The history of the drop shotting. Not what you may think.

[Fishing Rhino]

Drop-Shot History

The drop-shot rig is receiving a lot of national attention, due largely to its recent

success in the west. The system has roots in the eastern US, dating back to the

mid-70's, and was first seen in Fishing Facts magazine. About five years ago Japanese

anglers resurrected the method for use on their highly pressured waters. The Japanese

refined the technique and it soon returned to the States.

In 1997, drop-shotting was relatively unknown, except to a few Southern California

fishermen who had ties to Japanese manufacturers and pros. The system worked

extremely well, and those that knew about it did their best to keep it a secret. Then, in

winter 1999, two major tournaments were won using the drop-shot rig - the B.A.S.S.

Invitational at Lake Oroville, and the WON Bass Classic on Lake Cachuma. The

proverbial cat was out of the bag way out!

http://www.billsguideservice.com/drop%20shotting.pdf

I suspect some of the old salts like RoLo will recall this.

The above is not correct. It's not even close. Though it may not have been fished under the same name, it was the same method.

When I was a kid, back in the 1950s, we used to fish for tautog using the same arrangement with one slight difference.

A "tautog rig" consisted of a bank sinker at the end of the line, and two lines with hooks attached above. There was a space of 6 - 8 inches between these two hook lines.

The bottom hooked line allowed the bait to tend the bottom while the upper line would suspend the bait a several inches above the bottom.

Enough line would be spooled from the reel to allow the sinker to hit bottom. Then, you would raise and lower the tip of the rod to offset the rise and fall of the boat in the waves/swells to keep it still on the bottom.

The boat was usually anchored in position, and from time to time, you'd raise the sinker from the bottom and move it to another position a foot or two away then lower it to the bottom in the new spot.

After fishing around the boat thoroughly, we'd pull up the anchor and move the boat a few yards, to a new position.

The only minor difference is that the hooks were not attached directly to the main line, and that we used two hooks rather than the typical single hook drop shot rig.

But, it has me wondering how a multi-hook drop shot rig would work for fresh water.

edit:  This arrangement had been used for years, long before I used it in New England.  How far back, I do not know,  But, you could buy handline frames with line and these rigs, ready to fish.

This rig was likely used in handlining before the advent of reels.  Certainly decades before the 70s when the above article claims drop shotting was "invented".

[J Francho]

The only minor difference is that the hooks were not attached directly to the main line, and that we used two hooks rather than the typical single hook drop shot rig.

Actually to me, this is a MAJOR difference, since the critical part of why the drop shot rig is such a successful finesse tactic is that it gives you the ability to detect the lightest bites, since the there is a direct connection between the hook and rod tip.

[Fishing Rhino]

You'd be suprised at how well you can feel the lightest of nibbles, even from the infamous bait stealers, the choggies, while using a stubby boat pole, possibly because the current takes the belly out of the dropper line.

Interestingly enough, that same term is used in both methods.  Drop and dropper.

It would be interesting to know how many salt water techniques have been adapted to fresh water fishing, and vice versa.

[J Francho]

I know, I fished that rig, we called a bottom rig, or catfish rig.  We still use it for live bait fishing and its a great rig for kids to learn on. The modern drop shot rig just offers you mush more control and sensitivity. If I'm not mistaken, you have started using this recently? After many, many fish - especially fish from the 20'+ range - you will appreciate the difference in sensitivity.

[MALTESE FALCON]

My dad, and I fished like that in the '50's. It was called a "Perch Rig".(many variations). It was much more sensitive than you think.

Falcon

[Catt]

Drop Shot & Carolina Rig are but two that find their roots in saltwater decades ago  

[grimlin]

Brings back memories!

I remember in 85' some old guy taught me how to rig this. Put a #2-#4 hook on use the left over tag to tie a bolt or nut on(what we used to use instead of sinkers).Tipped with any kind of live bait like crickets,worms,wax worms,grubs,centipede and either bread or cheese.

