# Again with the DropShot Rig



## JignPig Guide

The DropShot Rig - I hate to keep going on and on about this technique. But if you want to teach a beginner how to bass fish. Or you just want to catch more bass. This is the most deadly tool in the tackle box.

I took this young boy and his grandfather (who had never fished in their lives) out tonight on an evening fishin' trip. We tried minnows and night crawlers. But it wasn't gettin' the bites. The sun was high. The wind was flat calm. And this crystal clear water lake was muddied up by the rain we had yesterday. Not necessarily the best conditions. They didn't whack 'em per se, but they did haul in somes bass on the dropshot rig tipped with a 4-inch Venom Due Drop worm.


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## Mr. A

IMHO people who have never fished before need a fish to hook itself, our nearly so, before they realize they have a bite. My son made me realize that because we were pond fishing and he'd cast out and reel in but when the cast was the farthest I could see the occasional "tic" in the line but he said it wasn't a bite. Then when it got close and the bluegill hit and hooked themselves he'd pull one in. I convinced him to pull when the line was father out and he felt the "bumps." Sure enough he started catching some nice but little dink bass.

I think it all comes down to newbies getting the feel for what a hit feels like on semi-slack line. So Drop Shotting seems like an ideal tactic starting out. And it's always useful afterward too.

Mr. A


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## Bad Bub

I've become a dropshot fanatic! Many people have no idea just how versatile it really can be. Deep or shallow, light line all the way up to flipping gear. And you can put just about any soft bait on it and make it work. I even dropshot live minnows for walleye and crappies on occasion. 

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## Shaggy

I'm one of those people who have never used the technique. Maybe you experts could give the rest of us a quick lesson on it.


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## jonnythfisherteen2

yeah, ive never tried it. mainly wanting to just catch a few bass in or around weeds


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## MassillonBuckeye

Shaggy said:


> I'm one of those people who have never used the technique. Maybe you experts could give the rest of us a quick lesson on it.






























Don't need the fancy stuff though. I use dropper loops or tie hooks with palomar knots however far off the bottom you'd like. A couple hook manufacturers are making "drop shot" hooks with built in swivels making things easy:



















I like the weights with these little clips. You can ge pencil weights or bells:


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## jonnythfisherteen2

got that part, but just exactly how are you supposed to work it? feeling it in slowly while on the bottom feeling for hits?


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## MassillonBuckeye

jonnythfisherteen2 said:


> got that part, but just exactly how are you supposed to work it? feeling it in slowly while on the bottom feeling for hits?


Bounce it around. Dance the bait keeping the weight on or near bottom. You are just trying to keep the line tight and the bait suspended off the bottom. Hop the whole rig back to the boat. Not a very valid technique from shore I'd say. You need a more vertical presentation.


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## pppatrick

Its my mainly "go to" set up for sauger, but its insane how easy and versatile drop shotting is. 

You'll want to keep the weight on the bottom, of course, but i use a combination of slow lifts and drops of about 10 inches stoping the left when you feel the resistance of the weight and then like i would shakey head, with light twitches making the bait just dingle there. 

Can't beat a nose hooked robo worm, zoom finesse or drop shot worm for bass. I like using nose hooked minnow type plastics. The trigger x zander minnow is my current fav. 


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## MassillonBuckeye

substitute whatever bait you'd like. This is my basic "fish finding" rig. I like to use it looking for schools of crappie. slow trolling it with minnows usually.


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## JignPig Guide

MassillonBuckeye said:


> Bounce it around. Dance the bait keeping the weight on or near bottom. You are just trying to keep the line tight and the bait suspended off the bottom. Hop the whole rig back to the boat. Not a very valid technique from shore I'd say. You need a more vertical presentation.



I agree. And will add...

*Weedbeds:
*
Throw it out and let it fall on a slack line. Once it's on the bottom, you've got to keep in mind that the slower the better. You can leave it in one spot and shake it (the worm) without moving it's location if you barely twitch your rod. Or you can slowly twitch/shake it while slowly lifting it and dropping it back to you.
When you feel it up against a weed. This is not a bad thing. Most beginners yank it out and pull it back in. But I recommend slowly shaking it while pulling it through the weed bed. If it does actually get hung up in the weeds, I give it a quick jerk. And if the weeds come off, I let it drop back down.

*Bluff Walls:*

Throw it/fish it/do it! After the spawn and the bass are all healed up, you can normally find a few quick ones on the deeper bluff walls.

*My set-up:
*
I use: a small sized hook, 1/16th to 1/4oz. weight, and a 4-inch green pumpkin or green pumpkin-candy Venom Due Drop worm. And I'm throwing it on 8lb. test Vicious fluorocarbon line.

I've had days where I've went down a 200ft. stretch of bank using power techniques such as: spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jignpigs, jerkbaits, or other and not gotten bit. Then I've gone back to where I started and check-out the same stretch with a dropshot rig and pick up three or four bass.

And one more thing... I use to think this was only a numbers technique and that it wouldn't catch big bass. I'm glad I was wrong about that one. I've caught three bass in the 4-pound class this season with the dropshot. And several other 3 & 2-pounders.


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## Shaggy

Let me ask this then. I have a bit of a problem with patience when working a slow presentation so I was thinking about this as an alternative to the drop shot. Put a 4" floating worm on an 1/8oz jig head under a slip bobber about a foot off the bottom and let the ripples on the water move the bait. The worms and jigs I have keep things horizontal.

