favorite lure for drop shotting

[TonkaBass]

So what's your fav lure. Size, color and why?

[ocf1]

7 Inch Bungee worm in tequila sunrise for bringing it through weedier areas T-rigged. For areas im not concerned with the rig constantly hanging up i use a straight tail roboworm in blue.

[RK]

Hiya -

80% of my drop shotting is for smallies, so that affects my choices a little bit...

When I first started drop shotting I took the combo platter approach. I bought a whole bunch of different types of plastics - just a bag of each - so I could experiment and see what I liked.

I'm still burning through some of those, but once that's gone I'll be down to basically 3 baits. #1 is a 3" Yum Dinger. Just the right size for fussy smallies, and not super laden with salt so it still hangs horizontal without much movement. I could probably get by on just these if I had to - I buy 'em 100 at a time... #2 is a 3" paddle tail grub from Persuader American. Great little baits, and in some great translucent colors (green smoke, honeydew, copper smoke, and clear/black fleck) that are killer on smallies. This is my wife's favorite drop shot bait, and she's absolutely throttled me with them a few times. I should probably use them more than I do... #3 - Gulp Alive 5" Leeches. These things are almost not fair, especially when the bite is way off. Hold the rig perfectly still, and they just sit there and stink so good... Down side is they're very soft, so they're usually a one fish bait.

Other baits that could certainly make the cut: 3" and 4" Gulp Alive minnows, Power Bait Drop Shot Minnows, RoboWorm Alive Shads and Leeches, Zipper Finesse worms...

I rig all of these on either #1 or 1/0 Owner Mosquito hooks.

When I do drop-shot for LMB I use 3" or 4" Dingers, 4" Strike King Finesse Worms (they're nice around weeds because bluegills can't tear them up), Northland Brush Beavers and Berkley Hand Pour finesse worms. I generally Texas rig them on an Owner Down Shot Offset Worm Hook.

My $.02

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[BowTech03]

I have had good luck with just a 4or5" Zoom finess worm.

[Sproguy]

Tonka,

I drop shot a lot! There is two lures that I would never leave the dock without!

1. 5" Wacky Crawler from Gulp - Color is specific with water clarity. Greens and browns are all you need.

2. 4.5" Robo Worm - Straight Tail - Preferred colors are Aaron's Magic, and New Ayu. I also carry Green Weenie and Purple Weenie.

Colors are very specific and to be honest I'm not 100% that it matters much. Sure there are days it does but all in all I think the most important part is putting your drop shot on the "spot on the spot" and dancing that thing in their face.

I carry a bunch of other stuff with me but don't seem to use it much. Stick to those two and you will be fine.

Enjoy!

[Ray Esboldt]

OK. I might have to give into this dropshotting thing. Deitz, put them in the boat on Saturday after our jigworm/texas rig bit died. He was rigging one of the beaver style baits. It looked good and worked well.

After thinking about it some, I think RK mentioned this as well, but the finesse worms seem like a natural choice to me. I've been using Mr. Twister's 4" Finesse Jig Worms on a mushroom head all summer. I've caught lots of fish on them, but I think I might be missing out on their best application.

So, with that being said, I am publicly declaring that I will fish a dropshot rig on Sunday morning. I'll let you know if I become convert or not.

[RK]

Hey Ray -

Those finesse worms work pretty well for green fish (Work fine on brown ones too frankly.)

One tip with them (or any DS bait really...) If you nose hook them, insert the hook point about 1/16 of an inch below the nose of the bait, and bring the hook out right at the center of the nose - where you'd insert the hook if you were Texas rigging. You'll get way less line twist.

Pitching a drop shot to a deep weedline can be killer. Sometimes even better than a jigworm - which is saying a lot.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[MinnesotaMongo]

OK, I have a really stupid question - do you actually cast them into a weedline and fish them back. The only way I've seen it done was vertical - although I have little actual experience with the rigs.

[Sproguy]

Mongo,

From a "traditional" California style of fishing it is mostly vertical because they are fishing bass in water sometimes 60ft deep. So your question is not wrong in anyway!

Here in MN I have fished my drop shot vertical about 1% of the time. I fish it in short controlled pitches to my target. Deep Weedlines, drop offs, rock piles...... you get the point. Once it hits bottom I generally work it back to the boat VERY slowly. I will sometime lift and drop and other times almost drag the weight on the bottom.

Bottom line, in MN I feel the technique is at it's best when you are fishing it away from the boat. Not long casts but again just short controlled pitches.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Thank you Sproguy...

[ocf1]

I like to fish breaks with it meaning i need to cast it far enough to work it back of the break.

[EBass]

And for weights the lighter the better? I'm not a deep water guy, but I need to work on that. Getting better, but I never drop shot and want to.

[RK]

Hiya -

I pitch the things probably half the time. Usually not a long cast at all - just a short underhand toss. I'll do this to find the weed edge (I often drop shot by holding on the inside of the weed edge and feeling my way to it then stopping once I feel the weed edge start. I also have no problem pitching it to visible structure fishing rocks as shallow as 4 feet for smallies. Amazing how close to the boat they'll hit sometimes.

EBass - I use as light a weight as I can get away with. In shallow water it might be 1/16", and I rarely go as high as 1/4 oz, even in pretty deep water, unless it's very windy. The exception is Bubba shotting in heavy cover but that something else completely...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[MinnesotaMongo]

Do you guys drop shot docks that hold fish, but may be pressured? I can see all sorts of flip and dip applications....

[Deitz Dittrich]

MM-Yes!

[evinrude19]

i have no idea what im doing wrong but i have yet to catch a bass on a drop shot rig i have tried all sorts of weights, lures and lines but still no fish any help?

thanks

zach

[zepman]

I fished the drop shot for the first time tonight and had pretty decent success. An 18" off of a deep dock and a 19" along a very steep shoreline break with rocks. Caught a bunch of smaller fish as well. Was using 4" finesse worms. I want to thank Dietz for all the info. he has shared on this topic as it made me go out and try something new. I'm glad I was able to have some success with this and plan on really working at getting better with this technique. Thanks again Dietz!!