Drop shot bait

What bait do you use on your dropshot?

Roboworms. And an occasional Berkley Gulp minnow or a caffeine Shad. 99% I use a robo.

2x roboworms they move like no other.

Hooked just barely inside the nose I like robo's and zoom finesse worms. Chartreuse pepper has been working well right now. I like to wacky rig it as well with senkos in watermelon red and white/green laminate. They have been producing lately.

Funny you ask, I was just experimenting with drop shot baits in the pool. And I have to say that the Lake Fork Live Magic Shad appears to be one awesome drop shot bait. It looked like actual live bait.

Broke my new falcon rod with a 7.8 lber on a KVD dream shot

Two baits...
Roboworm
ZZ lures finesse worm
That's if I am using my light stuff

Pretty much just Roboworms.

baby rattlesnake looks awesome on DS

Colors?

Zoom finesse worms and in winter when fish are very sluggish I will drop shop a bobby garland baby shad crappie bait. Believe it or not they kick butt sometimes!

I caught my first bass on Lake Fork on a BG crappie bait. It was two years before I actually realized that what happened that day wasn't a fluke. I use the LFT crappie baits now. To answer the OP, I use pretty much whatever finesse style worm I brought with me that day. Roboworms are good, but I've caught plenty of fish on Buddy's finesse worms (Lake Fork locally made), Zoom finesse worms, Chompers finesse worms, Luck-E-Strike finesse worms and on and on. I've watched one of the Lake Fork guides, Richie White, catch them with A BUSINESS CARD on a drop shot. One of the coolest things I've seen.

I use basically one bait. As you've heard, the roboworm. I like margarita mutilator and aarons magic, the only colors I use.

Hmm. . .I like that idea. Gotta try it out.

Roboworm 4.5" Straight Tail Worm


For sure my all time favorite bait. I've caught so many fish on a drop shot, big ones too! They have a lot of action and the fish just can't resist it.

This year I have been using yum dingers. most of my fish have been coming on june bug color.
Also I have been using a bait i got in one of those tackle box subscription thingies called a havoc money maker. color was a purplish flakey one. that bait is meant to be wacky rigged on a drop shot but i have used it both ways with success. They really seem to like that bait.

Aarons magic comes in many colors, is one better?
thanks

Do most of you usually nose hook them or Texas rig them?

I use Aaron's magic, Aaron's pro magic, morning dawn, and margarita mutilator. I nose hook them so the hook just barely pokes through the tip. I never need to Texas rig them, as I am usually fishing them on main lake stuff. Marking and dropping on them. Vertically. Every once in a while, if I am searching, I'll cast it out and hop it along back to the boat. Sometimes, I guess, a t rigged version would hang less. But, 75% of the time, if it hangs up, it's the weight stuck...not the hook.

It all depends on the cover I'm fishing. Heavy cover - weedless rigged on a 1/0 hook. More open water or rock - nose hooked on a size 1 hook.

Steez is right about the weight hanging. If you get hung it's usually the weight caught in something. I finally realized the importance of actual drop shot weights, that you can pull lose from. Saves a lot of hooks and baits.

Zoom Finesse worm Texas rigged. Also Zoom Z3 Swamp Crawler. Both work well for me.

It drifts to the bottom really slow, and darts around like a little fish when you twitch the rod. Sometimes I even put the regular size rattlesnake on there. I have good luck with both... Like you, I exclusively fished roboworms until I experimented with the baby rattlesnake on a whim and made immediate catches. Now I toggle between the two. I still find roboworms to be more finesse and I give them the edge most of the time, but there are conditions under which the rattlesnake works better for me by a large margin. Try roboworm's prism craw, I love that color.

Does anyone use the VMC spinshot or do tie your hook on?

Nothing wrong with the VMC spinshot, just have to tie an extra knot.

I really like the Matzuo 1/0 J bend sickle hooks; very versatile-work well from nose hooked to Texas rig depending on cover/bait/etc.

xcite, netbait, roboworm, and zman elaztec make my favorites for drop shot, along with baby brush hogs.

