Yet Another Drop-Shot Post...

[Maximum12]

I tried drop-shotting for the first time last night after catching a couple of bass in 10' of water & was shut out. But hey, I'm pretty slow, it might take me a while to figure out.

I have a couple of questions that I haven't seen covered in some of the other threads.

(1) Does anyone jig the drop-shot? Move it? Just let it sit? Or a fisherman's favorite answer, "depends on..." ?

(2) Does anyone else have trouble with severe panfish harassment? I had the darn things pecking at the bait every 50 seconds & I may well have missed fish waiting for the "heaviness" or something else indicating a bigger fish.

(3) Is drop-shotting possible with crappy electronics? I'm planning on upgrading next spring, but for the moment I'm stuck with an unreliable old Eagle, so the depth readings aren't precise at all to locate little turns or pockets or dips. Or just tell me to hurry up my timetable & get a newer unit. Maybe that's my answer!

(4) How long do you give a spot?

Despite the 45 minute shut-out, I can see the appeal of this method & I'll be trying it out again. Thanks!

[st.crioxfishin]

I'm still learning, but maybe I can help a little bit.

1) I pitch the rig out to a specific spot, let it hit bottom and shake it a little bit. Then I will "jig" it a couple feet and start shaking again. I have also found that you can get some reaction bites by hopping/jigging it at a good pace if the fish are active.

2) Having sunfish bites is one of the best problems to have. When you are getting those bites you know you are around the baitfish, thus meaning you are around the bass(most of the times). If you are constantly getting these bites, maybe move off of them a little bit (deeper or shallower) and see if you can't find a school of bass close by...

3) I'm going to say it makes it much more difficult to drop-shot w/out good electronics, althought if you know the lake well enough you could probably go without them, but I wouldn't recomend it. Having good electronics is key. I just got a new lowrance and it has helped me..

4)I think knowing whether fish are on a spot or not would be a big factor in determining how long to stay on a spot. This seems like the obvious answer, but its true. Now, if you have no clue whether the fish are there or not you can do a couple things..try an underwater camera to give you confidence in a spot or just plain put the trolling motor down and really work an area to try and figure it out. Figuring out whether to zig or zag can be one of the biggest most difficult questions we have to ask ourselves at times, espeacially when it comes to tournament fishing. I'm finding that it can take a lot of time on the water to figure out which deeper spots hold fish and which ones don't, map study is key. I can't put a certain time limit on how long to fish a spot, for me its mainly a gut feeling based on what action or lack thereof I have had in an area.

hope this helps some

[RK]

Hiya -

I'll take a stab... The usual disclaimer applies: this works for me - your mileage may vary

1. Hate to say it but, yeah, sort of depends. Biggest difference for me is maybe which flavor of bass you're talking about. I DS far more for smallies than largemouths, and it seems that smallies are a lot more fussy about the bait being held still. Sort of consistent with other presentations like grubs or jigworms I think. For smallies, it often takes a lot of concentration to hold the bait still enough (it takes very little line movement to make the bait move a lot). Sometimes - after a cold front, for example - even lifting the sinker off the bottom is enough to spook them. So I either hold it perfectly still, or hold it for a bit on a tight line, drop the rodtip so the bait falls to the bottom, then lift up very carefully and feel for weight. I take the same approach whether I'm pitching the rig or fishing vertically. With largemouths, I'm a little more aggressive - I'll shake the bait by moving my wrist up and down a half inch or so in between drops on a slack line.

2.) Yeah, panfish can make you crazy. Rock Bass especially. You can sort of feel when it's a panfish. I just pull it away from them and hope they give up. But, like Bob said, panfish in the area is usually a good sign.

3.) Yeah, you can do it with less than super electronics. Good electronics REALLY help, but if you can find structure on the grand scale (breaks or weedbeds) you can sometimes go analog rather than electronic and just feel your way around. This is where it pays to get good with a jig. Another great 'feel' lure is a Carolina rig. Feel your way along and if you find something interesting - a little point or change in the bottom, drop a marker on it and go back to it with a DS.

