Drop shot, you hear about it all the time. You've probably tried a little bit and had a little bit of success, but. You know, you can catch more, you can be better at it. So let's talk about that. Let's get into the advanced tactics.
I've been using drop shot since before it became popular, like way back, like when it first came from Japan. Nobody had heard about it in the States yet. I've been using it that long and I've had a lot of time to refine it.
So the key thing with dropshotting where a lot of guys fall short on it's, it's about the equipment. It really is about the equipment when it comes to this technique. You've got to be geared up correctly. Or you're gonna diminish your success rate.
So it starts with the rod. It's a spinning rod. Get used to it guys. If you don't like spinning, you gotta use spinning rods and if you if you don't like spinning because all the line tangles blah blah blah, go to this video right here it'll show you how to use spinning rod tack, spinning tackle properly.
I never get line twist. I don't have wind knots. I have no problem using spinning tackle and I reveal all my tips and tricks and secrets in that video. It tells exactly how to use it. You won't have any more troubles, I promise you if you follow the tricks and dips in that video so.
Spinning gear you wanna use a medium light power, fast action rod 7 foot 7 foot one. That's the staple that that works well for a lot of finesse tactics by the way, but it works especially well with a drop shot.
The reel the gear issue doesn't matter you're not looking for a fast speed anyway. What matters is the drag. So you want to gear usually a size 2500 reel with a smooth drag. Smooth drag typically to me is if it's. A reel that has 15 pound or greater drag strength. Because it's a real smooth drag then, because that's what really what is important.
Because when you have that fish on the end of the line, when he tugs and pulls and surges, if that drag needs to kick in when it does, you want it to give the way it's supposed to.
Line. This is critical. 6 LB fluorocarbon line. You gotta have that. I'm telling you guys, I used to use 10 LB line. I went to 8 LB and I, I'm absolutely confident I get way more bites with 6 lbs than I do with eight or ten.
I've gone through the, I actually started with 12 to be honest with you. And each time I dropped down, I got more bites. And I know I get more bites on 6 LB than I will on 8 or 10.
And some pros I know use 5 pound and there's one pro I know uses 4 LB. OK. And they, they're the ones making the bucks using this technique. So light, light line is critical.
Fluorocarbon line is critical. Fluorocarbon does number things. First of all, it's not very visible under the water. You're using the slow technique. Fish have a chance to examine it. So braid, it's opaque. Fish could see it.
So all fluorocarbon, no braid to leader or nothing like that? It's straight up all fluorocarbon for me.
Fluorocarbon sinks. Your bait is gonna be more natural with 6 LB line and with neutral buoyancy or sinking buoyancy line. And that's exactly what fluorocarbon does.
Your bait looks natural, normal, swims like it's alive and behaves like it's alive.
Braid is buoyant. Braid's gonna lift it up. It's gonna cause you. If you lift up on the bait and move it, it's gonna go at an angle like this where if you're using fluorocarbon, it's gonna do this. OK, It's just a subtle difference, but that's the difference between getting. Not getting bit sometimes.
Fluorocarbon is also more abrasion resistant than braid, especially in rocky areas, braid will tear up, whereas fluorocarbon is, I mean, it's not going to, it's not impervious.
You know, you have to keep checking your line when you're fishing around jagged rocks, but it's going to last longer than brain.
And then finally, fluorocarbon has stretch and that's what you want.
You're fishing light hooks using a size 1, size 1 ought hook, Gamakatsu drop shot hook. You put a lot of pressure on it and you're apt to rip that hook out of the fish's mouth. So fluorocarbon's got some give to it, your rod's got some give to it, and your drag has some give to it.
And when you're fighting that fish and he surges, all that's going to work in concert to keep the fish pinned. The fish can't use that as leverage to rip the hook out, so. That's important.
And then what lengths should you use? That's up to debate. A lot of people don't know.
Typically a starting point is 18 to 24 inches that usually, you know, 80% of the time works for you. You don't really need to go more than that.
When do I adjust it if the bite is really slow, like in the winter time? Or deep dog days of summer when the bass just aren't biting very much.
That's when I go a longer length I'll go to. You know, 2 1/2 to 3 foot length leader. That gets that bait up there. It's more visible or when I'm dragging, so I'm using the wind push the boat and I'm dragging along or using the trolling motor.
