Drop Shot Knot

[Big Swimbait]

First, I am 65 and have fished about 60 of them. I use and know how to tie the Palomar knot with fluro. But on a recent trip at a private lake I was on an incredible drop shot bite but I broke off 3 really big fish right at the knot. I know this because I marked my line at the knot after the first one. I was using a new spool of 10# Sniper. I guess I probably had my drag too tight but I could pull it off  by hand without much trouble. Is there another knot that will work for the drop shot? If not, I'm done with fluro for the technique.

[A-Jay]

I use a single uni knot to rig my drop shot.

Just have to pass the tag end back through the hook eye to attach the weight.

btw- if you're using the FC as a leader in front of a braid mainline, or even just a spool of FC, there is no law against using a quality mono - and the knot strength is certainly a whole lot better.

Just sayin'.

A-Jay

 

[WRB]

I use 7 lb Sniper drop shot and set my drag at 2 lbs. The key with a Palomar knot is never twist the loop putting the hook through it. If you hold the hook point facing away and start the line through the eye it will end up hanging point up on the line. I don't like flipping the hook over with the tag end.

Trust your drag, if you need added pressure don't reel instead learn to feather the spinning reel spool lip. 

Tom

[jimmyjoe]

2 minutes ago, Big Swimbait said:

I guess I probably had my drag too tight but I could pull it off  by hand without much trouble.

 

   That really doesn't mean much. I set my drag by trying to lift a half gallon milk jug filled with water. That should be 4 lbs. And THAT IS MAX, even for my 15 lb. line. I'll drop down some to fight a good-sized fish, and I'll set lower for finer lines.

   If I remember correctly, Sniper is rated on the Japanese system, which is a little different (but more consistent) than our American system. I would set the drag at 3 lbs. for 10 lb. Sniper. That's a half-gallon milk jug filled only 3/4 of the way.

   Try to lift that with your Sniper. If the knot breaks, you have bad line or a bad knot.

   If it doesn't break, I'd wager you had the drag too tight.        jj

[WRB]

3 pint plastic drinking water plastic bottles weigh 3 lbs ( 1 lb each).

Try lifting that with your spinning rod....be carefull 3 lbs will bottom out a medium pier rod!

Tom

[Big Swimbait]

Thanks to all with the tips!

 

[plawren53202]

Fussiness with knots is why I finally threw in the towel on fluoro. Copolymer (Sufix Advance copolymer) now for both leaders on spinning/braid setups and as a mainline on baitcasters. I've just found it to have the good traits of fluoro (nearly as sensitive and nearly as little stretch) but also the good traits of mono (soft, forgiving with knots). I'm careful enough for fluoro tying knots at home, but out in the boat or on the bank trying to tie a knot in a hurry, I just had way too many breaking off with fluoro.

 

Was throwing a drop shot this evening and it was the only thing catching fish for me. I just tie a good old fashioned improved clinch with a long tag end and double the line back through the hook eye. I know it's not a textbook knot to tie on a drop shot but it's the one I'm most comfortable with, and the fish usually don't seem to care either way.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, plawren53202 said:

Fussiness with knots is why I finally threw in the towel on fluoro. Copolymer (Sufix Advance copolymer) now for both leaders on spinning/braid setups and as a mainline on baitcasters. I've just found it to have the good traits of fluoro (nearly as sensitive and nearly as little stretch) but also the good traits of mono (soft, forgiving with knots). I'm careful enough for fluoro tying knots at home, but out in the boat or on the bank trying to tie a knot in a hurry, I just had way too many breaking off with fluoro.

 

Was throwing a drop shot this evening and it was the only thing catching fish for me. I just tie a good old fashioned improved clinch with a long tag end and double the line back through the hook eye. I know it's not a textbook knot to tie on a drop shot but it's the one I'm most comfortable with, and the fish usually don't seem to care either way.

8 lb Suffix Advance is .011 D, marginal for spinning reels. Maxima Ultra Green 5 lb is .008D and ideal for spinning reels.

Tom

[5/0]

20 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

I set my drag by trying to lift a half gallon milk jug filled with water.

I’ve seen you refer to this method before. How do you determine when the drag should start slipping to get your 4 lbs of drag? Is it when the bottom of the jug starts to slide across the surface with the rod tip pointed at it?

