I Keep Gut Hooking Fish on the Drop Shot Rig

[islandbass]

8 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

I did share with the OP what I do from the bank and maybe that can help the OP to minimize gut hooking. I did reread his post and I think his extra long time of the dead stick with slack line might be the culprit. 

 

 

As a long time shore guy, I tend to agree re: the slack line. You can dead stick as long as you wish, but Not on slack line.

 

While I'm at it...making super long cast's with say heavy jigs, or lighter jigs with trailers especially, almost any bait really, in shallow water is hard to detect a bite. I've seen a few guys do that and gut hook bass..Lucky for the fish, I had forcipes to get the hook out without any damage. Just thought I'd toss that in..

Funny you mentioned forceps. I bought a pair this season. They’re great for hook removal if needed. 

[billmac]

1 hour ago, islandbass said:

Funny you mentioned forceps. I bought a pair this season

The beauty of forceps is you can clamp them right onto your clothing so they are accessible anytime.

[WRB]

When did the drop shot rig start?

My recalculation of a rig with hooks above the weight is the dropper loop rig or rock fish ganion.  Unlike the fresh water version the saltwater used a dropper loop is about 3" long with circle hooks because the fish often swallowed the bait in very deep water.

The first drop shot fresh water bass rigs that I recall in the 70's were called stacking rigs a version of the salt water ganion except the octopus hooks were used and tied direct on the line without a dropper loop. Thie stacking rig soon became the down shot rig, then changed to the drop shot rig by the early 80's.

John Zankowski (Zank) showed me the stacking rig in the late 70's. Zank at the time was winning a lot local tournaments using his hand poured sculpin worms on a 2 hook stacking rig. Zank was just out of high school back then about the same age as Aaron Martens and came up with neon colorant for his worms and start up business.

Drop shot isn't new, it's casting a drop shot rig and fishing it horizontal is a newer adaption that is questionable.

Tom

 

[islandbass]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

 

Drop shot isn't new, it's casting a drop shot rig and fishing it horizontal is a newer adaption that is questionable.

Tom

 

Perhaps questionable, but its effectiveness is awfully or humble folk like me would stop using it from the shore. Well, in my case, I’m shorebound so I don’t have a choice, lol. 

??

 

Signed,

 

Flat Earth aka Horizontal Hotshot Dropshot Society Member

(Founding Member) 

 

?

 

Thanks, WRB. I always appreciate and enjoy the history you give just as you have. I honestly think you should consider writing a book. Your knowledge on not only fishing techniques but also history is definitely worth putting to pen. 

[radiozephyr]

16 hours ago, islandbass said:

I did reread his post and I think his extra long time of the dead stick with slack line might be the culprit. 

 

I think this is exactly it. I'm gonna get out there in a few hours with the suggested adjustments in how I work the rig. Can't wait to let ya know how it goes!

15 hours ago, WRB said:

If you want to cast and hop something back use the Texas rig or a jig.

My issue with Texas rigs and jigs is that I'm in GA. Pretty much every body of water I've fished is either extremely weedy, extremely rocky, or extremely muddy. Jigs and T-rigs get lodged between large rocks every other cast. If not hung up in the rocks, the baits sink down into the soft mud where the fish will never touch it. If not mud or rocks, I'm pulling up a baseball sized clump of weeds every cast (maybe not so much with jigs because of the brush guard, but it still happens pretty often).

[radiozephyr]

5 hours ago, islandbass said:

Funny you mentioned forceps. I bought a pair this season. They’re great for hook removal if needed. 

I'm gonna invest in a pair of forceps. Are the cheap ones sold at Walmart effective? If not, is there any particular brand you recommend?

[MN Fisher]

14 minutes ago, radiozephyr said:

I'm gonna invest in a pair of forceps. Are the cheap ones sold at Walmart effective? If not, is there any particular brand you recommend?

I wouldn't go with the cheap ones. Get a good pair of curved forceps. The 9" Rochester-Pean should handle just about anything you need them for, and they'll last.

[WRB]

Invest some time in how to remove hooks from gut hooked bass.

Your lake bottom structure is typical of bass lakes everywhere. Rocks, weeds, mud, sand, gravel etc. the key to reducing snags is the same as improving strike detection, keeping in contact with you lure by managing slack line. The shape of the bottom contact lure or sinker and using the lightest weight and still feel it is critical.

