Drop Shot Help - Beginner

[Jake the Cake]

I think I worded this title wrong, I'm not a beginner fisherman but I am a beginner to the drop shot.  I'd like some pointers to help. 

 

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom?  What's a good distance from the weight?  Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms?  I ask that last question because a lot of my Missouri/Ozark success is due to YUM Craws first and Senkos second (typically T-rigged).  What size hook is appropriate?  Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head?  Is there anything against rigging two hooks?  Have I posted too many questions?

 

I've researched it on the internet quite a bit today (probably should be working) but I have too many specific questions that weren't being answered properly, so I'm here now.

[Sam]

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom? - USE THE AMOUNT OF WEIGHT TO KEEP THE WEIGHT ON THE BOTTOM.

 

  What's a good distance from the weight? - LENGTH OF A PLANO TACKLE BOX. 

 

Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms? - ANYTHING OF YOUR CHOICE. EVEN RIGGED "WACKY" IF YOU WANT. 

 

I ask that last question because a lot of my Missouri/Ozark success is due to YUM Craws first and Senkos second (typically T-rigged).  - USE BOTH.

 

What size hook is appropriate?- #1, #2 OR 1/0 WORM HOOK OR A SMALL CIRCLE HOOK

 

Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head? - HOOKING TO THE HEAD

 

  Is there anything against rigging two hooks? - LINE TWIST AND A BIG MESS ON YOUR HANDS WHEN THE LINE TWISTS. 

 

Have I posted too many questions? - NO. NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!

[Jake the Cake]

BOOM!!!  And this is why I came to the forum.  Thanks Sam!

[fishblitzer]

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom? 

I would not suggest anything larger than 1/4 ounce for your weight. Depending on where you are a heavier weight will kick more muck up from the bottom. Since drop shot is finesse, in most cases, this is not a good thing.

 

What's a good distance from the weight? I only rig my worm 1ft- 1 1/2 foot from the weight. If it needs to be any longer than that I will use a different presentation.

 

Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms? I would highly recommend roboworms for drop shot fishing. Also, if you want a craw profile check our missile baits craw for dropshotting. You want your plastic, in most cases, to float or be buoyant enough to sit horizontal.

 

I ask that last question because a lot of my Missouri/Ozark success is due to YUM Craws first and Senkos second (typically T-rigged). 

What size hook is appropriate? I use a 2/0 circle hook and would not use any other type. With a circle hook you can just reel down to the fish and it will set itself. Any other type of hook and you have to set the hook, which equals less hook ups.

 

Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head? I don't know if weedless is possible, however, nose hooking through the head is the only way to rig a drop shot bait. The less hook in the plastic, the more movement in your plastic.

 

 Is there anything against rigging two hooks?  For fun fishing, I have heard of people using jigs or shakeyheads as the weight but I believe it is against the rules of most tournaments.

[Jake the Cake]

Buoyant worms it is!  I've got some Finesse TRD's (PB&J and Green Pumpkin Orange) that I know are buoyant so I might strap those on since they've done well for me on the Ned Rig.  As far as the craws I'll definitely be checking out the missile baits after reading the reviews and the fact that it says in the description that they're specifically designed for Drop Shots.  I knew I'd get the answers I need from y'all.  Thanks again!

[WRB]

If you ask any Elite bass pro who is the best pro angler with a drop shot rig the answer would be Aaron Martens.

Aaron won AOY in 2015 earlier this year than anyone else has ever accomplished winning the AOY.

Hint....go online and watch Aaron's drop shot seminars and vedio's.

Tom

[K_Mac]

If you ask any Elite bass pro who is the best pro angler with a drop shot rig the answer would be Aaron Martens.

Aaron won AOY in 2015 earlier this year than anyone else has ever accomplished winning the AOY.

Hint....go online and watch Aaron's drop shot seminars and vedio's.

Tom

Great advice. Weight depends on many things, but I don't think 3/8 oz is a bad choice. I like being able to shake it in place. That's just my opinion. Martens videos will answer your questions.

[Fishing Rhino]

How much weight?  No one correct answer.  It depends on how you retrieve the drop shot.  You can jig it vertically, or cast it and retrieve slowly with slight twitches.   The heavier the weight, the faster the worm will sink when it has slack.  I like to go as light as I can usually between 1/8th and 1/4 ounce.  It's easy enough to change the weights on a drop shot.

 

Bait?  I've used the SK elaztech four inch finesse worms (they float) with good success, but also have used the Yamamoto Flapping Hogs which has a much larger profile than the typical drop shot bait.

