Drop Shotting

[Presco]

OK, I'm by no means an expert drop shotter. However, I do use it on occasion, but have had my success in more vertical to 45 degree situations. I'd like to get to a point where I can cast the drop shot out further because its such a great technique, however the times I've tried, I have problems maintaining bottom contact and feel for the lure (have tried using heavier weights). Wondering if some of the experts on the board would share some tips on how to get better at casting a drop shot rig. Line, rod weight, approx weight or lead, etc. Thanks.

[Timmy D]

I'm far from an expert, but I have caught a few casting a drop shot. I use 8lb flouro on a 7' med spinning rod and weights from 1/8 oz to 1/2 oz depending on the wind and the depth.

Bottom contact is critical, don't be afraid to go a heavier weight and make sure you let out enough line to be sure it is on the bottom before you start the slow retrieve. Cast, let it sink until the line goes slack, reel up to a tight line and shake. Drag it towards the boat, reel up the slack to a tight line again and shake. Line watching is a must.

Another thing that might help your "feel", try a wider body bait. A small creature bait or small beaver style bait will add more resistance than a small thin worm and this resistance could help improve your feel.

The best way to get better is to practice, give it some time and learn from each cast.

[Larson15]

+1 with what Timmy said

A good 6'8-7'2 rod and 6-10 fluro is the ticket. Adjust the weight as needed as well. I have never used anything heavier than 1/2 oz. Most of the time it is around 1/8. A good quality medium action rod with a soft tip and an extra fast action is what use. I usually never "cast" when fishing a drop shot, I will pitch the bait instead. Spending good money on this sort of setup can definitely be justified.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I also will not claim to be an expert on anything.. However, my making a long cast, I think you totally defeat the purpose of the rig and how its deigned.

My thoughts and I am only thinking out loud here... The drop shot suspends a lure off the bottom in a level attitude(horizontal). By casting the lure out, you are now not suspended as high if at all(Depending on the length of the cast.) and your lure will now also not be hanging as naturally... I do notice that I do not get as many bits if my bait is not rigged as straight as possible.. Plus on a cast when you shake the lure, its bound to pull closer to you and not stay in one place.

My opinion.. make shorter casts.. Pick an area clean, and then move a bit.. no need for longer casts. I fish plenty of clear water. And 10' or so, and as long as I am not crazy on boat noise(IE dropping pliers, stomping around in the boat) or going crazy with the trolling motor, I dont think I am spooking the fish too bad. I know Ray and I have had more than a few debates in person on this subject.. But you can still not prove to me that I catch less by making shorter casts...

anyone else? Your thoughts?

[Presco]

Dietz, the point about baits being horizontal was really what I was getting at. I'd imagine by casting out a long ways, your bait would be sitting a tad odd. For a goby, it'd be looking up, for a beaver the pinchers would be facing down, etc, etc. Not good.

So, I was more curious to see if people were actually casting these rigs long distances and having success. If so, what they were using?

As always, thanks for the tips guys.

[Timmy D]

Totally agreed. I don't fire it out like I would a crank bait, but it also doesn't need to a totally vertical presentation either.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I do lightly cast.. Maybe 25 feet or so.. I rarely fish right under the boat.. but for all the reason above I am also not putting a ton of back into the cast either.I would say on average, A boat length.

That said.. This last spring which was a late one... I did do rather well casting a dropshot on betting bass... In that shallow of water, casting distance is more important.. However I too went with a 4' leader to the sinker and used small 4" lizzards.

[Ray Esboldt]

With the little I know about drop shots, I have found them pretty worthless more than 25 feet from the boat. And, I am fanatical about not getting on top of the fish. It's just me I'm sure, but I can't stand getting up on structure that is in 15 feet of water or less. So, I fish drop shots out from there down to 25 or 30 feet. Kind of depends on the lake. Dirty water makes the 15 foot rule shrink down to 8 sometimes.

Again, I am dropshot impared. It feels like I am trying to juggle while balancing on a football. However, I have found a zone where I am comfortable with it. Light to medium wind, deep structure, and letting the boat drift. Kind of walleye technique, but that feels OK to me. What do you expect from a guy with a tiller boat?

[bucketmouth64]

I did do rather well casting a dropshot on betting bass...