Drop shot weights have quick disconnect design because they sit on the bottom and will work into snags. The cylinder shape mojo style weight is ideal.

Use a 3/16 oz finesse jig or 1/8 oz bullet weight T-rig if snags are a issue.

If you keep doing the same thing expect the same results.

Tom

[5/0]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

When did the drop shot rig start?

My recalculation of a rig with hooks above the weight is the dropper loop rig or rock fish ganion.  Unlike the fresh water version the saltwater used a dropper loop is about 3" long with circle hooks because the fish often swallowed the bait in very deep water.

The first drop shot fresh water bass rigs that I recall in the 70's were called stacking rigs a version of the salt water ganion except the octopus hooks were used and tied direct on the line without a dropper loop. Thie stacking rig soon became the down shot rig, then changed to the drop shot rig by the early 80's.

John Zankowski (Zank) showed me the stacking rig in the late 70's. Zank at the time was winning a lot local tournaments using his hand poured sculpin worms on a 2 hook stacking rig. Zank was just out of high school back then about the same age as Aaron Martens and came up with neon colorant for his worms and start up business.

Drop shot isn't new, it's casting a drop shot rig and fishing it horizontal is a newer adaption that is questionable.

Tom

 

I remember fishing of SoCal piers as a boy for smelt. We used a drop line with several hooks tied directly to the line. We’d just lower it down and jerk it it up and down. You could do it without bait on the hooks, the flash of the hook would attract fish into biting.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, 5/0 said:

I remember fishing of SoCal piers as a boy for smelt. We used a drop line with several hooks tied directly to the line. We’d just lower it down and jerk it it up and down. You could do it without bait on the hooks, the flash of the hook would attract fish into biting.

We called those rigs Lucky Joe now a Sabiki rig, looks like a miniature rock fish ganion, been around decades unless you fresh water bass fish, then it's new.

 

 

[islandbass]

3 hours ago, radiozephyr said:

I'm gonna invest in a pair of forceps. Are the cheap ones sold at Walmart effective? If not, is there any particular brand you recommend?

That’s the one I bought lol. I reckon they ain’t got to be pretty or expensive to be functional. I had one from rapala but lost it. Time will tell but honestly, I’ll probably lose them from the dock with them falling into the lake lake my past two braid scissors, lol. Hence the cheap route because I know what’s going to happen. 

[Hammer 4]

I have 3 or 4 pairs of forceps, all hospital grade, as my wife use to work at a major ***..Had them for about 30 years.

[islandbass]

4 hours ago, radiozephyr said:

I think this is exactly it. I'm gonna get out there in a few hours with the suggested adjustments in how I work the rig. Can't wait to let ya know how it goes!

My issue with Texas rigs and jigs is that I'm in GA. Pretty much every body of water I've fished is either extremely weedy, extremely rocky, or extremely muddy. Jigs and T-rigs get lodged between large rocks every other cast. If not hung up in the rocks, the baits sink down into the soft mud where the fish will never touch it. If not mud or rocks, I'm pulling up a baseball sized clump of weeds every cast (maybe not so much with jigs because of the brush guard, but it still happens pretty often).

Sadly, that is the nature of the beast, especially as a shore angler. The heavier the grass situation, the less effective the ds is for me. 

[JustJames]

11 hours ago, islandbass said:

That’s the one I bought lol. I reckon they ain’t got to be pretty or expensive to be functional. I had one from rapala but lost it. Time will tell but honestly, I’ll probably lose them from the dock with them falling into the lake lake my past two braid scissors, lol. Hence the cheap route because I know what’s going to happen. 

Another reason I bought the boomerang brand. I like portable since I normally only carry a box of jig/plastic in my pants pocket. It is only 5” but I will use this mostly for crappie. For bass, I have a handful of pliers and multitool.

[J Francho]

On 8/30/2019 at 4:45 PM, radiozephyr said:

My issue with Texas rigs and jigs is that I'm in GA. Pretty much every body of water I've fished is either extremely weedy, extremely rocky, or extremely muddy. Jigs and T-rigs get lodged between large rocks every other cast. If not hung up in the rocks, the baits sink down into the soft mud where the fish will never touch it. If not mud or rocks, I'm pulling up a baseball sized clump of weeds every cast (maybe not so much with jigs because of the brush guard, but it still happens pretty often).

