Drop Shot questions

I'm trying to learn how to fish a drop shot. I'm fishing it on a 7' medium action rod, 12lb fluorocarbon line, a 2/0 finesse hook with a 1/4oz sinker, and a KVD finesse worm. My problem is, I'm getting the bites, but not the hook sets. I don't know if I'm not letting the fish take it long enough or if it's an equipment issue. One things for sure, it's aggravating. Any suggestions?

Drop your hook size to a 1 and nose hook the worm.

With your hookset, you need to lean into it rather than jerkset. Reel in the slack as you pull up.

Make a leader with 6lb line. The fish will commit more to the worm when they can't see the line.

Are you fishing with spin tackle or bait caster??

Thanks for the advice, I'm using a bait caster. Does it make a difference?

A Spincast is better imho for drop shot. Cast it farther and set the hook better

Like Ranger stated....a spincast is better for the hookset....typically your spin gear is M weighted and has more "give". This won't allow you to "over" set the hook. This is why you almost always see Pros using spin gear. They have to capitalize on each fish. Spin gear allows for that.

However, if you are fishing lakes like Fork in the summer or winter and use drop shot in and around the timber, I use baitcasting gear so I can have more to fight the fish with and get them out quicker. Just my opinion.

I'm using 6 lb fluro on a light medium action 7' rod. I catch many fish over 7-8lbs in open water, and break off a few. It's part of it. If you're in timber or heavier cover you'll have to go up from that
With drop shoting you don't "set" the hook, when you feel the fish you just lift up and apply pressure to the fish, your hook should be exposed and hook set should be done by the fish. With a drop shot, you need to be sure you're using very high quality/sharp hooks and change them/swap them out often.

Lastly, the largest issue with missed fish on drop shot is due to the knot type tied. You have to tie it so the hook faces up, or else you'll miss almost every fish that hits it

Everything said here is correct. I use 10 pound mono and still get a lot of bites every outing so its just your preference. But DO NOT jerk on your hookset lol i learned the hardway in a tournament on cedar creek... Jerked on a bite and broke her off right away...

There's a lot of good stuff there. That's why I love this forum. I think my problem was improper hook set, I was trying to set the hook like I would with a Texas ot c-rig. Thanks for the help!!!

don't set, just reel till the rod loads then you can do whatever.

good luck man....tell us your success!

Really similar to fishing for trout!

No question I prefer a spinning reel and a lighter rod - more than likely if you are setting the hook you are pulling the bait from the fish's mouth.

Once you get the hang of it you will love it!

As mentioned, nose hook the bait and reel down to take the slack up. OR, you can put on a circle hook and just reel down and catch them in the corner of the mouth. Most successful droop shotters I know use circle hooks and just reel down. UNLESS you are doing it Texas style. Using 1 oz. weights with a 4/0 or 5/0 hook and big 8" and 10" baits fishing for BIG FISH. I fish all my drop shots on a casting rod and reel, but I am the odd ball out there. I use an 8' shakey head rod and tie a shakey head on and then a drop shot on, doubling my chances, but IF you use this technique, do NOT use the circle hook, as you don't know to reel or set the hook. Just my .02 worth. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

I'm with Thad, i only throw a dropshot on a baitcaster. I use 20lb line.

I use a 7'3 medium TFO Tactical casting rod with a lews tournament lite.....12 pound sunline sniper and I use River A tackle offset 1/0.....3/16 skinny tungsten and zoom finess worms rigged Texas style......I feel a thump and set the hook with a wrist snap.....top of the mouth every time!

I only use a St Croix 6'9" drop shot special with a bait caster and I Tx rig the worm because of all of the stik ups. The hook size varies from # 1 to 1/0 and it must be an offset hook..

I use a florocarbon leader in 15 # test. I set the hook like txmasterpro. Top of the mouth like he wrote.

To many big fish swimming around in here with all of the wood to go light line.

I think there's two or three different ways to consider fishing drop shot a light finesse with wimpy rod light line and thin exposed hooks, great for open water. Get into some heavier cover then bigger hooks Texas rigged mh rod with bigger weights and 10-15# line. Then there's the guys that go all out and drop in the nastiest crud they can find with basically similar rigs used for punching or jigs.

The finesse set up doesn't require much but when you go with bigger hooks texposed a hookset works.

A bait caster is just fine for drop shotting. I prefer it over spinning gear when I am drop shotting in open water. I use a Dobyns EX. 702 and it works great. If you are fishing a lake that has sand bass in it they could be hitting the weight and those are the bites you are feeling.

