Favorite prespawn drop shot baits?

[TheGreatOne]

wondering what some of you guys use on your DS in early spring and how long is your line from hook to weight? I've always used a short maybe 6" of line from hook to weight and done ok, just trying to get better options thanks

[NorthwestBasser]

I like throwing a Strike King KVD dream shot, if they start eating those I size up to a nice fat senko in matching color, usually green pumpkin or watermelon, to entice the bigger fish to bite. As far as length from the weight, I'll change that depending on conditions. Colder water usually means I'll keep it closer to the bottom, also I'll try to keep it just above the veg if there is any in the area. Usually 16 to 18", sometimes as long as 24", I never go shorter than 12" though. If you have it at 6" and are casting it out, your bait is basically sitting on the bottom due to the angle of the line. Which kinda defeats the purpose of the dropshot entirely. Might as well be throwing a Texas rig or Carolina rig at that point. Just my opinion though

[WRB]

I don't target small bass with drop shot rig during pre spawn.

Tom

[jr231]

24 minutes ago, WRB said:

I don't target small bass with drop shot rig during pre spawn.

Tom

Lol then why say anything at all ? Your comment helped no one and seems.pretty smug.. 

[Heron]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

I don't target small bass with drop shot rig during pre spawn.

Tom

Same here 

[kcdinkerz]

My go-to is a 4 inch robo worm. Sometimes I like to get crazy and use a small profile craw with a short leader. But I only target dinks so my input is void. Lol

[Crestliner2008]

The drop shot, during the prespawn, can be deadly. I've never considered it to be a small fish presentation. It can and will catch you some giants. Try wacky rigging a 3" Senko on your drop shot. Cast it out. Let the entire rig hit the bottom. Raise the bait up until you feel the weight and then kill it. Try that a couple of times, then slide your rig a bit further along. Somewhere along the line you will get bit. This works for me consistently from ice out until the spawn. It does take patience however!

[DaleGribble]

Another vote for 4" Roboworm.

 

I like anything in blue or red but I find the color doesnt usually matter at that point. Ive caught some good fish on them but really a great time/presentation for numbers. 

[RoweBoatRVA]

3 hours ago, Crestliner2008 said:

The drop shot, during the prespawn, can be deadly. I've never considered it to be a small fish presentation. It can and will catch you some giants. Try wacky rigging a 3" Senko on your drop shot. Cast it out. Let the entire rig hit the bottom. Raise the bait up until you feel the weight and then kill it. Try that a couple of times, then slide your rig a bit further along. Somewhere along the line you will get bit. This works for me consistently from ice out until the spawn. It does take patience however!

 

If using this technique why not wacky rig a senko normally compared to on a drop shot? What are the benefits on drop shot?

8 hours ago, WRB said:

I don't target small bass with drop shot rig during pre spawn.

Tom

 

Do you not prefer the drop shot for prespawn? Or have a better technique?

[Crestliner2008]

Most folks don't have the patience to fish slow enough under these conditions. With the drop shot, you can lift up the Senko and drop it right back down on the same spot as previously. Doing that a time or two will incite a bass to suck it in. Plus, the weight restricts you from removing it from it's original position....unless you forcibly make that move. 

 

I use several presentations during the pre-spawn, depending on conditions. Ice out the DS is pretty reliable. As the temps warm, I'll start using hard jerkbaits more & more, along with slow rolling a Swing Fat Impact on a belly hook. I switch presentations fairly often during this early period. Sometimes the ole' reliable blade bait works best. Give 'em what they want, not what you want them to have. Be flexible and fish with patience.

[WRB]

Drop shot is ideally suited for neutral active bass and pre spawn through summer is a good time. Bed fish don't eat, they remove anything in thier nest or kill critters that appear to be egg eaters. Drop shot lizards, minnow looking soft plastics and crawdads type lures are good. Pre spawn is the time to catch your PB bass, why waste it fishing for bass you can catch any other time. I am I nto trophy size bass not numbers during pre spawn and summer nights, no drop shot rigs when I can catch bass on jigs, swimbaits, wake baits, big worms, crank baits, top water etc. Call it what you want.