I've caught thousands of bluegills,white bass and crappies with this rig.  

[SirSnookalot]

I fished it back in the 50's with my dad using live minnows for silver bass( used spreaders as well). I believe it's origin comes from Georgia saltwater fishing with cut bait, multiple hooks called a "chicken rig" or "dropper rig", still see it off piers, sea walls and deep water drifting here in Florida.

[Fishing Rhino]

I know, I fished that rig, we called a bottom rig, or catfish rig. We still use it for live bait fishing and its a great rig for kids to learn on. The modern drop shot rig just offers you mush more control and sensitivity. If I'm not mistaken, you have started using this recently? After many, many fish - especially fish from the 20'+ range - you will appreciate the difference in sensitivity.

Yes, I have, as fished in fresh water. In a moment of reverie about fishing, I recalled the old tautog or bottom jerking days, and the similarity.

There is not a lot "new under the sun".

The only surf casting I did was plugging along the beach, but some guys fished squid, worms or other baits with a rig similar to a Carolina Rig.

They used a pyramid sinker to help it anchor in sandy bottom. The line would pass through the eye of the sinker then a swivel would be attached. To the swivel was a length of leader with a hook.

The sinker allowed for long casts, and when it hit the water, if would move away from the swivel. Then the bait would settle, and could wash around in the current.

I always figured any current running along the beach would have more force in the line between the sinker and the rod tip and gradually pull the swivel back to the sinker.

I forget what it was called. For all I know it may have been called a Carolina Rig.

I don't think I'd care to drop shot with that tautog type of rig in fresh water. While I do some drop shotting at the boat, I also cast it, and it's bad enough with the typical fresh water arrangement.

At times the baited hook and the sinker look like a whirligig at the end of the line. It never tangles. But if the hook was attached with a dropper line, I can only envision the tangles.

Back to the tautog rig for a moment. One of my favorite nostagic smells was that of the old tackle shops along the seashore. The tautog rigs and many others that they carried used tarred marlin (I think) for the line. The hook did not have an eye. The end was hammered or pressed flat, making a paddle end, then the line was attached to the hook by whipping it with a fine thread.

Just the memory of that tarred marlin smell brings a smile to my face. It's like the memory of that new car smell of many years ago. Today's cars smell like plastic. But those of my childhood had a unique scent, unlike anything around today.

[Raul]

Well, I used to know the D-shot rig as "hook above sinker rig" before somebody renamed it as drop shot rig.

[J Francho]

I've heard that name too, Raul.  Its funny, because my grampa would call the rig with the hook above the weight a bottom rig, or off the bottom rig, and the universal, or with the bank sinker above the hook the on the bottom rig, LOL. Always sounded backwards to me.  I guess he was referring to the bait, not the weight.

Rhino, have you ever seen "spilunking" for trout.  Same idea, the heavy weight is set below the bait, which is usually some kind of spinner rig.  It primarily used in the Pac NW as a high water tactic.  You get you line set up, put the rod in a holder driven into the bank, clip a cowbell to the tip, and sit in your car until the bell rings.

While the history and evolution of terminal rigging is interesting trivia, the part I enjoy is the way certain terminal rigs solve a particular problem.  In the case of the drop shot, there are several "problems" that are addressed.  In deep, snotty water, it keeps your bait out of the scudge, but down, at a measured distance off the bottom.  Its also a great way to fish traditionally weightless baits in deep water.  Use a longer drop line, and let the weight expedite the bait into the prime strike zone.  Another great use is pitching to shallow and mid depth targets, and using the weight to pin the bait in place, while imparting subtle (or not so subtle) action.  I also like to run it through weeds, letting the weight hang up briefly, and then popping it free.  the jerk after freeing the weight is when you get bit.  My last tip is a new one to me, fishing it in the cone of your graph for suspended fish.  I recently had a lesson in this from a Lake Erie specialist.