Were the odds among the fish how close you would cast to them or which one would bite first? I suppose they would use their eggs as chips, lol.

[RK]

Hiya -

I don't know why I'm always the contrary one...

I actually cast a drop shot quite a ways in some situations. I cast them over deep humps and rock reefs (18-25 feet down) for smallies during the summer, and occasionally cast them on large shallow flats, though usually other things work better in that case. To be fair, for LMB I usually am doing more short range stuff pitching to weedlines, etc. But for deep smallies, there are times when it's bombs away...

I don't cast them as far as I'd cast a tube or grub (I cast them as far as I can launch them with a 7'6" rod) but I get them out there a ways. I don't think there's anything about a drop shot fished at or near vertical that's diminished by casting it.

I do think you have to do a couple things differently.

One is use slightly heavier weights. For vertical or short distance stuff I use 3/16 oz weights most of the time. For casting it's more often 1/4 and sometimes up to 3/8 oz if it's windy. A heavier weight will pin your DS rig to the bottom a little better and let you tighten up the line without sliding the rig across the bottom. It also improves feel quite a bit.

I think rod choice changes a little too. The standard Med-light X-fast drop shot rods don't have quite enough backbone for long distance work, IMHO. With a lighter rod, it's tough to feel what's going on, and you don't have enough power to get hooks at a distance... fish roar up and jump, and airmail your drop shot rig back to you. I have no brand loyalty what so ever when it comes to rods, but as far as I am concerned, the Shimano Crucial drop-shot rods are as good as it gets. They're one of the few manufacturers that makes a rod suited for casting in deep water - their 7'2" Med-Heavy X-fast. I've heard the Quantum KVD 7'4" is good too but have never held one personally so can't say first hand, and frankly it'd be hard to beat the Crucial either way. It has a very light tip to let you tighten the line without moving the sinker, and has enough backbone to hook fish 25 feet down and 50 feet out, and haul them up out of the rocks.

I fish these rigs by casting them out and peeling line off the reel with my hand until it hits bottom, then tightening up the slack and holding the rod steady at about 2 o'clock with the rod tip barely loaded up. I want a tight line to the sinker but some room left in the tip section to give when a fish hits. I'll shake it a little bit, then either drag it along for a few feet, or just lift my rod tip and reel 5-6 times to move it a ways, then drop it again. I'll fish it in place for 10-15 seconds at a time then move it. When a fish hits I sweep set and reel like mad. The Med-Hvy X-fast rod really helps get fish hooked - you get through the light tip and into the backbone of the rod in a hurry.

Someone mentioned the bait not being up off the bottom very far, but to me that's not that big a deal. If I think fish are close to the bottom I'll use a 3-6" dropper, about the same as I'd use vertically, and if they're up higher, I'll use a 12-18" dropper. The bait is still up off the bottom, and I don't think it's as much how high it is as how it is...if that makes any sense. Whether it's a few inches up or a foot or more, the bait is just kind of floating there, and I think that's the main thing.

A couple caveats - I do this on hard bottom spots like rock/gravel bars and deep mid-lake humps. Casting a long ways around weeds is pretty pointless. You just get hung up. I also do it when I know fish are in the area. It's too slow to be a search lure unless the spot is fairly small. It's a great way to cover a deep hump though, especially on calm days in clear water where sitting on top of them can spook fish. Drop a marker on the spot, then back off, let things settle down, and cast around it.

Anyhow..casting a drop shot doesn't always make sense, but there are times when it sure does. To me anyhow...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[bemidjibasser]

Agree with RK and DD about casting in some situations, especially the shallow flats for brown fish. I like to cast them out quite a ways when paralleling a weedline too. I rarely use a leader length over 12" if ever regardless of cast distance or cover type. I just like my bait a litle lower than way off the bottom. As far as retrieve, I don't put a lot of motion into the bait, rather keep a semi tight line and let the wave action and wind move the line/bait. I will drag the bait a little and shake once in a while, but not a lot on most days.

On a side note, anyone ever use a jig as a drop shot weight (where legal of course)? I would think that it could be pretty effective especially on deep schools of fish...

[RK]

On a side note, anyone ever use a jig as a drop shot weight (where legal of course)? I would think that it could be pretty effective especially on deep schools of fish...