Then you are fishing them wrong.  I fish these baits, from shore, in some of the weediest slop.  They are designed for fishing exactly this situation.  Learn to finesse them through the weeds, and you'll get bit.  The heavier the cover, the heavier the tackle.  This is not a DS situation.

[radiozephyr]

10 hours ago, J Francho said:

Then you are fishing them wrong.  I fish these baits, from shore, in some of the weediest slop.  They are designed for fishing exactly this situation.  Learn to finesse them through the weeds, and you'll get bit.  The heavier the cover, the heavier the tackle.  This is not a DS situation.

How exactly am I supposed to fish them then? Maybe a baseball sized clump is an exaggeration for the texas rig, but certainly not for jigs. I typically drag jigs across the bottom or gently hop them along the bottom. Certain types of grass I can finesse these baits through, but man... the pond in my neighborhood is literally 90% covered in thick, strong, slimy, hair-like weed mats across the top. And these mats do NOT form a canopy. They are dense, from the top of the water all the way down to the bottom of the pond. I use the DS to fish what few holes/ openings exist in the vegetation. Usually those holes are only about 2' diameter.

[J Francho]

Don't rip them through the weeds, finesse them through.  Look for openings, breaks, or holes so to speak.  You might want to watch some videos on fishing slop.  Look for changes in species of vegetation.  Look where it abruptly starts or ends.  Bottom line, if you aren't putting your bait in the weeds, you probably aren't near the fish.  If you can't get through the slop, use a heavier weight.  If it's so thick you can't deal, use a hollow frog.  A DS has no business here, not even a bubba shot rig.

 

I call this "medium" weed cover.  It's 6-10' deep here.  Totally choked 2' below the surface. 

https://photos.smugmug.com/Family/Fishing-Journal/i-m9H4BzB/0/0d0137b6/X2/IMG_2556-X2.jpg

 

In this spot, you can only really get a frog through.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Family/Fishing-Journal/i-whtLq8t/0/0fe11f66/O/Photo-0050.jpg

[JustJames]

On 8/30/2019 at 1:45 PM, radiozephyr said:

My issue with Texas rigs and jigs is that I'm in GA. Pretty much every body of water I've fished is either extremely weedy, extremely rocky, or extremely muddy. Jigs and T-rigs get lodged between large rocks every other cast. If not hung up in the rocks, the baits sink down into the soft mud where the fish will never touch it. If not mud or rocks, I'm pulling up a baseball sized clump of weeds every cast (maybe not so much with jigs because of the brush guard, but it still happens pretty often).

Have you ever consider other type of bait like “Fluke”? I found Fluke is pretty good in weedy area especially when finesse it through weed. You also can work it fast on top of the weed for those reaction strikes.

I can do dropshot in grassy area but not too thick, I don’t work my bait in grass but find pocket holes or edges. I don’t work the bait back all the way to me, instead I reel in fast and start on another spot. I also don’t work my bait slow “do nothing type” I just cast it out shake shake pause, shake shake pause, if no bite I move on. In weed or grass area I think the visible is not as important as vibration through grass for bass to detect prey.

This is how I work my DS. I don’t fish DS year rounds only when I know those bass would hand around in area.

 

[J Francho]

Paul is in some weedy stuff, and he's in a kickboat:

 

 

[Paul Roberts]

On 9/3/2019 at 5:36 AM, J Francho said:

Learn to finesse them through the weeds, and you'll get bit.  The heavier the cover, the heavier the tackle.

This^^^, exactly.

 

It may seem counterintuitive, but it pays to conduct your jungle warfare deftly. The trick is to coax and cajole your lure through the stuff, so that you don’t sink your hooks into that cover. This kind of fishing requires heavy tackle, and… a light touch.

 

As far as deep-hooking with soft plastics, two suggestions:

-Slack does help you get bites, but you can check for fish by "weighing" the line, by gently drawing taught and feeling for weight, life. Bass will often hold a soft plastic bait for some time, so you should be able to feel them.

 

-Go barbless. As long as you keep line taught, it works great, and makes unhooking easy.