If this isn't a good alternative I'd be interested as to your reasons why.


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## Mr. A

Shaggy, using the drop shot method keep you the length of your leader over the bottom. Even if the bottom rises our falls by several feet.

Using a bobber to suspend the bait keeps you a specific distance from the top, but cannot change of you drift out over/through a channel, over structure, off the edge of a flat etc.

I don't see why that wouldn't work if you are fishing an area with no bottom structure, and no depth variation, but where would the fish be then?

Just my 2c.

Mr. A


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## pppatrick

i've heard of guys using a slip float with no stopper with a dropshot rig to keep it vertical. i've never tried it though. seems to me with the tension required to keep contact with the weight would negate the intended purpose.


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## MassillonBuckeye

Shaggy said:


> Let me ask this then. I have a bit of a problem with patience when working a slow presentation so I was thinking about this as an alternative to the drop shot. Put a 4" floating worm on an 1/8oz jig head under a slip bobber about a foot off the bottom and let the ripples on the water move the bait. The worms and jigs I have keep things horizontal.
> 
> If this isn't a good alternative I'd be interested as to your reasons why.


The difference would essentially be slip bobbering with a "bobber with a brain". Check this out. The sinker at the bottom of the rig keeps you close to the bottom. Slip bobbers cant do that without you adjusting the bobber stop.


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## Bassbme

I'm with everyone else that loves the drop shot rig. The majority of the time I use it for vertical or near vertical presentations, but it can work equally as well when cast. For me the tear drop weights with the clip on the end work the best. The clip makes it easy to adjust the distance from weight to hook, and the tear drop shape comes through rock and gravel well. 

As far as baits, I really like a 4" straight tail Roboworm, or a Skinny Bear Shad Eye minnow imitation, in either the 3 1/2" or the 4 1/4" sizes. Both are excellent baits. I don't really shake the bait all that much when I work it. It's more of a shaking the slack in the line kind of thing, for me. They're a lot of fun to use, and as others have mentioned. You can use them in a lot of different places.


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## Fishing Flyer

Drop shot is my go-to technique. I'll fish primarily 6 inch finesse style worms instead of 4 or less. I also fish both fast and slow. Sometimes I'll drift and impart very little action. Sometimes I'll work it relatively quickly and impart lots of action. By the way, if you want to see some dropshot results, check out my recent Kentucky Lake report in the out of state section. I don't consider drop shot to be just a numbers game like jig-n-pig said. I've caught numerous 4lb class fish on it this year as well, and my biggest last year ran 6-7 on dropshot. That is my guess for a fat 22.5 in. Largemouth, by the way.


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## stak45dx1

I love using it around docks and at the edges of the lily pads, but it can get dicey if the fish start to get into the pads since my drop-shot rod has 8 lb line on it... had a good day on Tuesday, the fish were biting on my spro popping frog and the drop shot... it doesn't get much better than that, in my opinion... the only thing better is flipping the dead trees in the spring.

I use the vmc spin shot hooks, and a tear drop sinker with roboworms mostly.


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## Bad Bub

stak45dx1 said:


> I love using it around docks and at the edges of the lily pads, but it can get dicey if the fish start to get into the pads since my drop-shot rod has 8 lb line on it... had a good day on Tuesday, the fish were biting on my spro popping frog and the drop shot... it doesn't get much better than that, in my opinion... the only thing better is flipping the dead trees in the spring.
> 
> I use the vmc spin shot hooks, and a tear drop sinker with roboworms mostly.


Give it a stab on a flipping rod and heavy line. One of my favorite techniques for around and through the holes of pad fields. I use a 1/2 oz. Bullet weight (pointed down) with a split ring tied on underneath as the weight. A trokar flipping hook and a zoom magnum finesse worm. You can use any bait you prefer, but that fat worm has been my best.

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## MassillonBuckeye

Bad Bub said:


> Give it a stab on a flipping rod and heavy line. One of my favorite techniques for around and through the holes of pad fields. I use a 1/2 oz. Bullet weight (pointed down) with a split ring tied on underneath as the weight. A trokar flipping hook and a zoom magnum finesse worm. You can use any bait you prefer, but that fat worm has been my best.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Yep. Was gonna say I had a heck of a day catching crappies on a double minnow dropshot using 80# braid drifting back and forth over this ledge I found. Most see it as a finesse setup, I don't think that has to be the case.


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## JignPig Guide

Bump

I'm sorry fellas. But I'm watching bass fishing (DVR'd) on TV, while on www.ohiogamefishing.com. And I may or may-not be going through some sort of "Bass Fishing Withdrawal Syndrome" better known as BFWS.
BFWS has symptoms of: empty wallet, pissed of wife/girlfriend, and missed work days. If you have ever experienced this. Please call the BFWS hotline @OhMyGodWhenAmIGonnaFishAgain!

It is Wintertime. This is the time to rethink techniques. And if you've never tried the drop-shot while fishing for bass, you may be missing out.


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## Fishingisfun

BFWS has only one cure warmer weather open water and going fishing. A small fix is scanning every OGF posting for anything that takes my mind off being stuck inside not fishing. At least we are on the shorter side of winter and the ice will be gone soon. 

That's to all for there tip on fishing the drop shot technique.


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