SissySticks

Would like to learn this technique this season. I've used tubes before, but always went away from them because of the weedless problem and the inherent compramises of the various weedless techniques. This rig seems like just the ticket. I played around with it in the workshop this afternoon, and through my tinkering, it seems to me that the rig would work better with tubes that have a certain body/tentacle ratio (i.e., longer body). What tubes/heads have you guys used with this rig? What has worked best for you?

I am a prep-school teacher, and as a white-collar worker with a boat, I take a lot of fishing newbies (and their sons/daughters) fishing. When there is a kid in the boat with me, I don't fish at all except to use their rod (usually one of mine, but the one they are using) to show them how to do something. I drive the boat, run the trolling motor, and instruct. I'm the guide. As others have said, I'm paying back the countless hours that my father, grandfather, uncles, older bass club members, tackle shop owners, and countless other adults that had no relation to me nor any real reason to help me paid forward for me in my first 15 years of bass fishing. Teach a kid to fish-- you'll be glad you did.

I like to throw big finesse worms (Netbait Super T Mac, Zman 7" finesse WormZ), big ribbontails (10" Zman Sawtail worm, 12" Mag Ol' Monster), and creatures/craws on them. I will also t-rig a senko or a small finesse worm when the bite is tough and snags are an issue.

Most guys use ply. Aluminum sheet is better and lighter, but more expensive. I've used both, and I think aluminum is worth the money.

Just in the interest of fairness, and seriously not wanting to start an argument here at all, but some of the new Berkley Havoc baits are neither creative, nor in the view of some, ethical. The Beat Shad is a pretty obvious copy of a Keitech Swing Impact, and the Sick Fish is a pretty obvious copy of a Little Creeper All American Trash Fish. My understanding is that the owner of LIttle Creeper was compensated for his design, but I don't know about Keitech. This debate has been well documented elsewhere and I don't intend to cause a flame fest here because, bottom line, buy what you like and can afford and have fun fishing, but I just thought I should point out that while the Berkley baits are good baits that definitely catch fish, they aren't ALL original designs.

Custom, and local if you've got a local custom builder. Keep your money in your community when you can. For that reason (and because they're really nicely wrapped rods for a reasonable price) I'm partail to G-Blanks Custom Rods. If you don't have a local custom builder, check them out!

I have dedicated drop shot rods in both spinning and baitcasting. I cast a bubba shot with baitcasting (usually with a 10" worm), and also use a separate baitcaster with 10lb. fluoro for drop shotting in heavy brush or standing timber. I also have 3 dedicated spinning DS rods that I use for less gnarly cover and lighter line/deeper water. Drop shotting vertically in deep water with a baitcaster can be a pain because of how much line you have to strip off the spool, though... I agree with the original poster that most of the rods marketed as DS rods are too limber for me, but for me it isn't the tip, but the backbone that is too limber, because most of them are built for open hook/open water applications. I like a light tip so I can feel them before they feel me, but a lot of backbone because i texas rig my drop shot about 75% of the time and I also often DS heavy cover where I need the power to get the fish away from trouble fast. For me, the best possibly blank for this technique when texas rigging the DS bait is the Batson 802.75 blank, build either as a baitcaster or spinning rod.

I agree about the doubled uni being a good knot, it's what I use for drop shot, which is to say, for about 60% of my fishing. While it IS more work, empirically speaking, I find once you've learned to tie it, it takes about the same time, and it is, I think, an easier knot to tie CORRECTLY. Lots of people let the loop on the palomar slip down as it cinches and that leads to a weaker knot. The doubled uni is a great knot for your application.

I refuse to buy a boat that won't fit in my garage, both for economy reasons and convenience. Thus, I have a 16' boat. It's a deep V fisher, and serves me pretty well.

Anytime someone says "hump" and "grass" I immediately think "drop shot." The reason for this is because the drop shot allows you to hover a bait just above the level of the grass, so for example, if the grass is 2' deep, I'll put my dropper at 30" so the bait will be just above the grass. If the lake has a lot of average fish, I'll use a ~5" cut tail worm, texas rigged on the shot. If there are big fish in the lake, I'll use a bigger (6.5") cut tail worm. If it's summer and I"m really hawg hunting, I'll bubba shot (heavy line, big weight drop shot on baitcasting tackle) a 10" ribbontail worm. Senkos, as have been mentioned, either hook weighted or weightless, are also a good choice. I also sometimes swim a grub over and around the grass. Best of luck!