[roadwarrior]

7 minutes ago, 5/0 said:

I’ve seen you refer to this method before. How do you determine when the drag should start slipping to get your 4 lbs of drag? Is it when the bottom of the jug starts to slide across the surface with the rod tip pointed at it?

Tie on a 4 lb free weight and GENTLY lift it off the floor.  Leave plenty of margin, then tighten your drag.

[5/0]

8 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Tie on a 4 lb free weight and GENTLY lift it off the floor.  Leave plenty of margin, then tighten your drag.

If you can lift it off the floor, wouldn’t that be greater than four lbs?

[jimmyjoe]

2 hours ago, 5/0 said:

I’ve seen you refer to this method before. How do you determine when the drag should start slipping to get your 4 lbs of drag? Is it when the bottom of the jug starts to slide across the surface with the rod tip pointed at it?

 

   Rod pointed directly down at jug, tighten drag until the jug llifts, then loosen until the jug GENTLY falls back down. For my longer rods, this means I adjust from my deck, but for the shorter ones I just elevate the rod and reach up for the reel.

   My idea is to get 4 lbs. of drag from the reel, not from the reel and the friction of the line through the guides plus the tip-top. I learned my lesson, believe me.

   And I cannot stress enough that this is MAX drag. I use this on my MH rods and my H rod when I'm fishing in places that have musky and pike. If there's no musky or pike, I back off that, usually to 3 lb.

   For M power and on down, I bend the blank under the weight of water until I reach what I consider max deflection. Then I measure that volume of water.

   I consider this a good idea every time I get a new rod, because I want to know what the rod is really capable of doing. That doesn't mean that I KEEP the drag at that setting for M and lower powers, only that I test it to see what it will do. I usually back off a judicious amount when I fish. M, ML and L rods are good tools, they're fun to fish, and they can be very productive. But they aren't MH or H, not by a long shot.

   I don't know about other people, but for me it's quicker and easier to reduce my drag when I'm fighting a fish, rather than increasing it. Safer, too. Set the hook with power, then back off to tire the fish if necessary.

   Hope this helps.       jj

[Big Swimbait]

Just wanted to give an update on my issue - it was bad line. I follow Sunline on FB and they posted an ad for a really great deal on Sniper (1/3 of the usual price). Now I know why - both spools are junk. Did a simple test with one of my wife's 2.5 lb dumbbells. Both spools broke every time with a gentle lift. I even stripped off half of the spool on each and it still broke. Length of line didn't matter - I tried 2 ft, 4 ft & 6 ft - broke every time.

[shimanoangler]

8 hours ago, Big Swimbait said:

Just wanted to give an update on my issue - it was bad line. I follow Sunline on FB and they posted an ad for a really great deal on Sniper (1/3 of the usual price). Now I know why - both spools are junk. Did a simple test with one of my wife's 2.5 lb dumbbells. Both spools broke every time with a gentle lift. I even stripped off half of the spool on each and it still broke. Length of line didn't matter - I tried 2 ft, 4 ft & 6 ft - broke every time.

That was going to be my reply before you posted this.  I do a TON of drop shot fishing and I used Floro and a palomar knot exclusively and I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, break off fish.  I agree that drag is important, as is rod.  With this technique you may be a while before you get bigger fish in the boat, as all you can do is lean back, keep pressure on and wait for them to come to you (sometimes you have to go to them on the trolling motor). Having a rod with forgiveness so you can play fish, absorb their head shakes and surges at the boat, is super critical to helping you keep from breaking line.   

 

That said, I have been using Seaguar Red Label Floro for three seasons now and I haven't had a single problem.  It is extremely affordable floro and it has been extremely reliable, consistent and durable through all line sizes.  I use everything from 6lb all the way to 10lb for drop shotting, but I also use in for all my braid to leader set ups up through 15lbs and its honestly never let me down. Takes and holds a knot REALLY well even with the thinnest of braids. I have used/tried all the other brands and I keep coming back to Red Label. 

 

Not saying FC Sniper isn't great line, but your experience is my experience when I tried it.   No fun having line issues, so hopefully you get it figured out.   Tight lines!!