But now that line is at an angle like this, so the bait is actually closer to the bottom. So I'll use a longer leader then to get that bait up off the bottom.
When I shorten it up is usually in the summer months when the fish are more active. When the more aggressive and you're getting more bites, I'll move it up to 12 inch, maybe even 10 inches shorter length then or if I'm fishing really shallow.
Yes, you can fish drop shot and shallow water. You know, 15 inches of water. I've done that and a shorter length is what you need when you're fishing really shallow.
Works great for bed fishing or when the blue gills are up on the bed and the and the bass are are patrolling the weed perimeters around the blue gill beds.
Shorter length is what you need because you're fishing shallower water.
So that's when I change it from the normal 18 to 24 inches,
The weight critical.
I use a cylindrical weight. Why? It doesn't get hung up as much.
If you're fishing around rocks, you're gonna get hung up a lot.
Especially if you're using the teardrop style drop shot weight, you're gonna get hung up a lot.
The cylindrical ones don't get hung up as much. It's got to be tungsten.
Tungsten transmits a lot of vibration. You can really feel the bottom.
This is a slow moving presentation. Drop shot is not used to cover a lot of water.
Guys, you're doing pinpoint. Specific areas like a point. Like a drop off, like a hump. You know, those are, you know, a bed bedfish, a dock.
You're not covering water with it.
So you're working it slowly and you can feel it like the difference between sand and Pebble and from Pebble, to chunk rock.
You can feel that better with a tungsten weight.
And I'm using a light one. I'm using eighth ounce, maybe a three 16th oz weight most of the time.
Most of the time I'm using real light. This is a light presentation.
The lighter weight allows that bait to move freely and you get more. Out of it. I’ll heavy up a little bit more when I'm fighting wind or when I'm fighting current, then I'll use 1/4 ounce, maybe 3/8 ounce weight just because I can. I need to maintain bottom contact and you don't want in current, you don't want the bait to go disappear.
So a little bit heavier weight, but you don't want to go too heavy because you can get the heavier go, the easier it is for it to get stuck in the rocks.
So it's a balancing act. But the lighter though you can go, the better typically.
So those are some. That's the key thing there. There now.
One more thing about it, I I cover this in the video that I mentioned earlier, but if you catch the fish and you're working them back and he starts to pull drag, let him pull drag.
Don't reel. Don't reel against the drag.
The only thing you're accomplishing there is introducing line twist and a lot of it you're causing a lot of heartache. It's self induced.
A lot of guys that have problems with line twist is because they reel when the drag is singing.
Let the drag go when the drag stops, then reel catch up to the fish.
If your drag's pulling too much then you can tighten down a little bit, but. Don't reel against the drag. Please don't. It's like fingernails on the chalkboard for me, causing all kinds of problems.
So baits to use. Typically you're using like 3 inch grub, like a three inch Kalin's grub, or you're using a straight tail worm like a four inch Roboworm or a Magic Worm from Missile Baits, or you're using a tube like those are the three main baits that I use.
You can also use a minnow style bait too. There's a lot of minnow style baits, small 3 inch minnow style baits.
Some of you use a three inch Senko that can work really well too.
It just depends on the activity level of the fish.
They're really not active. Then I use a tube and a three inch senko because. Those have like the minimal amount of movement of all the baits I just mentioned and then moving up an activity level, go to that worm, it has more movement to it, and then the grub, which has a lot more movement to it.
Color wise, you can't go wrong with green pumpkin. Watermelon with red seed and. A dark horse a lot of people don't throw is the smoke color. Or smoke with pepper flake in it, Kaylin's makes a great smoke and pepper flake grub. I use that a lot.
But you can also same with the with the worms you can get in those colors. All the other baits I just mentioned you can get in those three colors. Those are going to be your mainstay throughout the season.
1 exception is during the fall.
For some reason, the bass like purple. I don't know why, but this morning dawn color. I think that's what it's called from from Missile Baits or it's from. I think maybe. RoboWorm makes it.
That purple color, they just and Big Bite Baits makes it too. That's right, the cliffhanger worm.
The bass just love that color in the fall. I don't know why I can't explain it, but during the fall I catch more fish on that color than any other color when I'm using a drop shot. So keep that in mind.
So with all those tips, now you can go out and be much more successful with a drop shot rig.
Hope that helps.
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