 

Distance between the weight and the bait.  Again, that depends.  In vegetation, I like to keep the bait dancing around near the top of the vegetation whether fishing vertical or swimming the drop shot.  That means you'll need a greater distance between the bait and the weight if you are swimming it.  I leave about a four foot tail behind the bait.  It usually provides adequate length for adjustments.

 

Antioch East Lake in the Rocky Mountain state park in northern GA.  March, 2010.  Flapping hog.  In that year, most of my drop shot bass and pickerel were caught using the Flapping Hog, watermelon with black and red flakes.

 

 

 

 

 

[ww2farmer]

If you ask any Elite bass pro who is the best pro angler with a drop shot rig the answer would be Aaron Martens.

Aaron won AOY in 2015 earlier this year than anyone else has ever accomplished winning the AOY.

Hint....go online and watch Aaron's drop shot seminars and vedio's.

Tom

Sound advise that WRB and I agree on............which is rare.

 

To answer your specific question's............I myself subscribe to the K.I.S.S. method for drop shotting. I won't describe my "bubba" or "power" shotting gear, as that's often much different then what I use for "traditional" finesse type drop shotting.

 

Weight: I carry 3 sizes, that cover all the bases from the bank out to the abyss, and everything in between. I like 1/4 for 5' of less, 3/8's for 5-15', and 1/2 oz. for anything deeper than 15'

 

Hooks: The VMC spin-shots are my favorite, I use the #2 for nose hooking, and the #2/0 EWG for weedless rigging

 

Baits: I use a couple regularly, my #1 choice is to nose hook a basic 4"-6" straight tailed finesse worm , #2 would be a small 3" creature or craw bait   #3 would be a 3"- 4" minnow style bait , and # 4 would be a 3" or 4"  stick bait rigged wacky style ..........As for colors..............K.I.S.S. again.............I stick with green pumpkin, with or without assorted different colors of metal flake (purple is my favorite).

 

Rods/Reel/Line: a 6'9" - 7' ML spinning rod with a fast or X-fast taper is what I like, along with a 2000 size spinning reel spooled up with 10lb braid, and a 10' length of 6 or 8lb fluoro leader.

 

I consider my system..........."drop shotting for dummies" and since I have had  excellent success with it over the last 10-12 years, and am a pretty big dummy, I don't change much.

[Montanaro]

Amart "despises" the dropshot...

...but even the best baseball players know how to bunt and sac fly.

The key is balancing all of your tackle from rod to sinker.

A 3/8oz weight on a ml rod with 15lb braid and 10 inch ribbontail will not be efficient.

The dropshot is not a search bait (an efficient method itself) so you have to create efficiency with balanced tackle.

My go to is a ML rod, 2500 reel, 20lb braid +8lb fc leader. Size one swivel hook reduces line twist with a 4 inch roboworm above 3/16 weight.

Easy casting and makes little disturbance going in water. If I use a larger plastic like a stick bait ill go with 1/4oz to get it to bottom faster...im not worried about hits on the fall, if thats what the bass want Ill use a different presentation

[GoCougs14]

Aaron Martens said that he only uses a 1/8th weight until he's dropping into 30+ft deep. If there's wind then maybe go up to 3/16th.

Over 1/4 ounce is overkill unless its a special deep situation.

[blckshirt98]

Just an FYI I'm a 100% shore fisherman that has been bass fishing for about the past 3 years, and fished a dropshot for about 90% of that time until this past summer when I tried to use the dropshot less and pick up different techniques.

 

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom?

-1/8 is typically what I always use.  On light tackle spinning gear it's enough to get a far enough cast to where the fish are.  3/16 on windy or stronger current days.  

 

What's a good distance from the weight? 

- Depends on who you ask.  One guy I know who does well in tournaments only has about 5 inches between the hook and weight.  A local guide/former pro says you want the hook to weight distance at least 1.5 times the length of whatever bait you're using.  I personally like to keep about a 10-12 inch distance from hook to weight, and if I'm not getting bites will shorten it down to 6-8 inches.

 

Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms?  

- You can fish any soft plastic, just be sure that whatever you use, test the action in shallow water in front of you and see how it moves according to how you twitch your rod/line.  Some baits will sit odd in the water, some will twitch a lot with just the current, some will spaz out unnaturally if you twitch too much.  I've dropshotted worms from 3.5-8 inches, 2 inch crappie baits, craws, gobies, weird looking stuff.  Anything will work, just be sure to check the action in the water first so it's being presented right.