I use a #1 Owner rigging hook when I drop shot a 4-5 inch finesse worm and a 1/0 owner rigging hook or 1/0 owner J hook when I drop shot a trick worm. I use spinning tackle when I am drop shotting timber because I use braid as my main line and have a fluorocarbon leader on it and I can also have it fall by a stump easier with spinning tackle.

I disagree. If you match a finesse bait caster reel with a rod designed for a drop shot (usually a 2 power or med.light) you will have very good results using that set up. It all comes down to what you like best. I like the baitcaster for open water drop shotting and the spinning rig for drop shotting timber.


I am planning on doing some Bubba drop shotting this weekend with a 3 power rod.

6'9" Medium action spinning rod like the Falcon Cara CS-4-69M is ideal. Pair it with a 2-2500 series spinning reel spooled with 10# Powerpro braid with a 12# Seaguar InvisX leader tied on with a double I I knot. 1/4oz weight, 1/0 Owner rigging hook and a Zoom finesse worm in color if choice. I prefer Green Pumpkin, Junebug or Tomato.

That is the perfect set up for dropshotting timber or deep structure

Same set up but with a swivel instead of a double uni knot for dropping straight down on suspended fish. Leader size also varies on speed of fall desired and clarity of water/spookiness of target fish

Do you use the spinning reel because it comes off the reel better when casting or letting the line out vertically? Why do you consider the spinning reel an advantage?

Someone's post on here a few months ago got me to rethink dropshotting. I had always used light spinning tackle and a small Roboworm. But someone shared their opinion that dropshotting is a presentation more than a certain set of tackle. I've had success Texas rigging a stick bait on a 3/0 or 4/0 VMC Powershot hook using a baitcast setup.

Why not? Don't get caught up in rules - talk to folks about what works, try your own rigs, have fun.

The spinning reel will allow you to Quicky snap the rod upward releasing about 10-12' of line for a perfectly vertical fall next to the cover. A castng reel will never give you that perfect fall bc there's always some kind of tension even on free spool.

I use a medium-light action spinning rod with 10-pound braid and a 6- or 8-pound mono leader. I haven't noticed any significant reduction in bites since I stopped using fluorocarbon, either leader or line only. I normally use a size 1 or 2 Octopus hook and simply let it load up before I start to reel it in.

Haha. Drop shot. I caught 4 for about 15-16lbs on DS tonight. Then. WHAM!!!! I have NEVER had a fish hit and pull that hard....ever. It made my Shimano Stradic sing for about 3 seconds and then BROKE my new VMC soin shot hook. That was at 9pm. Spent another 40 minutes trying to catch another with my Senko rod. They ONLY bit on a DS for me tonight. I was using 6" Roboworms in Aaron's Pro Magic.

I'm new to using a drop shot too. Here's a video with me using a drop shot. I just lift to the right and start reeling with light drag. I've been successful with this set up so far and I've been trying out others too. I'm using a 6 ft spinning rod, 6 lb copolamar line, a size 1 gamakatsu drop/split shot hook, 1/16 weight, and Zoom finesse worm. I switch to drop shot at 1:54,
https://youtu.be/stVLnM0C69M

I've been at it, perfecting a drop shot presentation out of a kayak, for about a month. Shimano 2500 Ci4+ spinning reel, braid to 8 lbs. fluorocarbon line leader, on a St. Croix medium w/ fast tip rod, so pretty standard for a "finesse" drop shot rigging.

I'd hook into fish but lose them over two-thirds of the time in the beginning. Frustrating.

Now, I lose about 3 fish per 10 . . . so much improved and I have more or less flipped my early statistic the other direction: losing 2 out of three to now landing 2 out of 3.

What wasn't working for me was the KVD nose hook where he brings the hook point up but leaves it just below the surface inside the plastic's nose. What is working for me is going ahead and bringing the hook out a bit exposing the barb. It seems to casually snag the inside of a fish's mouth much better. Yes, when they take the bait, swim off and feel a bit of pressure, they more or less hook themselves. This is about the time I think the fisherman really feels what is a rather "soft strike." So, the reel set or slow sweep is simply embedding the hook deeper. If you yank on that small hook, I think what happens is it often pulls the hook out of their mouths. Let the fish hook itself in the finesse presentation of a drop shot.

What wasn't working for me were the standard drop shot hooks, usually 1/0s for me. What is working are two drop shot hooks, one sponsored by KVD and the other by Aaron Martens, where the hook is slightly more open. A few millimeters makes a big difference. I have heard of guys taking the standard drop shot hooks and bending them open a bit but I have never tried it.

