Favorite Drop Shot Hook Sizes ?

[ChrisD46]

For nose hooking drop shot baits - what are your favorite size(s) of drop shot hooks ? I know it depends on the drop shot hook manufacturer but currently I'm leaning towards the size #1 and size #2 drop shot hooks in the Gamakatsu Drop / Split Shot and Owner Mosquito / Mosquito Lite series... What one or two size drop shot hooks are your go to most often when nose hooking baits for drop shot ?

[MN Fisher]

Nose hooking, I use Owner SSW in #2

[JohnFromLisbon]

Owner Mosquito Light and Decoy Shot Rig (Worm 10) in #1 and #2. Started with the Gamakatsu Drop/Split Shot hooks, eventually upgraded to these two and I'm happy with them

[ATA]

I nose hook with #2 Daiichi hooks red color. And for some smaller plastic I use #4 of the same hook.

[roadwarrior]

#4 or #6 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle Hook

[TOXIC]

One of my own quirks but I don’t nose hook dropshot baits.  I use a #1 Gamakatsu EWG and Texas rig.  I suppose I could nose hook with the same hook but I have always preferred the Texas rig. I feel it gives the bait better action and is more snag proof as well as less line twist. 

[Bluebasser86]

18 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

One of my own quirks but I don’t nose hook dropshot baits.  I use a #1 Gamakatsu EWG and Texas rig.  I suppose I could nose hook with the same hook but I have always preferred the Texas rig. I feel it gives the bait better action and is more snag proof as well as less line twist. 

I also never nose hook my drop shot baits. The pros don't outweigh the cons IMO. I use an Owner Cover Shot 1/0 or 2/0. I'm probably fishing around way more snags than most when I drop shot, so that in itself is enough to keep me from nose hooking baits. 

[BassinCNY]

#1 Gamakatsu octopus.

[Bankbeater]

Depending on the size of the bait I will use a 1/0, or a 2/0 EWG hook. 

[A-Jay]

I've been through quite a few makes, models and even more sizes past few seasons - I've settled on these.

Reasons are - they match my baits, they match the tackle I'm fishing them with, and 

most importantly, they HOOK & HOLD the Bass I'm Looking to Catch !

 Both the Brown & Green models.

  Supplemental info - over the past say, three or four years, much of my drop shot fishing, especially mid-late season, has migrated to using 'bigger baits'; relative term.

 Where in previous deals I was using, the standard skinny 4 & 6 inch Sculpins, Robo worms & Dream Shots - and they catch bass for sure, I started drop shotting a baby rage craw, and then a full-size craw and then 4 & 5 inch Fluke and started getting bites from more bigger fish.  But along with that, I was losing a few fish, because the hooks & manner I was using them was apparently inefficient.  First off, in some instances, my hook selection was too small.  Secondly, while I like nose hooking, seems it's not the best way when I'm targeting bigger smallies - which is ALL The TIME pretty much.  Nose hooking also picks up eel grass when it's there and the little hooks have a tendency to skin hook a lot leading them to come unpinned too much for my liking.  

 I do Tex-pose my drop shot plastic when needed but all things being equal, I prefer not to if I can.

 

**Note *** regarding the Hooks Pictured - I use SEVERAL DIFFERENT sizes - I offered these to allow for the name, brand, type, and model number identification purposes.  

 So we've ventured into using a little bigger, longer shanked hook.  

 So if you look at the Picture provided, the bottom row - those are all GREAT DROP SHOT OPTIONS and ones I still use a ton; mostly for nose hooking.  

 That whole top row of hooks are what I go to for bigger baits and when I want to 'top hook' a bait; meaning inserting the hook like you would put say a swimbait on a jighead.  Where the hook goes in the front/nose of the bait, is threaded into & down the body of the bait BUT comes out the top.   Still a drop shot, but when a fluke or a caffeine shad is rigged like this, the hook up to land ratio goes way up.  Brownies are generally impaled in the top or the roof of the mouth and they generally Do NOT come off. 

   I definitely use a little 'beefier gear', like M instead of ML and 8-10 lb fluorocarbon leader instead of 4-6 lb. The bigger Hook size demands a bit more pressure to sink it successfully, but after that, it's just a matter to playing that brown tank into the net.

 This works GREAT for Green bass too. Think Rage Craw ~

A-Jay

 

[Jar11591]

#1 Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap

[Columbia Craw]

A-Jay absolutely nailed it.

[roadwarrior]

Well, A-J is the MAN, but I personally get more bites on lighter line. I prefer #4 Tatsu, 

but on the Tennessee River the rocks are handled a little better with #6. So, it's a mix,

but I never go bigger with spinning tackle. 

 

For my baitcasting presentations it's #11 Armilo for treble hooks, #15 Tatsu for everything

else.  

