Can I use a medium heavy rod to drop shot for bass?

[Kenneth Chang]

I’m wondering if I can use a medium heavy rod to drop shot for bass

[Heartland]

You can use a cane pole to drop shot if you want to.  A lot of the conversations here center around what would possibly be an optimal setup to fish a technique.  That said it does not prevent you from using a tree branch, a cane pole, or broom stick to drop shot.  Use what you have and have fun.

 

[Brad Reid]

For sure. And, implicit in your question is you are talking about the "finesse" version of a drop shot, the light hook, line line, and small plastic version of the presentation.

 

The drop shot is only a rigging qualifier, sometimes called a down shot, and that is all it is: hook above a sinker lower down. In some cases I see a heavy version of drop shot and I believe they call it a Bubba shot where the angler uses MH or even H rods, bigger line, hooks and a big weight. Gonna certainly need a MH for that version of a drop shot!

 

If you do use a MH for the finesse version, just be careful and use a passive hook set, that is, let the fish hook itself. I think you'll feel the fish jump on board just fine with a MH rod.

 

Brad

[CroakHunter]

I use a mh baitcaster for any drop shotting I do. Although I am "bubba shotting".

[Deleted account]

If you are asking can you use a MH rod to drop shot with typical drop shot line, hook, sinker and baits, the answer is yes, but why? If you are asking about using a MH rod with appropriately scaled up tackle, absolutely.

[BoatSquirrel]

I agree with the sage advice above.  For a MH setup, I would avoid the traditional small dropshot hook and would opt for a TX rigged dropshot on an EWG hook or a Roboworm Rebarb heavy wire hook.  Those small hooks are best matched with lighter rods.  

Good luck man!

[roadwarrior]

7 hours ago, Kenneth Chang said:

I’m wondering if I can use a medium heavy rod to drop shot for bass

No

 

[NYWayfarer]

8 hours ago, Kenneth Chang said:

I’m wondering if I can use a medium heavy rod to drop shot for bass

You can but as others have said it will not be the best rod for that type of fishing.

 

[FryDog62]

I’ve only used a MH spinning rod once for drop-shotting and it was when the river current was just a little too much for my medium and a 5/8 oz sinker.  The rod I used was extra fast with a really sensitive tip (Tatula 7-1 MH) and it did reasonably well although I wouldn’t use it regularly.  It helped to use a sensitive line to feel subtle bites (10 lb braid, 8 lb fluorocarbon leader).

[kenmitch]

9 hours ago, Heartland said:

You can use a cane pole to drop shot if you want to.  A lot of the conversations here center around what would possibly be an optimal setup to fish a technique.  That said it does not prevent you from using a tree branch, a cane pole, or broom stick to drop shot.  Use what you have and have fun.

 

 

You forgot the caveman style of hand lining....Use gloves if you're using braid.

 

 

[Dangerfield]

Yes, it's called power finesse

[FCPhil]

You certainly can. For a long time a MH rod is all I had. Just make sure your drag is not to high and use a gentle sweep of the rod for the hook set. 

[Boomstick]

You can fish a drop shot with larger hooks and larger soft plastics. I never do personally, but I gather it works for bed fishing and to target larger bass. Should I ever get off the shore I might give it a shot!

[FishTank]

Sure, bigger sinker, bigger bait. But I like to think of this as a finesse technique, which for me means, spinning gear, ML longer rod, and 6lb test.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, FishTank said:

Sure, bigger sinker, bigger bait. But I like to think of this as a finesse technique, which for me means, spinning gear, ML longer rod, and 6lb test.

Ditto this except the line - 8# here.

[LxVE Bassin]

Don’t use a light wire hook because you will have a high chance of straightening it out.

[Heartland]

2 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

Don’t use a light wire hook because you will have a high chance of straightening it out.

How?

[basshtx]

Medium and Medium Heavy is a very universal rod. 

[MN Fisher]

6 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

Don’t use a light wire hook because you will have a high chance of straightening it out.

 

3 hours ago, Heartland said:

How?

If you're using a M or MH rod with finesse hooks (light wire), a hard hook-set will be enough to straighten the hook as the rod is stiffer so more of the force is transmitted to the hook.

 

With ML or UL rods, the rod will absorb more of the force helping to prevent this.

[Heartland]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

 

If you're using a M or MH rod with finesse hooks (light wire), a hard hook-set will be enough to straighten the hook as the rod is stiffer so more of the force is transmitted to the hook.

 

With ML or UL rods, the rod will absorb more of the force helping to prevent this.

B.S.,   That is all I have to say about it.

 

[LxVE Bassin]

17 hours ago, Heartland said:

How?

I’ve bent out a light whire hook with a medium rod, so I’m sure a medium heavy can do the same.

[kenmitch]

2 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

I’ve bent out a light whire hook with a medium rod, so I’m sure a medium heavy can do the same.

I'd probably blame the drag being set too high rather than the medium rod. One has to take into account what's tied on the end of the line when adjusting the drag. 

 

I've caught channel cats up to a little over 6lbs  using 20lb braid and a #12 treble hook while bluegill fishing. The drag was set really low as those smaller bluegill give little to no fight at all otherwise. The only reason the cats stayed pinned was the drag was set really low. I figured the bluegill were sunning in the shallows, guess they were really trying to hide from the channel cats.

[LxVE Bassin]

4 hours ago, kenmitch said:

I'd probably blame the drag being set too high rather than the medium rod. One has to take into account what's tied on the end of the line when adjusting the drag. 

 

I've caught channel cats up to a little over 6lbs  using 20lb braid and a #12 treble hook while bluegill fishing. The drag was set really low as those smaller bluegill give little to no fight at all otherwise. The only reason the cats stayed pinned was the drag was set really low. I figured the bluegill were sunning in the shallows, guess they were really trying to hide from the channel cats.

That can be a fact, someone actually told me to loosen my drag to prevent bending out the hooks. But now I use stouter g-finesse hooks instead of the rebarbs when I t-rig Roboworms and have yet to have the issue again.  I only keep the drag super lose when I nose hook. 

[Heartland]

8 hours ago, LxVE Bassin said:

I’ve bent out a light whire hook with a medium rod, so I’m sure a medium heavy can do the same.

Setting the hook on a fish,  if so you might want to try adjusting that drag a bit there tiger.