[Uncle Leo]

My dad, and I fished like that in the '50's. It was called a "Perch Rig".(many variations). It was much more sensitive than you think.

Falcon

Yes I would call this a Perch Rig. Fished for perch off the shore on Lake Michigan as a child for perch using 12 foot bamboo poles with this rig. The old timers taught this to me so I would assume this dates back to maybe the 1940's or 50's maybe earlier. I believe South Bend made one which was somewhat spring loaded. If you ever fished perch you would know a light bite, these were highly sensitive. I have no idea the origins but this was popular here in Chicago and NW Indiana. I learned to adopt for crappie and bluegill.

[Fishing Rhino]

I've heard that name too, Raul. Its funny, because my grampa would call the rig with the hook above the weight a bottom rig, or off the bottom rig, and the universal, or with the bank sinker above the hook the on the bottom rig, LOL. Always sounded backwards to me. I guess he was referring to the bait, not the weight.

Rhino, have you ever seen "spilunking" for trout. Same idea, the heavy weight is set below the bait, which is usually some kind of spinner rig. It primarily used in the Pac NW as a high water tactic. You get you line set up, put the rod in a holder driven into the bank, clip a cowbell to the tip, and sit in your car until the bell rings.

While the history and evolution of terminal rigging is interesting trivia, the part I enjoy is the way certain terminal rigs solve a particular problem. In the case of the drop shot, there are several "problems" that are addressed. In deep, snotty water, it keeps your bait out of the scudge, but down, at a measured distance off the bottom. Its also a great way to fish traditionally weightless baits in deep water. Use a longer drop line, and let the weight expedite the bait into the prime strike zone. Another great use is pitching to shallow and mid depth targets, and using the weight to pin the bait in place, while imparting subtle (or not so subtle) action.  I also like to run it through weeds, letting the weight hang up briefly, and then popping it free.  the jerk after freeing the weight is when you get bit. My last tip is a new one to me, fishing it in the cone of your graph for suspended fish.  I recently had a lesson in this from a Lake Erie specialist.

I always thought spilunking was exploring caves (spelunking).  Sorry I couldn't resist.  But yes, I have seen surfcasters use it.  A couple of weeks ago I was fishing a pond on the Cape, and a fellow was fishing from a sandy beach with a steep dropoff.  It was a place I wanted to try, but he was there.

He had three poles in holders set in the sand while he and a buddy were sitting on the tail gate of his pickup drinking beer and bsing.

He went to one of the poles and hauled in a nice smallmouth.  

I like the way you "swim" the drop shot.  I started a thread about the same thing.  It works well on the kettle ponds of Cape Cod.  Very few have rocks that will snag a cylindrical sinker, but many have grassy, weedy bottom.  Some is only a foot or so tall, while others have tendrils five or six feet long.

They seem to favor a flappin hog but if they are not really going after it, I switch to a 3 3/4" Yamamoto Crawdad.

I've been using an Owner weedless finesse worm but am going to switch to a 1/0 octopus hook.  I don't have a problem with the bigger fish, but yesterday I lost several in the pound and a half size right at the boat.

Doesn't bother me since they were going back anyway, but want to solve that problem.  While I have never fished a tournament, if I were to, I'd need to resolve that "problem".

I also like your info about the cone.  

I was a commercial lobsterman for many years, and made my living by the depth sounder/chart recorder, and the color crt display when they came out.

I fished trawls that were buoyed on each end.  I kept loran bearings on the end of every trawl, plus the date they were set, hauled, and the count of legal lobsters the trawl yielded.

It was not unusual to find one or more trawls that had their ends cut off by boat traffic.  We fished a lot of gear in the steamer channel of Buzzards Bay that leads from Rhode Island Sound to the Cape Cod Canal.

When a trawl was "down", we'd use a grappling device, and tow it across the middle of the trawl.  Go a bit uptide from the point where the trawl was, drop the grapple, let it touch bottom and within a few minutes we'd snag it.