Tried it where it's legal, and have talked to some friends out East about it. Their take, and mine based on a very little experience, is that it's more trouble than it's worth... Tends to tangle, among other things. Plus I think it kind of defeats the purpose. Drop shotting gets a small bait in their face in a subtle, non-threatening way. I think a jig would just make it busier and more obnoxious.

That having been said, when I drop shot suspended fish they do on occasion hit the sinker...which is annoying to say the least. Also kind of shows you how important lure choice is sometimes, when they're perfectly happy hitting a little blob of lead.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Jason_Halfen]

On a side note, anyone ever use a jig as a drop shot weight (where legal of course)? I would think that it could be pretty effective especially on deep schools of fish...

On the river, we call this a Dubuque rig. It can be trolled slowly upstream or cast and slowly retrieved. Perfectly legal where two baits are allowed.

[NTW]

Different application and all but I did very well this fall casting a drop shot rig in a local river. I haven't drop shotted much so I decided to learn on walleyes since the boat was in storage.I fished low current areas but the current still took care of bait action. I would just reel a few feet between long pauses.

What I learned, that may apply to this conversation, is about rod lenth. I used a 6'6" rod the first time and switched to 7'6" ML rod after a while. I think that was key because it allowed me to lift upward a bit more when I was casting further distance which kept the bait higher and the weight from sticking in rocks (especially from the bank). I am looking forward to putting it to more use next season for bass.

Thats all I have to add and that I appreciate you guys sharing tactics. I find this really helpful!

Check out the big girl who fell victim to the roboworm.

[bemidjibasser]

NTW-

I have drop shotted walleyes on opener with shiners while others were jigging and had decent results as well. Gulp minnows work pretty well for this tactic too as they are more durable than shiners...

[ssaamm]

This is off topic a bit or maybe already covered elsewhere. I added a little noise to my drop shot this fall, and it seemed to help. I added a big glass bead between two smaller steel weights to give it a little rattle. Anyone else try this? Maybe it defeats the purpose of a finesse presentation, but I caught some nice fish into November. Let me know what you think. Thanks

[Larson15]

In regards to casting the dropshot there are times where i will make a long cast and either swim or drag the bait. This technique has proved to work when fishing sand-grass flats for smallmouth.

[74mph]

Nice Post!

The first time I really fished a drop shot was only two seasons ago - after some great inspiration from TimmyD and DD. The successes of those guys and others gave me confidence to try it and stick with it for a while.

My only problem was that I didn't have an extra rod to try it with, and was not about to go buy a rod for a technique that I had no clue on. So I started with the only rod I wasn't using and that was a 5'4" med/fast spinning rod that I typically use to throw spinners at stream trout. It was already rigged with 4lb fluoro so I rigged it up with a drop shot and went to town.

Need-less to say I caught a bunch of nice-fish using that short little rod. I hear alot of talk about you need a long rod this long rod that, but seriously that little rod did the trick. I think I felt more in-touch with the bait because of it. I have since fallen victim to the technique and have bought a 7'6" rod and I use it now primarily but only because I paid for it. If it broke I would go back to my little dink rod in a heart beat.

The best part of it was fighting the bass on such a light rod, they all felt like tanks, and it made it even more interesting when you would hook a rogue northern.

I'm not saying that it should be fished on a short rod, but if that's all you have it can definitely get the job done. The day I caught my first fish drop-shotting with that tiny rod will always be one of my most memorable days on the water.

Thanks to DD and TimmyD for providing the inspiration!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Always glad to help out a fellow Bass dude from MN..

[Fishwrench]

I'm a dropshot caster. I like chucking them out, but I don't necessarily reel them back. I like to hold them study near a piece of structure (weeds, rocks, logs, whatever) and shake the bait. Once I have some slack in my line, I reel that up, and shake again. Repeat this until you're completely off/away-from the structure. Reel up, and do it again.

As far as what I use, my favorite dropshot plastic is a 3.5" Paddle Tail Worm by MGLures. It stays straight, and provides just enough action on the shake to trigger strikes.

My rod is a 6'6" MH action w/ a extra-fast action. To help control backlash, I use an Abu Garcia Revo SX reel.

One other item to note regarding the set-up, when fishing weeds, use the straight-weights. When fishing over rocks, a round drop-shot weight is a better choice.