Drop shot rig hot tip

[Fishin' Fool]

I tried this trick during a tournament yesterday on St Clair and boy am I glad that I did. Tie your normal drop shot rig but instead of using the weight on the bottom I used a Zman tube. You could also use a TRD worm if you prefer. But anyway out of the 4 keepers I caught on that rig 3 were on the tube. Make sure to check your local regulations and make sure that is legal.

[d-camarena]

My buddy does that with a small jig

[huffman1988]

Good tip. Never even thought of doing something like that before. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've done it. It was great, as much as a dropshot hangs up for me, it allowed me to lose baits twice as fast! 

[Fishin' Fool]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've done it. It was great, as much as a dropshot hangs up for me, it allowed me to lose baits twice as fast! 

 

How are you fishing it that you are breaking off that often?  I rarely have issues with that.  Consider using a lighter weight if you are snagging up so much.  Generally they say use as light of a weight as you can get away with.

[Bluebasser86]

1 minute ago, Fishin' Fool said:

 

How are you fishing it that you are breaking off that often?  I rarely have issues with that.  Consider using a lighter weight if you are snagging up so much.  Generally they say use as light of a weight as you can get away with.

Ideally, I don't fish one at all. I fish them mainly around docks and large rocks. They fall down into the cracks and the rocks and the zebra mussels do the rest. 

I'm just messing with you though. I know it's effective in areas a DS works well, just hasn't worked out well for me. 

[OkobojiEagle]

14 hours ago, Fishin' Fool said:

out of the 4 keepers I caught on that rig 3 were on the tube.

 

Sounds as if you should've been fishing a tube jig instead of the drop-shot...

 

 

oe

[Fishin' Fool]

1 hour ago, OkobojiEagle said:

 

Sounds as if you should've been fishing a tube jig instead of the drop-shot...

 

 

oe

 

Yes I agree but tube jig fishing is boring.  Plus it seems more snaggy.  I don't know if you are familiar with the Z-man tubez but they are only 2.75".

[RichF]

1 hour ago, Fishin' Fool said:

 

Yes I agree but tube jig fishing is boring.  Plus it seems more snaggy.  I don't know if you are familiar with the Z-man tubez but they are only 2.75".

 

How is tube fishing any more boring than drop shotting!? LOL

[A-Jay]

Once the waters warms a bit & the Brown Bass move deep, try snapping that tube.

Use a heavy weight, at least a 1/2 oz inside the bait jighead and snap the heck out of it to hop it up off the bottom.

Make sure it falls back on a slack line. Often the faster the fall the better.  They often grab it on the fall but you usually don't feel it - until you snap up the next one . . . .And there's a big Fatty on the end of it.

So this is a way to fish a tube that is Anything but boring. 

btw - this is not new.

A-Jay

[Crestliner2008]

My only thought is that the hookset for each bait is and should be different. Don't see how that helps either rig. You'd have probably did just as well with one or the other. What you are proposing is similar to a fly suspended underneath a popper. Neither one is as good as the original alone. JMO.

[WRB]

Lots of anglers tend to add a jig as a drop shot weight and this was popular in the 90's when drop shot rig became popular. Another trick was stacking 2 to 3 hooks on the line similar to rock cod rigs. 

The problem with using a jig for the weight is the hook set. You should set a jig with firm hook set and a drop shot with a easier rod lift and reel hook set, don't know which technique to use when you get a bite missing or loosing bass.

Tom

[OkobojiEagle]

8 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Once the waters warms a bit & the Brown Bass move deep, try snapping that tube.

Use a heavy weight, at least a 1/2 oz inside the bait jighead and snap the heck out of it to hop it up off the bottom.

Make sure it falls back on a slack line. Often the faster the fall the better.  They often grab it on the fall but you usually don't feel it - until you snap up the next one . . . .And there's a big Fatty on the end of it.

So this is a way to fish a tube that is Anything but boring. 

btw - this is not new.

A-Jay

 

I've caught almost as many incidental walleye as smallmouth fishing a tube in this fashion...

 

oe

[J Francho]

49 minutes ago, WRB said:

Lots of anglers tend to add a jig as a drop shot weight and this was popular in the 90's when drop shot rig became popular. Another trick was stacking 2 to 3 hooks on the line similar to rock cod rigs. 

The problem with using a jig for the weight is the hook set. You should set a jig with firm hook set and a drop shot with a easier rod lift and reel hook set, don't know which technique to use when you get a bite missing or loosing bass.

Tom

 

Exactly.  There's also the issue of the tag end being slightly crimped when properly tying a Palomar.

[Fishin' Fool]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

 

Exactly.  There's also the issue of the tag end being slightly crimped when properly tying a Palomar.

 

The one fish I did catch on the drop shot did break the bottom portion of the drop shot knot off under the hook.  I'm probably lucky that one stayed buttoned.

[J Francho]

I wouldn't worry too much about that fish - the knot worked as expected.  You caught three others on the suspect end that broke.

[Fishin' Fool]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Lots of anglers tend to add a jig as a drop shot weight and this was popular in the 90's when drop shot rig became popular. Another trick was stacking 2 to 3 hooks on the line similar to rock cod rigs. 

The problem with using a jig for the weight is the hook set. You should set a jig with firm hook set and a drop shot with a easier rod lift and reel hook set, don't know which technique to use when you get a bite missing or loosing bass.

Tom

 

Rig it with a TRD worm on the bottom instead.  My boater did after I caught I had caught 4 to his 0 in that location.  He did cull a fish on that.