When the tide was slack I'd have to move the boat with the motor.  We used floating line for ground line, and if you passed lengthwise over the trawl, you could see the ground line arching up between the pots as you went along it.

I primarily use the sounder for reading the bottom.  There are times it appears to be marking fish, but I've had no luck getting bit from whatever it was marking.

On the other hand, I've caught a lot of fish from good bottom when the sounder showed nothing but the bottom.

But, the pond I fish most is shallow, and I rarely fish water deeper than five feet, since anything deeper is silty mud.  And, at that shallow a depth, the cone is probably reading an area a foot or less across, so it can miss marking a lot of fish.

[J Francho]

Site fishing on the graph is definitely for depths greater than 10', usually closer to 20'+.  I'm not so hot at it, but I keep trying when the situation presents itself.  More often than not, I go over a fish while drifting, and a few moments later get bit.

The swimming thing just looks so cool. You can have your little worm or whatever, suspending over a weed clump, just sitting there. then for some reason it takes off, and GALUMP!!!! The strikes with this range from the typical wiggle and added weight from a deep drop shot bite to very violent.

I'm also always amazed at how two very different types of fishing can be the same. The other night on Deadliest Catch, Sig was commenting about how the crab were relating to structure, pointing to a depth chart. Pretty cool.

[WRB]

As mentioned the drop shot or down shot rig started as a salt water ganyun rig. The dropper rig is commonly used for a wide variety of salt water fish, including a catch bait like mackerel. A single hook dropper or multiple hook rig is used for deep water rock cod, for example.

Out west we started using a fresh water version, back in the early 80's, called a stack rig before it was known as a drop or down shot. The octopus hooks were tied directly onto the line with a Palomar knot, exactly as it is today. The worm used most was a Flutter craft or Mister Twister.

The Carolina rig is simply adopted from the lake rig; a sliding egg sinker and swivel with a leader commonly used for fresh water shoreline trout and catfish fishing.

WRB

[RoLo]

When I began reading this post, I came across "mid-70's" and thought to myself, Rhino has got to be kidding!

Then I come across: "The above is not correct, it's not even close". Ahhh, now that's the lobsterman I know 8-)

I suspect some of the old salts like RoLo will recall this

Yep, just like it was yesterday (but sadly, it was not yesterday)

When I was a kid, back in the 1950s, we used to fish for tautog

It was during the 50s for me as well, and in addition to tautog, which Jerseyites call "blackfish",

we also used "dropper rigs" for porgies, seabass, kingfish, mackerel & flounder (both winter & summer flounder).

Just like Rhino described, blackfish (tautog) live on a shellfish diet and loathe movement.

I parallel blackfishing to angling for redear sunfish, another mollusc-eater that strongly prefers immobile forage.

Depending on the species sought, our hooks were either smaller or larger than the hooks used for largemouth bass,

but due to tidal currents, our sinker had to be heavier.

The only minor difference is that the hooks were not attached directly to the main line, and that we used two hooks rather than the typical single hook drop shot rig.

I never purchase fishing rigs, but tie all my own. To tie a dropper rig, I first form a dropper loop,

then snip the loop adjacent to the knot to create a single long dropper-line jutting squarely from the main line.

The hooks are then snelled to the end of the dropper line(s).

I tied Christmas tree rigs for Boston Mackerel in the same manner, where many hooks are added to the tree.

Just keep jigging up-&-down until the rig gets REAL heavy, and at times you'll boat a half-dozen mackerel on the same lift.

Roger

[Glenn]

Sounds like similar rigs were used for different species decades ago.  However, using the technique for bass became popular in Japan in the early 90's, where they called it the "Always Lucky" rig (loose translation).  It didn't take long for it to catch on along the West Coast by the mid-90's, and it grew from there.

[Mattlures]

Yep the saltwater guys have been using the "dropshot" rig for a looong time.