4.) Totally depends on the day and how right I think I am fishing it. If I know I'm on fish but it's slow, I'll camp on a spot for hours if I have to. If they're going pretty good, or it's a 'maybe' spot, enough to fish it thoroughly (depending on size and how complex the spot is) and move on.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[TurnUpTheFishing]

When I drop shot I dont cast the bait more than 15-20 feet max, mostly I fish it vertical. When I fish it I will jig the plastic but not the weight, if that makes sense. I will raise my rod tip and lower it but rarely lift the weight off the bottom. Sometimes if the fish seem to be in a funk Ill dead stick the lure in front of them with no hops or shakes. I havnt had to many problems telling when a bass has grabbed my bait. Usually Ill feel something heavy, the line will move one way or will give a big twitch. You should be able to effectively fish a dropshot rig without electronics. Of course electronics will help you find the spots or fish but you dont need it to watch your bait like you would icefishing with a flasher. I normally fish a dropshot in areas I know hold fish either by past expiernce or I used other methods such as cranks to find them and switched to a dropshot to pluck more fish out. There have been times Ive fished a dropshot as a search bait though usually I use my trolling motor to scoot 5-10' at a time slowly working an area for a minute then moving a little further. If Im not marking fish on my electronics or atleast getting bit by panfish Ill move (St.Croix is right, bass are usually around those baitfish). Stick with it. It may take a few tries to catch fish and build confidence but it will happen.

[Sproguy]

I feel like St. Criox did a great job with your questions! I do agree that in order to bring the drop shot to a complete level you need good electronics but if you can't afford them, get a great map! For instance, Navionics started doing maps with one foot contours on them. I believe (I don't own one!) that Lakemaster also does great maps. At any rate find a great map and study how your favorite spot lays out. Try to draw a picture in your head and that can fill in some of the gaps that a lesser electronics can't fill.

Also it has been in other posts as well but try to do your best to down size your line, weights, and hooks for this technique. I have seen a huge increase in bites since switching to four and six pound Sunline Fluorocarbon. I use as small as a size 4 Gamakatsu drop shot hook, I would use a 6 or 8 if they made it. Get good fluorocarbon and use it as it will increase your catch rate and give you more confidence in the technique.

Lastly for your question of "jigging" the drop shot. I try to keep it in place (with a slight shake to the rod) as long as I can but on certain days you will see an increase by moving it more violently. It is my opinion that the violent days are few and far between and you are better doing your best to keep it one place. But as with all things there are people that will disagree.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Bravo to all the posts above.. I cant add a single thing!

[Maximum12]

Well, then, we may as well close this post down! I've read your posts on drop-shotting Deitz & they've been a great place to start!

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to start devoting a little time every outing to trying to learn this technique. And seeing as I now have an excuse to upgrade my electronics...

[Deitz Dittrich]

Max- no need to shut it down.. And I really hope you find some success with the drop shot. If You do not. please feel free to come back to the boards here and drop another question. The only bad question is one not asked!

Keep up with it, it will catch fish! Some days the fish like it shook up pretty good, other days, I more dead stick it. Play with the lures you use as well.. anything from a straight tail worm to smaller creture like baits are fun. Recently I have been playing with Sweet Bever type lures and catching good numbers of fish. Short casts! easy on the hook set/more of a reel set and your good to go!

[Craigums]

Im a visual learner can someone draw a picture of what drop shotting is? I know it sounds stupid but its how I get things to click. and I want to try this technique sometime!

[Sproguy]

Craig,

Google "Drop Shot" and you will find tons of picture/articles on it. The bottom line - the weight is below the hook. You put your hook on first then attach your weight to the tag or excess line that you would normally cut off. The bait then seems to the fish to be floating in the water rather then sitting on the bottom. Different look!

[Deitz Dittrich]

the immage says 18-60".. I usually go about 10-20 at the very most. I would say about 14-16 most of the time.

[Daze Off]

Just got back from "up north" and want to add how fruitful the drop-shot technique was last week. Because of very low water levels most of my "honey holes" did not have enough water to be productive this year so was left to go deep. I went to main lake humps that topped off at around 20-25' and started drop shotting with a 4" trick worm which caught a nice fish on second cast out (was tossing rig away from boat around 15 yds and letting free fall then working back to boat slowly). Switched to 4" senko-style baits and cleaned up on both LM and SM. I have to say that prior to this trip I had caught a lot of fish this way but never of the size I caught this time. Usually it is keeper fish for me but this time there were quite a few in the 3-4 lb range. It was absolutely awesome! Great technique!

Fishing was good so did some experimenting - switched to 5" senko-style bait and nothing, did a 3" tube and nothing, tried a fluke and nothing.

Daze Off