 

What size hook is appropriate? 

- I nose hook all of my dropshot baits and like to use smaller hooks.  Size 4 hooks are my standard, I'll go up to a size 2 if I'm using a thicker bait, down to a size 6 if I'm going after bluegill/crappie.  Aaron Martens likes to use larger 3/0 hooks but I also believe he rigs his stuff weedless.

 

Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head? 

- I nose hook everything because I think it provides the best action on the plastic, especially smaller sized ones.  If it's weedy I'll still nosehook but instead of hooking it clean through will hook it "halfway" through before pointing the hook out at the nose, but stopping just before it exits the plastic so it's "weedless"

 

Is there anything against rigging two hooks?  

- Haven't tried it but I think if the two hooks aren't facing the same way you could have one bait moving "backwards" or in a weird unnatural direction when you twitch the rod. I have tried using a shakeyhead/dropshot combo where I'll replace the dropshot weight with a lighter shakeyhead/plastic.

[Slade House]

I think that 

for hook, i prefer the mustad double wide drop shot hooks. 

 

I only use tungsten (Vike is cheapest, especially when you order in bulk from china) 

 

flurocarbon 8lbs or less, i use finesse spinning rigs many times, and there are times where i pitch it like a jig using 1/2 oz baits.  

 

distance?  honestly i think many people put too much distance between the the weight and the hook.  I prefer 10 inches or less .  

 

Baits: always nose hooked roboworm 4 or 6 inch (hologram shad, aaron's pro magic 2 ), Reins bubbling shaker, Missle bait fuse 4.4 craw

 

if you're fishing saltwater, using gulp sandworms drop shotting works great too. 

[Fishes in trees]

I "bubba shot" more often than not.   I use half ounce weights - 20lb Abrazx fluorocarbon line and a pitching stick.   Half ounce is necessary because I don't like waiting for the bait to drop to the bottom.  I use the Gamakatsu wicked wacky hooks - 1/0 through 5/0 depending on the thickness of the plastic I'm nose hooking - I use 2/0 most often.  I lie the little tube wrapped on the shaft of the hook that you run your line through.  I think I get a more consistent hook set.

 

For baits, I like the Berkley Crazy legs chigger craw.  Recently I had some results using a Guilp sinking minnow.

[hatrix]

I used to dropshot a ton but for some reason hardly did any this year. For weights I don't really use any thing over 1/4 ever really. I set my length appropriate to the height I need to keep it up out of the slime and garbage on the bottom. I like to go about 12-18" but if I have to go a bit higher to not get fouled i will. I am also a fan of those spinshot hooks and sometimes a light wire EWG if I want to t-rig something something like a finesse worm baby brushhog ect. For baits I ise a lot of worms and the occasional creature style. Finesse worms wacky rigged or senkos are always good. I probably use a senko the most. Roboworms works good but I burn right though them as they don't last long at all. I like baby D-Bombs, missel craws, baby sweet beavers. The small flukes nose hooked and those gulp minnows work also. The gulp minnows catch everything and a lot of cats.

[WRB]

Aaron Martens grew up finesse bass fishing in SoCal mentored by Dick Trask. Trask was all about details and precision that define finesse bass fishing. To consistantly catch bass and win tournaments you must learn how to catch those bass that are not actively feeding, the simple fact is bass are inactive far more time than they are active and that is the time to finesse fish.

The standard drop shot rig is made up using 2 power or MH spinning or casting rods, reels with 4 to 6 lb FC line or leader with 10 lb braid. Small 3" to 6" finesse worms, size 4 to 1 drop shot or down shot hooks, nose or wacky hooked. 1/8 oz weights work very well with 5 lb FC line and small worms, 3/16 oz would be used with 6 lb FC or if it's windy to maintain feel. The average distance between the weight and hook is 6" to 8". If the bass are relating to bottom structure, the weight is resting on the bottom. If the bass are higher up in the water column, simply drop the rig down to that depth, the weight doesn't always need to be on the bottom.

Precise boat control means you are not moving around a lot, even in the wind. Using weights 1/4 oz or heavier indicates poor boat control or fishing too fast, consider a different finesse rig like a split shot / mojo rig, finesse C- rig (slip shot) or dart head or shaky head jig/worm to cover more area.

