I dont fish the dropshot too often but recently ive been using it and have really been enjoying it. I usually fish a 8 inch leader but I havent tried out a longer leader yet. I havea  16 inch leader tied on ready to fish tommorow but Im not sure if thats too long. I fish from shore and the water is pretty clear, It has a decent amount of submerged grass patches but the place I fish has more rocks in the area and I snag pretty often

From shore I use a 20 " leader, if to short the bait will sit on the bottom due to the angle of  your line. Use a pencil weight, less snags vs a teardrop weight.

It depends on what kind of cover I'm fishing. I'll drop down to 6"-8" if it's gravel/sand bottom. Most of the time I'm up around 2' given how much vegetation we have where I like to fish. 

Only way to know is to just fish it. It definitely casts and fishes differently with a longer leader, which may or may not benefit you depending on the lake and cover. The great thing about a longer leader is it just takes a couple seconds to cut it and make shorter if that ends up being the better setup ? Much faster than starting over and retying everything to make the leader longer.

Drop shot?  My leader is long.  I start off with the leader knot juuuuussst at the reel. It shortens as I clip things off to change up. I like seeing the knot near my finger so I can check on its integrity.   

Usually 6-12 inches

Usually depends on how high the vegetation is that I’m fishing. I want the bait just above it.  Second consideration is bottom composition.  Muck, I will lengthen it up, rocks I will shorten it.  

I don’t cast a drop shot more then 30’, longer cast change to a slip shot rig with floating soft plastics.

By leader length you are asking the distance from the hook to the weight....right!

Casting and dragging the drop shot rig back you want the soft plastic off the bottom or above the aquatic plants growing on the bottom. If you believe the bass are 12” off the bottom then the hook 12” to 16” above the weight is good. Basically you want the soft plastic eye level to the bass.

Tom

I remember A-Mart saying that as the water gets warmer, the shorter his leader gets.  Same with a c-rid.

Not sure I've ever thrown a DS under 12" leader and probably never over 16". Lol

12 - 16 has simply felt like holy grail here.

 

Tall grass, I'm throwing something else.

 

Depends on what I am  fishing but 12" is my starting point.

 

Allen