drop shot beginner

[Mbirdsley]

apparently i’m the only person in michigan ( maybe the upper midwest )who doesn’t drop shot.  last time i was out on the saginaw bay i played around with it. i have making and setting up the rig down.  I guess where im confused is all i am supposed to do is cast it out and slowly drag it back to the boat?  or if i can see a rock, fish or other structure just cast the rig near it and let it do its thing?  is it strictly a clear water technique or will it work it stands to muddy water ? 

 

last week i had my leader around 12 inches for the sinker to hook. 

 

so far i have berkley flat worm in green pumpkin water melon and some net bait Jr crush in goby color, along with some 4 and 5 inch robo worms ( i’ve had for ever). is there any other must have plastics for the rig? 

 

right now i’m using a 6ft 1/4-5/8 rainshadow Rx6 medium (rod acts more like a M/L ) that I built this winter for vertical jigging walleye.

 

 

ppp

[Glenn]

Here ya go!

 

 

[A-Jay]

 

A-Jay

[PBBrandon]

I don’t dropshot too much, but when I do I’m targeting structure in clear water.

 

At texoma there is a lot of stumps, laydowns and big rocks in clear water to where sometimes you can even see the fish hanging out next to them. That’s typically when I dropshot a fluke/worm

[WRB]

I am not a fan of horizontal drop shot presentation. When the cast is more then 45 degrees angle away I use the Slip shot* (finesse C-rig). 
The OP’s rod is perfect reel spinning? for both drop shot and slip shot rigs.

Line can be braid to leader or leader or straight line either mono, co poly or fc.

I prefer using straight mono or FC without braid when fishing from a boat because line twist can be manage**.
Drop shot hook is essential, size 1 Owner Mosquito or Gamakatsu drop shot hook for nose hooking or wacky. Weedless I use Owner #5133 size 2/0 for finesse worms.

Light wire hooks help the soft stay off the bottom.

Drop shot I start off using a wacky hooked worm with the weight about 8” to 12” above the 1/8 to 1/4 oz weight depending on depth, wind etc. when the weight hits bottom simple lift the rod to take up the slack line keeping the weight on the bottom and let the rod tip do it’s own movements, no need to shake it. You can lift the rod tip to move the weight. Try nose hooking if the wacky isn’t working.

Line 7# to 10# FC.

Slip shot use 1/8-1/4 oz mojo tubular weight and Carolina Keeper weight stopper with the # 5133 hook, adjust the keeper about 30” above the hook. Weedless hook the soft plastic. You cast this rig as far as you want, let sink to the bottom and slowly drag the weight along the bottom, drift it or use the rod and reel.

Because the weight is what you feel strikes can be a tick or a rubber band like pull. Hook set is reel and rod sweep, same as drop shot.

The Carolina keeper allows adjusting weight to hook length easily by squeezing and sliding the Keeper.

Line, I use 5# Maxima Ultra Green copoly. Mono helps to keep the line off the bottom reducing snags. 
Tom

* uses main line or braid w/leader. I add a 8mm faced glass bead between the weight and Keeper to add clicking sound.

** drag the line behind the boat at walking speed without anything tied on untwist the line.

 

[Pat Brown]

I love the power shot/bubba shot!  I use 15-20 lb big game and a heavier weight and hook and a shorter leader and I fish it a lot like a t rig or c rig.  

 

One little sneaky tip is drop your rod tip and let the bait fall completely occasionally.  It often triggers the bite more than the 'suspending while gently holding the rod up' move.

 

Don't be afraid to pop your rod occasionally to trigger a reaction.  I like to make the bait dance sometimes while the weight is wedged.

 

Using a swimbait on a drop shot in current can be very deadly.

[Mbirdsley]

i may need to get some thinner diameter flouro.  right now i’m going 20 lbs hi-viz power pro to a 8lbs flouro leader which, is berkley 100 % flouro. i think the line diameter of berkley flouro line is larger than most other brands. 

 

see how it goes tommrow ill. e fishing for smallies in a really clear lake. 

 

i think i need to run a longer leader. 

[gim]

I'd rather stay home than drop shot fish.  Hope you have a lot of patience @Mbirdsley.  Its like watching paint dry.

[MN Fisher]

Depends - I fished Coffee Cove yesterday (still stuck on shore) and one gal was using a drop-shot...tossing it out and slowly dragging it back. She picked up 6 bass in the 14"-16" group in half-an-hour. I wouldn't call that 'watching paint dry'.

 

BTW: I picked up 5 in that same class in an hour with a weedless Ned I was testing for Munkin...forgot my Ned plastics so was using a 2" Mr Crappie Joker in Tuxedo Black.

[Choporoz]

I don't have much patience for it.  But I will try it for a few minutes in specific situations. If I see fish 1-3 feet off the bottom in or around brush (on sonar) that aren't hitting a jig or t-rig, I often try a drop shot.  First outside, and then just inside the brush.  I usually know within a few minutes if it is the ticket.  The problem is if I get bit by 10 inchers, I stick with it too long.   Once in a great while, though, it will bring good bass into the boat.  Cashed a good check once on entire limit of dropshot fish.  Once.  I'm sure if I fished for smallies or spots, I'd be a much bigger fan.