What ALWAYS works for me is a straight tail roboworm and I am beginning to think color doesn't even matter all that much, but I use Aaron's Magic and a few others. The downside is these worms are great . . . but for only one fish . . . as they are very soft. Even a rather small fish can sidle up next to a roboworm, poot, and knock it off. Ha!

From a boat or kayak, there is no need to make a long cast. I have luck casting it out and hopping it back after some time at each point, or just dropping it down vertically and drifting over fishy water.

Yes, spinning gear with light line for the finesse stuff; a bait caster would work great, too, especially for the power drop shot stuff: larger lines, 4/0 hooks and 8 to 10" worms. Likely less fish caught that way but bigger.

Brad

See. I find it opposite. I usually can get multiple fish from one Robo. Hmmm. I find them far more durable than Senko fishing. Haha. Where, sometimes, a Senko goes flying off the hook on a cast! Lol.

As for the baiting method? I do the same. I nose hook with the hook passing just through the worm. It's "snaggier", if that's even a word, but does help hook up ratio for me as well

I've never tried fishing Drop Shot with a baitcast setup. I'll have to try that this weekend.

Thanks everyone.

My new dropshot rod just came in....and I want to make the switch to braid.

I usually only throw power pro, but this is in 65lb

Anyone got a favorite light weight braid?

15 or 20lb?

I really like Sufix 832 in either 10# or 20#. Normally, I use yellow braid so I can see more easily when the bite.

Power pro superslick 8 in 10 or 20

I second the Sufix 832, 10# for sure. On my rod, Sufix 832 is silent and doesn't make the braid noise when I reel in. A fine braid line of which there are many.

Brad

10# Powerpro

Of you want a cache tom learn to dropshot give me a call!

Here's a few drop shot fish from the past

Im no expert at it, but have caught 1 or 2 on it.

7' Medium/light rod, that way the rod does the work. Not your wrist. And I use a baitcaster!
14 lbs. seagar floro line
1/0 off shank hook
1/4 oz. weight

I keep my baits secret! lol

As far as the bite goes...... I use 14 lbs. line cause I set the hook like normal. Most bites I normally feel and can pop em.

You can say that again....

Man that's some nice fish

Thanks for the great advice. I went out and bought an inexpensive spinning outfit. I finally had the time to really try it. On the first outing caught about 10. They were all 1-1 1/2lbs fish, but if was still fun and a great confidence booster.

Good Information and some nice fish on the pictures Cody posted!

First,,,,, last year went with a guide on fork and we mainly drop shotted. It was OK, we caught some nice quality 5# fish. Never tried it again........BUT I am starting this fall.
SO,,,,,,,,
with the guide all we did was a vertical drop over fish identified on his Lowrance 12" graph (very nice).
Is it a good idea to "cast" a drop shot like you would a T-Rigged bait to a spot & fish it back the same way ?
what are the "best" or "accepted" methods of presenting the DS bait ?

Nutman,

Soon to be your neighbor; we are building a home on Lake Athens. PM me if you get a chance.

Well, going out with a guide on a boat with great electronics, they often spot fish and depth, then drop vertically. It works great and fish don't seem to mind seeing the shadow of a boat or kayak floating overhead.

But, the other way is to make casts, let it drop and see if you get a "bite" on the drop itself, then let it sit there for about a minute or so in the event a fish nearby comes over to inspect it and bites it; if no, then raise your rod tip over head slowly and pull (hop) the drop shot to a new area, reel in the slack, where the action again creates a possible bite on this drop and another opportunity for a fish to come over and inspect it and bite it. I think you can hop it several times, I suppose all the way back to the boat or shoreline if you want to. I think what I have just described is the "standard operating procedure" for most drop shotters.

On the casting distance, I don't think it is as good as a T-Rig for really long casts, but if you are using a 12" leader or less down to the drop shot and the hook a few inches off the guide tip, it casts pretty well. In pre-spawn and spawn periods when fish are often feeding tight to the bottom, and you are using a short sinker length, it'll cast even better I guess.

Presentation other than what I described? A plastic that floats out laterally letting the water take care of its action. Roboworms are a favorite for most people, Elaztech plastics float well, too. And, I think some of my biggest bass have been caught on a Keitech Shad Impact that I put on one day with a nose hook. It really wasn't designed for or intended for drop shotting. Go figure.

Brad

Thanks,
I appreciate the response and the info.
Being ADD and OLD I have a hard time crappie fishing vertically for bass.
I need the cast and the retrieve action to satisfy my ADD.

I like fishing my dropshot rig like you would fish a c rig, I gave had awesome luck lately fishing it with a 2/0 hook weedless with a 1/2 once weight at the bottom. just like Gene explains in the link Friday I caught 14 fish from a kayak biggest 5 were close to 20#