I'll just plug this because no one else has-- there are quite a few custom builders, and probably one in your part of the country, that will build VERY nice, very lightweight custom rods on batson blanks for not much more than $100, and certainly for less than the $150 crucials (nice rods, btw) that some have proposed. Having said that, of the production rods mentioned, the carbonlite would be my choice for an off-the-shelf rod. Also, check out the new micro-guide bionic blades. I liked them when I played with them in the BPS here in Broken Arrow, OK.

In my view the biggest advantages of braid are its resistance to the fouling and backlashing caused by line twist (it does twist, but it doesn't kink and coil as a result of line twist nearly to the degree that mono/fluoro lines do), which is advantageous on spinning tackle, and it's low stretch, which is advantageous when using light tackle and fishing in deep water. I use a fluoro leader with my braid to alleviate the disadvantage posed by the lack of substantive abrasion resistance. That said, I fish spinning tackle about 80% of the time (hence my handle). If I used baitcasters more often, I would spool fluorocarbon.

They're not terribly popular on this board for some reason, but Zman soft baits will literally last through dozens, if not 100s, of fish per bait. A pack of 7" finesse worms, for example, has 10 baits in it and 1 pack will last me an entire season or more. They make a couple of senko-ey type baits, the ZinkerZ and the Hula StickZ. I've been very happy with them. Just my .02

I like a drop shot 4" worm, split shot tiny ika, stingray grub on a 1/16 or 3/32 oz. open jighead, or tube with light insert head

Overstock bait has 4lb. Green and 6lb. smoke, 1lb. spools, for about $23 each. Seems like a good deal. Any problems with the colored YZ lines? I realize that a 1 lb. spool of hybrid will probably last me and all my fishing buddies the rest of our lives, but, well, actually, what is the shelf life of Hybrid? Thanks. And please, don't go buy it all up before I get a couple spools!

Shakey head didn't change my fishing that much-- I always fished a lot of light t-rigged straight tailed worms and still do that more than I fish them on the shakey head, probably. However, dropshot completely changed my fishing. I catch twice as many of my fish each year ds-ing than all my other techniques combined. You should definitely try it-- but give it a real chance. Go out fishing and don't take anything with you except some hooks, a box of drop shot sinkers, and a bag of your favorite color finesse worms. I'll wager by the end of a long day you'll be a convert, and your arms will be tired from reeling in fish!

True, but I often texas rig my drop shot bait, hence the issue. The DS rod I currently use works fine for open hook ds applications down to 50+ feet. Its when I'm t-rigging the dropshot in deeper water that I have problems. By medium duty, I was talking more in terms of situations than baits. #1, 1/0, 2/0 straight shank and offset worm hooks texas rigged on the drop-shot, 10lb. braided line with 8-10lb. fluoro leader, fishing in and around brush and timber. I do have a 6'8" avid blank that a custom builder built into a baitcaster for me that I do some dropshotting on with 12lb. test when I fishing bigger baits in heavy brush, and it does work really well. Perhaps I could get him to extend that blank 6 inches and build me another as a spinning rod... I use the drop shot for a lot of situations that are outside what most anglers think of when dropshotting, hence the specific needs.

Thanks for the suggestions. Just to be clear though, I don't need it to do both shaky and ds, I just need it to do medium-duty drop shotting really well, and have the power to set the hook with a t-rigged plastic in deep water. I will still be keeping the other 2 rods I mentioned.

I drop shot, oh, conservatively, 60 percent of my fishing hours. I have been using a 7' Ray Scott sporrtackle rod with 8lb. braid and 8lb. 100% fluoro leader and really like it. However, I t-rig my shot a lot, and I've found that when t-rigging the dropshot in water deeper than 15ft. with that rod, hooksets become a bit like tossing a coin. Same with getting decent fish out of brush/stumps with it. My shakey head rod, a 7' Quantum Mike Wurm PT rod, has too stiff a tip to feel those subtle bites when you're "weighting" the drop shot, but its got plenty of hooksetting muscle, so I"ve been compramising with it a lot in those situations. Still, it's not ideal. So, I'm looking for a spinning rod with the muscle of the Quantum for hooksetting, but the tip of the lighter sporttackle rod for feeling bites and working the bait. I'm thinking of a 7-7'4" rod in a MXF action might be the ticket, and I want as sensitive as I can afford (which is to say, it needs to be less than $200). The new Phenix M1 rods have a 7'2" MXF rod in the lineup that seems like it might fit the bill, word is they're pretty sensitive, but around here (NE Oklahoma), no one really seems to want to carry boutique spinning rods, since everyone is addicted to their broomsticks . Anyone have experience with this or any similar Phenix rod that could say whether it fits the bill before I drop $180 on it sight-unseen? I really like shimano rods (esp the warranty), and so I looked at the Crucial 7'2 MXF drop shot rod, but shimano's dropshot specific tip-action was just too noodley for me, to give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