[SAL321]

14 hours ago, Mbirdsley said:

i may need to get some thinner diameter flouro.  right now i’m going 20 lbs hi-viz power pro to a 8lbs flouro leader which, is berkley 100 % flouro. i think the line diameter of berkley flouro line is larger than most other brands. 

 

see how it goes tommrow ill. e fishing for smallies in a really clear lake. 

 

i think i need to run a longer leader. 

8 lb leader is just fine. I went lighter early this year and lost nice fish. In about 2-3 weeks it will be prime time for drop shotting and I'll just have to let the drag work for me. 

 

The set-up and bait is good. I like my hook to sinker around 18 inches regardless of conditions. Outside of deep cranking the drop shot pulls it's weight all summer and it's my confidence bait for sure. 

[Dye99]

I used to DS fish alot more than I do nowadays but this weekend my normal routine was found to be lacking when the bite shut off.

 

Broke out my drop shot rig and nose hooked a FishArrow straight tail 3" shad and the bite was back on!

For me, the smallmouth in my home lakes seem to shy away from my standard roboworm baits Ive always used. When I went to hazedong, or fish arrow more bait fish specific baits I found far more success.

 

Needless to say the drop shot rig is back in full time rotation.

[Bazoo]

Thanks for this discussion. I'm going to try drop shot for the first time soon. Horizontal from the bank. It may not be magic but it will break up the routine and might be something they haven't seen. I picked up a few good tricks here, thanks all for sharing.

[RHuff]

On 5/21/2024 at 10:39 AM, gimruis said:

I'd rather stay home than drop shot fish.  Hope you have a lot of patience @Mbirdsley.  Its like watching paint dry.

 

 I agree, except I am sick of getting beat by it in tournaments. A couple of years ago I dedicated myself to learn to wacky rig and now it’s one technique I never don’t have on the deck of the boat and most of my tournament fish over the last two years have come on it. The only problem with that is I am weighing in 3 or 4 keepers when I would have previously zero‘d and lose to guys that catch limits while dropshotting.. 

 

I did go out and catch 4 bass today on a dropshot. Med/Heavy Spinning rod with 8lb fireline/10lb flouro leader and 1/4oz tungsten weight with size 2 neko hook rigging a roboworm weedless caught 2 on Aaron’s Magic and 2 on Morning Dawn

[VTFan]

On 5/21/2024 at 10:39 AM, gimruis said:

I'd rather stay home than drop shot fish.  Hope you have a lot of patience @Mbirdsley.  Its like watching paint dry.

Agreed!!! To me it's almost like fishing with a cane pole!!! Patience is not one of my virtue's LOL!!!

[TOXIC]

Being a finesse plastics guy my boat always has a weightless Senko, dropshot and Ned rigged and ready.  I may have tough days but very, very, few skunk days.  

[Dan N]

I use drop shot only on a couple super clear lakes I fish, in deep water(  15-30’)

I’ve had some great days on it, but definitely not the most exciting way to fish. Get a good fight thou, on spinning gear from the deep water. 
I always use 8lb test leader. 8-18” off bottom. 

[RRocket]

I frequently fish a swimbait on my dropshot (drop swimming).

 

It's very effective at keeping the swimbait at a precise depth off the bottom. And the weight bouncing during the retrieve adds a little extra action.

 

A buddy also fishes this way for walleye and small mouth in 30+ feet of water.

 

There are definitely presentations that are fished slow on a drop shot. But not all.

[RHuff]

Went out yesterday shortly after daylight and threw a 4.5 inch roboworm in tequilla sunrise with a 1/4oz tungsten teardrop weight with 8lb fireline and a 10lb flouro leader..  it worked.. caught 6 in 3 hours biggest weighed 2.87 which is moderate size for our local lakes

[RB 77]

Those Robo Worms are your friend on the Drop Shot. This is a critical technique to learn to fish on our deep clear canyon reservoirs here in So Cal. It should be killer in your clear water conditions as as well. Works in stained water too. I generally find less is more with the Drop Shot. Let the current do its thing, but don't be afraid to move it around a little bit if dead sticking isn't working 

[Huckfinn38]

I have had a lot of luck this last 45 days vertically dropping the drop shot.  I have had way more success doing this than casting out and bouncing back.  I have had the most luck with a Roboworm 4.5 straight fat worm in Prism Shad, Keitech Impact Shad in Electric Shad or TW Pro Blue, and Cast Fishing Co Echo in Blue Herring Back.  

I fish in a kayak and the crazy thing is I have gotten almost half my bites when I set my drop shot down in the kayak and pick up the crankbait rod.  I small waves of the lake creates a better presentation than I can.

As for hook I have settled on two. One is the Gamakatsu 1/0 drop shot hook and the second is #1 EWG Gamakatsu hook. Both have proven to keep fish buckled in the best with a good hook set.  I had a lot of fish came unbuckled the first day and went through a plethora of hooks only to come back to these two.