Tom

[ww2farmer]

I agree with WRB.....dropshoting is not a great presentation for bigger largemouth in the pre-spawn period or the fall............IE the times of the year when your apt to catch your biggest fish.

 

Smallmouth are another story, it's deadly on big smallmouth year round.

 

About the only time I pick up a dropshot in the pre-spawn period when targeting largemouth is if they are not biting almost anything else, which happens from time to time, but rarely does it produce big fish.

 

Dropshotting largemouth shines for me in the post spawn-summer/fall transition period, and often my biggest fish of the summer come drop shotting. Often power shotting heavy cover, or fishing lighter tackle rigs  off deep grass lines.

 

 Come full blown fall fishing, it's back to the bottom of the rotation and only used for largemouth as a last resort.

 

Like I said before, smallmouth are a different story......and almost a 180 of largemouth fishing. Often my biggest smallmouth of the pre-spawn period, and fall (times when it's not a productive tech.  for largemouth) are caught drop shotting. In the summer, it's a numbers thing for smallies, but a producer of better quality largemouth. 

[blckshirt98]

If you're just looking to catch numbers, you can drop shot almost anything and you'll catch fish.  Dream shots, kut tails, roboworms, crosstail shads, anything small that you can nose hook that will have some action on a light twitch.

[RoLo]

If you're referring to largemouth bass, the 'pre-spawn' is one season I wouldn't employ drop-shotting.

During the actual spawn...Absolutely. During the pre-spawn however, big trophy females

are actively feeding before the ensuing spawn. It's a time when big lures and big live minnows

are most popular (unless you're targeting buck bass).

 

Now then, if you're referring to smallmouth bass, there are drop-shot baits I'll use year-round:

> Jackall 4" Crosstail Shad - green pumpkin pepper

> Roboworm 4.5" Straight-tail Worm - new ayu

> Live European Nightcrawler - 3-5" long

 

Roger

[eyedabassman]

Any time that I fish a DS I rig it up this way= I use a long lead DS weight in 1/8 for skinny water and as i go deeper the I will go with a bigger weight. Now I take a VMC Spin Shot DS hook and place it about 5 to 6 in.from the weight and then I have another VMC Spin Shot hook 6 to 10 in. above the other Spin shot. This way I can cover more water and have a chance at a double! It works GREAT in the pre-spawn,post spawn and all summer.Great on boat dock's!

Like WRB said not a real good bait for the spawn! Many other baits come to mind for the spawn!

[TheGreatOne]

Thanks guys for all the input... Yea I was thinking the same with the fact that big bass season is the prespawn period but I was thinking tournament wise on pressured waters, as a way to salvage the day maybe other than come to the scales with zilch... But I think I'll just keep my DS in the tackle box during the prespawn unless all else fails and I need to catch something so I don't zero... Thanks again!!

[BigSkyBasser]

The drop shot rig is absolutely dynamite during pre-spawn in Montana. I'll spend the first part of spring trying to throw swimbaits and jerkbaits to pick up those piggy females and I never seem to do great. Then I switch to drop shotting tubes along weedlines that outlet to deep water and my fiance and I slay them. We use z man tubes and dry creek tubes that float and fish them on a longer leader depending on how much the vegetation has grown in at that point. This seems to be equally effective with both smallies and largemouth.

[Darren.]

You have a bevy of options for DS baits including

Senkos, Roboworms, minnow-style baits, creature

baits and so forth.

 

Generally speaking, I like my DS rigged 16-24"

above the weight, but will go up or down depending

on how much leader I have left (before changing),

if I can "see" where the fish are suspended (if water

clarity is superb)...

 

As for time of year, I will fish it year-round. Will likely

add to my techniques this season as I hope to fish

the prespawn with more success than I've had in

the past.