Tom

[WIGuide]

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom?  It can be. For me I cast it most of the time, and I like to keep it in one spot and move the bait and not the weight. Some say that weight depends on water depth, but for me it depends more on wind. For an example, I fished a tournament one year that I had some smallies located on a hump. The wind was blowing 25-30 mph, not ideal conditions for a dropshot, but I stepped up to a 1/2oz weight despite only casting into 3 feet of water. Once the weight is on the bottom, the sink rate is only controlled by the weight of the hook and sink rate of the plastic. If you're hopping it, swimming it, or fishing it vertical the weight plays a more important roll as it controls how fast the bait descends.

 

What's a good distance from the weight?  Depends on where the fish are located, but I usually stick to around a foot.

 

Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms? You can fish basically any plastic on it. I've had the most luck with 4" finesse worms, the dream shot, and the Strike King Baby Rodent

 

What size hook is appropriate? Choose a hook that fits the bait you're using. I usually nose hook the baits I use so I use a 1/0 VMC Spinshot circle hook the majority of the time.

 

Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head?  I usually hook the baits I use using a kind of modified nose hook technique. Instead of coming all the way through the bait like you would normally nose hooking, I stop halfway through the worm and bring the point out the front. I don't expose the point, I leave it just inside the worm. It keeps it more weedless/snagless, so I guess my answer to your question is both.

 

Is there anything against rigging two hooks? If you can get it to work and it falls within state regulations, I don't see why it wouldn't!

 

My best advice is just go play with it and tinker with it until you find something your confident in and works for you. You've got a great starting point from what people have already wrote in, but you can see there's a wide array of responses. Figure out which you like best and have a blast wackin'em!

[hatrix]

Sometimes you need to use a havier weight tom. Places that get a current in them can be hard to maintain bottom contact. I rarely fish a dropshot completely vertical as it is. I will make little cast with it and cover a small area. That is also one reason you make want to go a little heavier. For me it can be at leade.

[MrBigFishSC]

Let me add my 2 cents.

Drop shotting is fun no matter what others say. It isn't a search bait so you gotta find the fish or know where to go. Once that happens I use a 3/16 weight mostly and never larger than a #1 hook. Baits range from senkos to craws but the dreamshot usually works if they are going to bite. I always check the action of the bait in shallow water first then replicate the action I like best in deeper water. Don't overwork the bait however. Tag end lengths can vary based on the water temp and cover but 12-18 inches works well. 8 would be my shortest. I would stick with a single hook to start and get the feel of the action and the bites. There will be different bites so you have to pay attention. You can catch big fish this way not just lots of small ones so don't be afraid to use it when you know fish are around. It's a great technique for the tough bite times and pressured water.

Good Luck.

[Joycer81]

I spend most of my time fishing Lake Ontario for smallmouth, and fish the dropshot about 75% of the time.  

 

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom? 

On the great lakes the wind can get quite extreme as well as waves in the 6 foot range, in these conditions I will fish weights of 5/8 or 3/4 and sometimes more.  On most days I fish about 25-32 feet deep and prefer a 1/2 ounce weight.  The most important factor is choosing the lightest weight to give you good bottom contact.  (For this reason I use nothing but tungsten now)  I used to use lead but during the Canadian Open this year was given some tungsten sinkers and after feeling the difference in sensitivity I can't go back.

 

What's a good distance from the weight? I let the bottom tell me what the best distance is, I rarely keep less than 6-8 inces off bottom, and in heavier cover I increase this distance so that the fish can still see it over rocks/weeds/etc.

 

Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms? I use worms almost exclusively and have found te most success with 3 to 4.5 inch offerings, although when the fish want something bigger I find it hard to beat a 5-6 inch trick work wacky rigged.

 

I ask that last question because a lot of my Missouri/Ozark success is due to YUM Craws first and Senkos second (typically T-rigged). 

What size hook is appropriate? I don't have any experience on these lakes but ave found the smaller the hook the better, I pretty well only use no.1 gammy octopus, but sometimes use a no.2 with 5-6 inch trick worms.

 

Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head? I usually nose hook the worm with the hook point still hidden in the head to balance weedless properties without taking away from the action of the worm.  When the bite is tough and the bass are only nipping the tail I will move the hook to an exposed posistion, but only as a last result. (In these cases I would try a tube)

 

 Is there anything against rigging two hooks?  The biggest issue with tying multiple hooks is that you will be genearally be using light line on spinning gear so line twist is a big issue.  I always will try and fish with the lightest line posible, and adding extra knots in these cases reduces the strength of te line.  This become a big issue when fighting 7 pound smallies on 5 pound line.