Vertical Drop Shotting

[Shadowx]

How does one go about this? I've seen videos of guys going off shore and locating bass with down imaging and drop shotting them. Whenever I try to do this I end up on crappie and perch, not bass. The tutorials I see all say that crappie will be oriented stacked on top of each other, and bass will be down close to the bottom spread out horizontally. When I locate fish like this it still ends up being crappie most of the time. Any tips? Any pictures on sonar of verified bass? I'm wondering if the small reservoir I'm fishing just doesn't have offshore bass. Thanks.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Not a drop shot guy, but can provide pics showing the differences b/t balls of threadfins, Crappie schools, and then Bass diving into the bait 

 

First pic shows quality fish in red, and in green were smaller 1-2lb fish I was able to catch on that particular day.   

 

Second image shows quality Bass again with their bellies in the mud, and above them are two schools of Crappie blowing up 1-2" sized threadfins 

[Shadowx]

4 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Not a drop shot guy, but can provide pics showing the differences b/t balls of threadfins, Crappie schools, and then Bass diving into the bait 

 

First pic shows quality fish in red, and in green were smaller 1-2lb fish I was able to catch on that particular day.   

 

Second image shows quality Bass again with their bellies in the mud, and above them are two schools of Crappie blowing up 1-2" sized threadfins

Thanks for the pictures. When you find a ball of bait like that is it hard to stay on top of it? Does the ball move all over or stay in a 50 yard area or what?

This is going to be a lot harder for me using a small fish finder on a kayak, but it should be possible for me to find bass off shore so I'm trying to do it. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

39 minutes ago, Shadowx said:

Thanks for the pictures. When you find a ball of bait like that is it hard to stay on top of it? Does the ball move all over or stay in a 50 yard area or what?

This is going to be a lot harder for me using a small fish finder on a kayak, but it should be possible for me to find bass off shore so I'm trying to do it. 

Depends on the time of year to some degree, and also just how prevalent baitfish are in your lake. 

 

Generally speaking, they will be densely located in an area of the lake, and within that sub section you'll find yourself chasing around the schools of baitfish.    They never stay in same exact location but once you get on them, it's not hard to stay around them if that makes sense.

 

Side Imaging really helps as well because the shad balls show up really well and expand the area you have to look for them.   

 

In my home lake, the threadfin will school up in balls that run 50 ft in length.  You can't miss them when they get like that.  

 

 

I've learned a ton from @WRB on using your sonar to find the life zone, baitfish, etc.   Maybe he can weigh in on all of this.    

[WRB]

6 hours ago, Shadowx said:

How does one go about this? I've seen videos of guys going off shore and locating bass with down imaging and drop shotting them. Whenever I try to do this I end up on crappie and perch, not bass. The tutorials I see all say that crappie will be oriented stacked on top of each other, and bass will be down close to the bottom spread out horizontally. When I locate fish like this it still ends up being crappie most of the time. Any tips? Any pictures on sonar of verified bass? I'm wondering if the small reservoir I'm fishing just doesn't have offshore bass. Thanks.

Your small lake may not have off shore bass population and may be relating to near shore cover and prey source.

What types of fish live in this lake?

Vertical drop shot today is often cast and drag back in lieu of dropped vertically. Personally I rarely cast a drop shot rig more the 30’  preferring a more vertical presentation with less soft plastic rod action. 

When I cast a finesse presentation prefer to use a Slip Shot or finesse C-rig using the main line tied to the hook with a sliding cylinder weight and stopper. This rig can be cast as far as you desire and drag the weight back along the bottom allowing the soft plastic to glide off the bottom without the bass detecting the weight.

Tom