on conditions.  All the 1/8oz weights are now in my lead pile.  I carry from 3/16 - 1/2oz

 

2 - Presentation - There are two which have worked well for me ... First - cast it out and drag it slowly across the bottom.  You can cover a decent amount of water and the natural action of the dragging motion puts more than enough action into your bait to get them to bite.   Second - Similar to the first but when I hit/feel something solid on the bottom I stop.  I don't "twitch" per-se but I slowly move my line from semi-slack to taught and back again.  I immagine a smooth swaying motion of the bait.

 

As with all presentations you can experiment with everything in between.  There is always the standby drop it down and catch method which I do from my kayak from time to time.  Generally I cast it though,

 

3 - Lures - I experimented with a lot of lures.  There are a few I like.  Yamamoto Shad Shaped worm, Roboworm, Dream Shot and the Berkley 4" Power Worm.  That last one I got as a tip on this site and it changed my drop shotting.  

 

Good luck!  Once you get it you will not be looking back.  

[mod479]

Leader length on DS depends on where and what you're fishing around. If weed growth is a foot off the bottom, try a leader that will put the bait above them. I usually start high and go lower if nothing is looking up. ~10-15" would be a good starting point. Short leaders can also be the ticket, esp if you like to toss strange baits like I do... brush hog or a craw. If I am fishing  wacky rigged stick bait I will tie an extra long leader so it can get down to depth fast, but then give that tantalizing shimmy when you let it fall.

 

As for working the DS I usually dont post about how I work it, many will say fly your rig like a flag on a tight line, no movement besides what current produces, no shaking it at all. Some go by the lift and drop method, I found this works well with creature baits or anything with a curly tail. Others will say that shaking on tight line is the only way to get bit. I've seen all these work. Fishing extremely clear water over the years I've watched many bass, both species approach a DS and just stare at it. Sometimes simply dropping the bait to the bottom and dead sticking will produce a pickup, other times a slight drop and lift will get a reaction, other times they will smack it when it just hangs motionless or while the rig falls and before the weight even touches bottom. What I'm getting at is that it wont always be the same, everybodies water is a bit different. I will always be one to say go out and experiment, the bass will let you know if they're around.

[prjavelin]

Thank you very much guys I have been watching the videos time and time again and still can't get them mastered. If I can't get bass shallow I have to get them any way i can, I need these as a plan c. At least the Carolina I can throw it if things go wrong. I gotta say that it's a tournament where every legal bass counts so plan A and B are number catching bass rigs. Thanks again guys