I've tried to think of a way to describe the retrieve I use for "swimming" a drop shot. It has been very effective for me. Give it a try, you might like it as well.

I think most, if not all of us have seen this type of irrigation head.

The retrieve I sometimes use works much like the head in the photo above.

I use a sidearm type of retrieve, imparting a bit of force to the rod, then letting it move on its own.

I start with a bit of slack in the line, and flick the rod to take up that slack. By the time the slack is out of the line, my hand is just following the rod, supporting it so it doesn't drop.

When the slack is taken up, the tip flexes a bit, and the mono stretches, imparting very little action to the bait.

My hand/arm is like the flapper in the sprinkler head. The jet of water starts it moving then the momentum moves the flapper against a spring which incrementally rotates the sprinkler head a few degrees.

The spring flips the flapper back to the jet of water, and the cycle begins again.

It's like that with the retrieve. The stretch of the line and the flex of the rod, spring it back to the starting position. A quick flick applied to the handle of the rod, and the cycle begins anew.

It usually takes several flicks before I have to retrieve a couple of feet onto the reel.

It works very well in grassy bottom, particularly in a slow drift. The sinker will fetch up in the vegetation, and eventually pull free. Before that happens, the bait stays put, vibrating in place, often triggering strikes.

Try it, I think you'll like it.

Very interesting comparison.  I'll give that a try this year.  I have a lot to learn about dropshotting.  It's certainly not one of my confidence baits, which is kinda funny considering how insanely popular it is in my neck of the woods.

Thanks for the tip.

Looks like a very unique technique, but I am still not understand.  So are you moving from one side to the other side, with sharp twitches?

Looks like a very unique technique, but I am still not understand. So are you moving from one side to the other side, with sharp twitches?

Not sharp twitches. It's basically a "flick" to get the rod moving, then my hand goes along for the ride only to support the rod. The hand also has to follow the rod when it rebounds in the opposite direction.

The semantics become problematic, because what I'm doing you may describe as a sharp twitch.

You only exert the initial force to get the rod moving before the slack is out, it is only the momentum of the rod which acts upon the bait.

It's not for vertical drop shotting. I use it when I cast and swim the drop shot, or am drifting. The rod sweeps horizontally, just like the flapper in the sprinkler head.

I think I understand now that I think about how that sprinkler head moves.  I was saying twitching because I am pretty sure the sprinkler head looks like it is twitching when it moves.  But I think I see what you mean now.