I'm new to the drop shot rig. I left everything else at home so I didn't have a choice but to fish it, I fished deep structure and in shallower places where I always catch fish and didn't do so well only caught 5 fish in 3 hrs I started out with a sinko and couldn't get a bass to look at it. So I put on a a man finesse with little success. I had it on a medium rod and less tournament light speed spool with 20lb power pro. What did I do wrong with this set up??

A heavier line than I prefer. I use 10lb. At the most, 8 when I can get away with it.

Go 10# braid to 8-10# fluro.

Thanks for the advice appreciate it!

Can say the line has ever made a difference for me. It has always been about getting on feeding fish. When you do you will get bit.

I second the line thing, as long as it's not 50lb braid I don't think they care much. 20lb power pro braid is just fine, it's small enough it won't hurt the action.

I have 2 suggestions. First is the hook. I've quit using tiny drop shot hook all together. I use a 1/0 light wire EWG, so I can rig the plastic weedless. Second suggestion is the bait. Almost all I use are roboworms on my dropshots. Aarons magic and margarita mutilator are my two go to colors.

I hated drop shot fishing at first, HATED it. I'm a few years in now and it's become one of my most important tools. I honestly feel like I can ALWAYS catch a fish or two with it now. It will get bit when nothing else will. Just keep throwing it. Once you have a good day or two the confidence will be there, and it'll just get better and better for you.

Its fun to do on a open face lil bit bigger line with a 5ot hook with a power worm

Speaking of line.....I'm curious how many of you run braid with a leader versus just straight fluoro?

Im braid to fluro 10lb to 6 to 8lb

Next question......how long of a leader do you prefer? Personally I like a longer leader.....20 yards or so for 2 reasons:

1) it allows me to retie a few times from break-offs
2) when I am fighting the fish beside the boat when it's prone to make quick runs, the fluoro/braid knot is already on the spool.

I started out on my new rods I bought this yr with 20 fluro but broke off several nice fish in heavy grass so I changed to the braid and haven't lossed any yet. I couldn't figure out why it was braking off it was braking 10-15 feet up from the hook so it was t the knot idk I seem to get more fish in the boat with the braid but I'm going to try a different hook size, change my leader, and different worm. And see if that makes a difference thanks for the education!

+1 on smaller line. 8lb Invivx works really well for me. I am tempted to try a braid to fluro leader config though. If I do make that transition, I think I'll go with about a 3' leader to start and see how it goes from there.
Most people think that you need a really sensitive rod for drop shot but I disagree.. the strike on a drop shot tends to go from just feeling heavy, to feeling nothing, to the fisth about taking the rod out of your hand. I use a Skeet Reese drop shot rod.. which is a 7' medium with a good back bone.. I've caught bass up to 6.5lb on that rig with the 8lb fluro.

Do you fish open water brush pile type situations with that set up? I was using the little heavier braid due to being scared I'd brake off in the grass or whatever cover I'm fishing. I pretty much took my Texas rig pole and set it up for dropshot but looks like I'm learning I need a total different set upas far as line goes.

That's why I say go with the braid. Most of the places I fish I just can't get away with less than 10 or 12lb line if it's not braid. And once your lure is past about 6 feet, that 20lb braid will virtually disappear.

That's also where a good rod comes in. My drop shot rod is a 7'3 M with an extra fast tip. Fast tip is really helpful for twitching the bait and the medium backbone will keep the braid from pulling out the hook.

Though you can fish a "big" version of the drop shot, I don't think the pros ever use it in a big tournament. And, the king of the current drop shotters, current AOY Aaron Martens, once said when asked that he was using 8 lbs. fluoro, "but that he might drop to 6 tomorrow to get more bites." And, even here one poster mentioned that he can always catch fish on a drop shot, meaning that other things are not working but a drop shot always does.

So, yes, they can be caught on 4/0 drop shots but if they are biting 4/0 drop shots, they'd likely hit shaky heads, weightless worms, T-Rigs, and heavy jigs, etc. But, they often won't. Yet, they'll hit a finesse drop shot. So, what gives?

One thing is it is the very closest fishing presentation we have to just throwing live bait, a minnow or a worm, a bobber, a hook and a sinker . . .and we know that will almost always catch fish. Very passive: sit and wait for the bobber to dunk. We sit and wait for the line to tighten (same thing).

I think line does make a difference, the lighter the better, that invisibility of line makes a difference so fluoro over braid, and the bait needs to be very subtle . . just a small roboworm hanging out in the current, something like that.

While I personally normally use a 1 to 1/0, I watched a video on Youtube that Phototex put me on to of Marc Marcantonio describing why a 4 hook. . . that is right, a 4 not a 4/0, a tiny 4 will hook and hold more fish all the way into the boat than even a 2 or a 1 or a 1/0. Watch his 3 (I think there were 3) videos for his take. It has to do with the structure of a bass's mouth and why the small hook has a better chance of snagging the boney tissue just behind what would be, in a human, right behind the front teeth. Interesting but watch it for yourselves.

Oh! Hook to sinker length? The pros often say short drops when the fish are feeding tight to the bottom, so pre-spawn and spawn, then longer leaders when they are feeding up a bit.

Brad