[Fishing Rhino]

As mentioned the drop shot or down shot rig started as a salt water ganyun rig. The dropper rig is commonly used for a wide variety of salt water fish, including a catch bait like mackerel. A single hook dropper or multiple hook rig is used for deep water rock cod, for example.

Out west we started using a fresh water version, back in the early 80's, called a stack rig before it was known as a drop or down shot. The octopus hooks were tied directly onto the line with a Palomar knot, exactly as it is today. The worm used most was a Flutter craft or Mister Twister.

The Carolina rig is simply adopted from the lake rig; a sliding egg sinker and swivel with a leader commonly used for fresh water shoreline trout and catfish fishing.

WRB

When I lived on the Cape, we used to catch tinker mackerel as bait for stripers.  We used a multi-hook rig called a Christmas Tree.

So named because at the end of the line was a small but relatively heavy silver jig.  Above the jig on four or five dropper lines were small hooks threaded hooks whose shanks were covered with colorful plastic tubes.  If I recall correctly, the tube was cut at a sharp angle and the long tip extended beyond the bend of the hook on the outer side of the shank.

Find a school of mackerel in their usual haunts or sighting them rippling the surface.  Cast the "tree" into their midst.  When one got hooked, you'd allow it to swim so others could get caught on the other hooks.  

If the school was thick, all the hooks would have fish in a few seconds.  Then the mackerel went into an aerated bait barrel which was a medium size plastic trash barrel.

The hook arrangement was a bit different.  A 6/0 or 7/0 hook was tied to the line, then a size larger siwash hook was secured to the shank of the first hook.

The first hook was inserted through the mackerel's back beneath the dorsal fin.  The Siwash hook would dangle off the shank of the other hook.  It was definitely efficient at hooking the bass that struck the mackerel.

[Fishing Rhino]

When I began reading this post, I came across "mid-70's" and thought to myself, Rhino has got to be kidding!

Then I come across: "The above is not correct, it's not even close". Ahhh, now that's the lobsterman I know 8-)

I suspect some of the old salts like RoLo will recall this

Yep, just like it was yesterday (but sadly, it was not yesterday)

When I was a kid, back in the 1950s, we used to fish for tautog

It was during the 50s for me as well, and in addition to tautog, which Jerseyites call "blackfish",

we also used "dropper rigs" for porgies, seabass, kingfish, mackerel & flounder (both winter & summer flounder).

Just like Rhino described, blackfish (tautog) live on a shellfish diet and loathe movement.

I parallel blackfishing to angling for redear sunfish, another mollusc-eater that strongly prefers immobile forage.

Depending on the species sought, our hooks were either smaller or larger than the hooks used for largemouth bass,

but due to tidal currents, our sinker had to be heavier.

The only minor difference is that the hooks were not attached directly to the main line, and that we used two hooks rather than the typical single hook drop shot rig.

I never purchase fishing rigs, but tie all my own. To tie a dropper rig, I first form a dropper loop,

then snip the loop adjacent to the knot to create a single long dropper-line jutting squarely from the main line.

The hooks are then snelled to the end of the dropper line(s).

I tied Christmas tree rigs for Boston Mackerel in the same manner, where many hooks are added to the tree.

Just keep jigging up-&-down until the rig gets REAL heavy, and at times you'll boat a half-dozen mackerel on the same lift.

Roger

Snelled!  That was the word I was searching for, but could not find in my brain.  I assume the knot is similar to that used to whip the end of a twisted line so it won't unravel.

I also posted, after you, about fishing for mackerel.  Seems like yesterday.  Gives a perspective about how short our lives really are.

[RoLo]

Seems like yesterday. Gives a perspective about how short our lives really are.

Yes  

[J Francho]

I was taught to snell my hooks by my grampa.  I sort of forgot about it, until my buddy showed me how effective it was for using a heavy straight shank hook for flipping t-rigs.  I now also use it when when fishing a wacky rig.  Its so easy, fast, and very secure.  If you use a hook with a bend in the eye, its the best for a straight pull on the hookset.