This is an interesting thread, because I think it highlights one of the fundamental tactical disputes in bass fishing-- is it better to be versatile in the sense of using a large number of different baits effectively, or is it better to be a master of a few baits and know how to adapt those few baits to changing conditions? For example, baits like tubes or straight worms are so versatile they can be used an almost infinite number of ways; you can drop shot them, texas rig them, pitch them, cast them, weighted, weightless, etc. Jigs, likewise, can be really versatile; slow or fast, swim them, drag them, yo-yo them, they can look like almost anything if you are creative and are truly a master of the partcular bait. The master of a particular bait is going to switch up his presentation and location with that same bait a lot. On the other hand, a guy who is versatile with a lot of different baits is going to switch up baits a lot. In twenty years of bass fishing, I've been both types of angler, but now I'm more of a "few baits" guy. When I was more versatile, there would certainly be days when I'd kill the fish on a particular bait that I would find late in the day. But there'd be days I switched up so much that I never really gave a single bait a chance and didn't catch fish. Now, there are days when a spinnerbait will kick my butt and I won't throw one, but I catch more fish more consistently than I used to because I am more focused on location and the right presentation, not finding the right lure. If you're going for mastery of a particular bait, then fish with it, and only it, for a whole season or a whole year. You'll know how to do a million things with it. If you're going for versatility, take out a whole bunch of baits and learn how to read which bait works best in a specific situation.

I've had a lot of success recently bubba shotting. Especially, I've been throwing the Bass Pro Shops Mag Cut Tail, which is a big, thick 6.5" straight tail worm on 12 lb. fluoro and a baitcasting rod. Just curious what other baits you all like to throw on the heavy drop shot.

Zoom tiny brush hog, Strike King Bitsy Tube, 3" senko, GYCB Tiny Ika, Tiny Fluke, 3" slider worm, 2" or 3" BPS spring grub, I could go on, but the moral of the story is, they are out there. These are all what I would call "super finesse" plastics, because they are small in guage as well as length. I fish most of them on #1 and 1/0 worm hooks or small jigheads with #4 or #2 hooks.

People will make fun, but I guess my handle gives it away anyway. Love fishing super finesse plastics-- 80% of my fishing (and when I'm not doing that I"m throwing 1/6-1/4 oz. jigs and 1/8-1/4 oz. topwaters! Not a tournament guy and fish only for enjoyment. All these baits are thrown on medium-light to medium spinning tackle with 5lb. yellow powerpro mainline and 6lb. Trilene 100% fluoro leader. 3" senko or dinger- fish it any way you want, it will catch fish. Favorite are weightless texas, lightly weighted texas, drop shot 3-4" curly tail grub: great search bait on a 1/8 -1/4 oz. jighead 3" boot tail grub: catches fish in every depth and every season. Usually a slider grub rigged on a slider spider head. 4.5" Cut Tail Worm: Drop shot, texas rig, shakey head. 4" Power Worm: texas rig, swimming jighead 3" tiny brush hog: drop shot or texas rig, killer on stream fish 3" Lake Fork craw worm: texas rig, split shot, or shakey head 3" stingray grub: in cold water, this will always be tied on to a 3/32-1/8 oz. jighead in my boat 2.75" Bitsy Tube: texas rig, jighead, drop shot, split shot. An all season fish catcher. GYCB Tiny Ika-- when all else fails, drop shot or 1/16 oz. jighead will catch fish Basically throw greens, smokes, and transparent purples and reds like redbug, plum, grape, etc. Black and blue or junebug in muddy water, and yes, I still throw finesse plastics in muddy water.

After a bad experience two nights ago fishing 3" t-rigged senkos, having to cut 3 hooks off and let fish go with hooks still in them due to deep hooking and not wanting to kill the fish getting the hook out, I went through last night and crimped the barbs down on about 100 worm hooks. Killing fish in small reservoirs I fish in weekly is just not worth it for whatever minimal increase in catch rate the barb might give. Like Crestliner, I am still leaving the barbs on my DS hooks, b/c I rarely if ever hook fish deep with the drop shot and it is very easy for them to throw those small hooks.