I have a spin shot tied on. I also have some Mustad 2Xwide drop shot hooks I like as well. The spin shot doesn't really help a lot with twist. It does...just not the be all end all. The little wire twist isn't a swivel. It is just a way for the hook to spin a little. The wire will helpi with twist, but it doesn't make the hook stand out like a palomar pull through knot. It also kinda numbs the subtle action that you need to impart on the bait.

Best bet is to tie on the hook direct via palomar. Pull the long tag end through the hook eye so the hook pops up and out to the side. Then slip on the weight. Make sure to nose hook the bait as straight as possible. This is going to prevent twist. When the bait is crooked, it causes the bait to twist the hook around the centerline of the weight and rod tip. This twists the line.

I use the VMC Spinshot Wide Gap hooks for TX rigging larger DS baits. I've had good luck with them but I wish they only required one knot. I bought some Decoy hooks that are also wide gap but you only ha e to tie one knot.

For smaller DS baits, I mostly use the small Roboworms in Aaron's Magic but lately have been using Baby Rattlesnakes and Tiny Brushogs.

I have better luck with texas rigging a 1/0 roboworm or gamakatsu offset round bend worm hook. Doesn't snag as much and bass seem to get the hook point in their mouth faster. I had decent luck with the spinshot hooks but my line would always eventually wrap around the swivel and render it pointless. As other people said, you also have to tie two knots.

I don't like those hooks at all. I tried them for about a month. They'd get fouled up worse than a normal dropshot. And the extra knot is just another weak point that can fail. I know it's only tied to the weight, but I still don't like it.

I've never had any issue using a lightwire 1/0 hook for weedless rigging and a size 1 octopus hook for nose hooking it.

Try the Gamakatsu swivel shot hooks.

These are what I like..

Owner 1/0 Rig-N-Hook
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Rig-N-Hook_Worm_Hooks/descpage-ORNHW.html

Jackall Cross Tail Shad in Natural Colors
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Jackall_Crosstail_Shad_8pk/descpage-JCTS.html

Roboworm - Bold Bluegill, MM3. I like the 6" or 7" because the fish will tear the bait up by the eye of the hook. Just bite off that bit and rig again.
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Roboworm_Straight_Tail_Worms/descpage-RW45ST.html#multiview

Roboworm Curly Tail - Hologram Shad
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Roboworm_55_Textured_Curl_Tail_Worm_8pk/descpage-RCLW.html#multiview

texas rigged Netbait finnese worm caught a Share lunker with it.

Zoom finesse and trick worm
Roboworm
KVD finesse worm
Berkley Havoc
Netbait finesse worm

Tx. rigged always with a #1 Owner rigging hook (I fish around a LOT of timber) 1/0 Owner rigging hook with the trick worm.

Yamamoto shad shape worm, KVD dream shot and roboworm

I have been playing around with drop shots the last few months. I have been throwing the zoom swimming fluke with a football Jig as the weight. I know it is not a true drop shot but I have been catching a lot of fish this way

This year I caught more fish on a 6" Pork Pin by V&M Baits than all other baits combined. Some on drop shot and some on just an extremely light Tx-rig. You'll be shocked at the number of big fish that will eat that bait. It's not just for small fish. Best colors were watermelon red, watermelon candy, and red bug. The fish at Fork sometimes will eat that red bug 6" Pork Pin when they won't seem to eat anything else. It became my confidence lure.

They also make it in an 8" version that I like throwing on a Carolina rig. Lots of my buddies were throwing it on a shaky head and murdering the bass, but I'm just not a shaky head kinda guy....yet.

Hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Does a pork pin actually have pork in it?

Top 3

6" Straight-tail Roboworm

PowerTeam Lures Finicky Tickler

PowerTeam Lures 3.6" JP Hammer Shad

kvd dream shot or zoom finesse worm