From Rod, reel, main line to leader....to hook size, plastic and sinker, what's your go to setup?

Going to make it my mission this year to stop relying on the trusty crankbaits that seem to produce.....I love fishing them, but I really want to learn plastics this year-including drop shot. Not to mention it seems like a good set up for the kids around docks/marinas.

I use a 7' johnny Morris carbonlite spinning rod, carbonlite reel, 15lb braid to 6lb fluoro leader, #2 vmc spin shot hook. Plastics are usually robo worms nose hooked or some type of finesse worm, wacky rigged

You are going to get a lot of responses that are mostly similar. M or MH spinning rod/rod-reel combo, 15-20 lb. braid to fluoro leader of 6-12 lb. test, hooks will be different, I use drop shot hooks by Trokar and bend them out a little, then nose hook soft plastics.

Anywhere from medium rod with spinning reel with 6-8 lb flouro, to mh rod with baitcaster spooled with 14-17lb flouro.

Mine is a Dobyns 702DX XP with a Shimano Stradic CI4 2500. My line of choice is 8lb. Big Game. I like a size 1 Owner rig n hook, I prefer a cylinder type weight with the size dependent on depth. My favorite baits are finesse worms with Zoom and Roboworms being my top brands. Worm colors vary but some of my go to colors are watermelon red,red bug, red bug shad, Aarons magic and tomato.

I use a 6ft9in. Reel Time Rods custom drop shot bait caster with a Daiwa Steez reel,12 pound Invizx, #1 Owner rigging hook, 1/4 oz. Finch Nasty drop shot weight, 4-5 inch finesse worms. Brands--Zoom,Berkley, Robo, Strike King, and Netbait are the ones I use.

Second drop shot set up is a Dobyns 702 Extreme bait caster, Daiwa Steez reel, 15# Invizx, 1/0 Owner rigging hook, 1/4oz Finch Nasty drop shot weight, 6in. worms in the same brands listed above.


I only use a spinning rod and reel when I am fishing a school of bass right under the boat because when I fish it vertical you just open the bail on the reel and let it fall to the bottom and start fishing.

My Rod is a Skeet Reese Drop Shot Rod spinning rod.. Reel Shimano Symetre front drag 1500 Series, Stren 30lb Supersonic Braid, Invivix 12lb Fluro leader.. about 10' long joined to the braid with an Improved Albright knot. Gamakatsu 1/0 Split Shot Drop Shot Hook, Bass Pro cylindrical drop shot sinker.. 1/4-3/8 oz. depending on how deep and how windy it is where I'm fishing. I like Zoom Finesse worms.. Houdini and Red Shad colors.

Dobyns 702 Champion, Lews speed spool or Shimano Stradic ci4. 20-30lb seaguar kanzen braid with about an 8ft leader of 6-8lb seaguar flourocarbon. #2 Gamakatsu drop/split shot hook or a robo rebarb hook, size depending on the size or worm i'm throwing. Mainly a 4in or 6in robo in various colors. Weight various with water and weather conditions. I also like to get shallow and pitch a dropshot on baitcast gear with 15lb flouro and a little bit bigger worm. Pretty killer around shallow trees, stumps, docks, and grass lines.

Same as most....except I use a 7ft medium light rod. And a Zoom finesse worm or a trusty Robo.

GLoomis 820 and 822s with 2500 or 3000 Shimano Stradic, Sunline FC Sniper 8lb, VMC PowerShot spin hook and usually have a Zoom finesse worm on it.

Yes, this is the drop shot method I use most of the time.

You can also pitch and flip with a drop shot with a heavy pitching stick on 65lb braid and a 1-2oz weight to punch through heavy vegetation. I tend to use a Gammy superline hook to texas rig the plastic in that situation.

Very versatile technique.

I'm pretty new to drop shotting but have done it before. I use a Loomis NRX DSR822 with a Stradic 3000 Ci4+HGFB

can't wait to give drop shot fishing a try. Thanks for sharing this info. Is this method usually for deep water fishing? If the drop shot is cast how would you would you retrieve it?

Let it sit still most of the time
Sometimes little lifts of the rod
Slowly slowly dragging the weight

Can be fished at any depth

Really shines shallow during the spawn. Cast it past the bed and slowly drag it into the middle. Let it sit there and see what happens

Appreciate the feedback, just goes to show that everyone is willing to share info on a technique that my be new to some but old hat to others.

I think for me the challenge will be WHEN to grab that setup vs the set up itself maybe. Personally I'm trying to learn how to fish shallow (less than 10' -bank) before learning offshore techniques and methods but I've seen the drop shot being used on standing timber which I really want to try this year.