 

                                                      

[Darth-Baiter]

On 12/13/2022 at 6:36 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I also never nose hook my drop shot baits. The pros don't outweigh the cons IMO. I use an Owner Cover Shot 1/0 or 2/0. I'm probably fishing around way more snags than most when I drop shot, so that in itself is enough to keep me from nose hooking baits. 

i never nose-hook.  i use the same 1/0 hook most times, but at Clearlake, i found the 2/0 to be more fitting for the regularly larger fish.  

[PressuredFishing]

1# #2, 1/0+ is too big for DS worms, okay for senko

[evilcatfish]

Most common for me is size 2, 4 or 1 Hayabusa dsr or Owner Mosquito Light, but I don't find myself nose hooking a lot these days

 

 

[RB 77]

I nose hook a D-Shot 90% of the time and I use one hook in two different sizes for this: Gammy split shot/ drop shot hook in size 1 or 2. The other 10% the time I T-Rig them with a Robo Rebarb hook. I think size 1. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

For Gami split/drop and Mosquito light #1 and #2 when nose hooked covers all but the smallest of baits.  For standard Mosquito its a #2 and #4.  

[ChrisD46]

I appreciate the replies - I dug further into this subject and it seems more people have moved away from the traditional Gamakatsu Drop Shot / Split shot hooks due to due to losing fish from lack of gap between the hook point and hook eye due to the way the hook is constructed . I just bought the Owner Mosquito Light in a #1 size to try and will end up also adding the #2 and maybe the #4 size for nose hooking Robo Worms , small straight tail shad / minnow baits and for drop swimming 3" paddle tail swim baits . The Decoy Shot Rig Hook in sizes #1 ,#2 & #3 appear to be similar to the Owner Mosquito Light hooks (I do like the wider bite of both company's drop shot hooks) . For T-Rigging the Robo Rebarb Hook #1 as well as the Owner Cover Shot #1 would now be on my short list to try .

[ChrisD46]

10 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

For Gami split/drop and Mosquito light #1 and #2 when nose hooked covers all but the smallest of baits.  For standard Mosquito its a #2 and #4.  

Do you find the Owner Mosquito curved "beak" hook tip hampers your hook up rate in any way ? Curious about the reasoning behind Owner's curved tip of this hook versus a straight hook tip like the Decoy or Owner Mosquito Light straight hook tip as far as hook up ratio is concerned ?

[contium]

I almost always T-Rig dropshot. 1/0 thru 3/0 Owner Cover Shot depending on the size of the worm which is always a hand pour of some sort.

[WRB]

3”-4” finesse soft plastics nose hooked Owner #4 Mosquito.

4 1/2”-6” finesse worms nose or wacky hooked Owner #1 Mosquito.

6” soft plastics wacky weedless hooked Owner Jungle Wacky hook.

41/2”-6” Finesse shift plastics weedless (T-rig) Owner #5133 down shot hook 1/0 & 2/0 depending on the diameter.

Tom

 

[ChrisD46]

For those that no longer drop shot nose hooked baits is the main reason due to lost  / attrition rate of soft plastics or for another reason ?

1 hour ago, WRB said:

3”-4” finesse soft plastics nose hooked Owner #4 Mosquito.

4 1/2”-6” finesse worms nose or wacky hooked Owner #1 Mosquito.

6” soft plastics wacky weedless hooked Owner Jungle Wacky hook.

41/2”-6” Finesse shift plastics weedless (T-rig) Owner #5133 down shot hook 1/0 & 2/0 depending on the diameter.

Tom

 

Tom , specifically for the standard , thin Robo Worm in 4.5" and 6" what size Mosquito drop shot hook do you prefer ? The original thin Robo Worm is very thin - a bit thinner I believe than say a Zoom Finesse Worm so would you reduce size from the #1 down to a #2 or even a #4 size Mosquito hook ?

[WRB]

WBass don’t seem to be aware of the hook size difference, the size #1 has a wider gap to stick 3#+ size bass through the upper lip when the worm is nose hooked.

I don’t see much difference between Gamakatsu Drop Shot hook and Owner Mosquito hook and use whichever hook I have with me. The Mosquito hook beak point doesn’t affect strike to hook set ratio imo.

The newer designs have wider gaps with slightly longer shanks, hard to compare sizes.

Tom

PS, the late Aaron Martens didn’t nose hook with the hook point exposed, he pushed the hook point to the tip of the warm nose still covered with plastic to make it more weedless.

[ChrisD46]

Thank you - I too was going to quote what Aaron Martens used to do with his drop shot hooks and soft plastics , it also gave the nose hooked bait a slightly different look when nose hooking a worm , shad , etc. Aaron's way ...