Drop-Shotting Pannies

[Craigums]

Does anyone use the drop shot technique for panfish? What are the best structures to attempt the dropshot when panfishing and also what types of plastics work the best?

[Corey Bechtold]

A short time ago I did a HSO Podcast with Deitz. I was asked to do a deep water Panfish podcast so I headed to a lake that had some deeper structure. I tried to jig but with all the recreation traffic it was hard to feel the bites. I have tinkered around with drop shots for Panfish before but decided to give it a better effort. We had great luck on Berkley Powerbait 3" Trout worms. They come in a lot of different colors so we were able to dial in on what the fish wanted.

The next day we went to a different lake and while we were on shore Cole started casting the drop shot rig and was doing very well on the Pannies. All he was doing was holding the rod tip up in the air keeping the bait bouncing. Tubes did the trick this day as we were also able to get a few Crappies.

All in all it is a great technique to keep your bait where you want it. Just set the depth of the weight to the desired zone for the fish and have at it. Try a variety of different baita and let us know how it works for you.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Drew]

Can you explain how you set this rig up?

[Corey Bechtold]

It's pretty simple really.

Step 1, find a hook you want to use.

Step 2, tie a polimar know leaving excess line for the dropper.

Step 3, after the knot is tied either clamp a split shot at the desired depth or tie a bottom type sinker on the end.

Step 4, rig the hook with your desired presentation (artificial or live bait)

To fish this you could cast it and work it back or fish it more vertical.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Bob/Mn]

Quote:

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Does anyone use the drop shot technique for panfish? What are the best structures to attempt the dropshot when panfishing and also what types of plastics work the best?

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We did some drop-shotting with good success using a three fly rig. Note this rig is legal for panfish in Mn.,but not in some states.

The fish were holding in 15 FOW on the bottom of the weed line. With 25MPH winds, surpriseingly it was easy to detect the light bites.

One thing when constructing a DS rig after tieing the palamar Knot run the tag end of the line back through the eye of the hook. This will make the hook ride in the up position

The two fly rig also worked well on the crappies.