4n2t0

The internet has made people overthink very simple things. It's fishing, not rocket science. There is no "right" way to cast a fishing rod. If you think pros are mindlessly making technical mistakes, that probably says more about you than it does about them.

I fish a drop shot whenever I find the bite difficult, or I want quantity. When I fish a drop shot in fairly shallow water, I make sure to use a very light weight. In my opinion, nothing catches stubborn fish like a drop shot. No need to pop/jiggle/shake it all too much, just hold it there and drag or pick it up and redrop slightly closer and hold again. Slow, yes. Effective, yes.

It just doesn't require that level of precision. You aren't aligning eye/sight/target, like with firearms. Think about all the sports, like tennis, basketball, baseball, football etc. which do not require matched dominance to deliver the ball accurately. I cast right-handed, but I'm left-eye dominant, and I have zero issues hitting very precise locations on the water.

Drop shot?

This isn't like firearms. Hopefully you're casting with both eyes open, lol. Eye dominance is important in shooting sports because you're trying to align your dominant eye with the sights/scope. I'm a cross-dominant shooter (right-handed, left-eye dominant). I've learned to shoot all my long guns left-handed, but I still shoot handguns with my dominant right hand to maintain superior dexterity, so I simply move the sights over to favour the left side of my face. None of this really applies to casting a rod in my opinion.

Found this little guy in a suburban stormwater management pond in Canada...

I'm a righty but all my rods are left-handed. Growing up, all the rods available to me had a handle on the right side, so I cast/flip/pitch etc. with two hands/right hand and switch the rod over to my left hand and reel with my right hand. My two much younger brothers think I'm crazy, but reeling with my left hand feels completely unnatural to me.

I don't know about "stupid" but I t-rig a lot of tubes in various sizes to make them weedless. I like using a small wide gap hook with a 1/8 bullet weight for smaller tubes.

Found this guy in a local pond...

$hit happens. I'm with the "cold-hearted" group of members, lol, on this forum that feel nothing when a situation like this arises. Isn't the mortality rate of all fish caught and released ~20%? If so, whether you witness it or not, it's happening.

I think ol'crickety nailed it. You're probably hooking up fine but not maintaining good steady pressure. There's a fine balance that needs to be struck when it comes to line tension, tight, but not too tight, lol.

Are these fish that you're losing while bringing them in once hooked? Or missed hook ups? With a lot of hook free real-estate on the ass end on that bait you'll have to wait for the fish to commit before givin' em the business.

Thank you gentlemen. I found those Mustad Alpha's in Canada and I'm going to try to make some of those DIY rebarbs. Cheers!

That's interesting. Anything more that just placing a piece a heat shrink near the eye?

Thanks for the reply. That hook looks perfect for what I'm trying to accomplish.

Are there any good alternatives to the Roboworm/Gamakatsu rebarb hook? They aren't the easiest hook for me to source so I was hoping to find a few popular alternative. I've taken to the drop shot this year and I'd like the option to "cover shot" (another hook I can't seem to find) a 6" worm. Should I just try a 1 or 1/0 EWG?