Drop Shot !?!?!?!? Not for my type of fishing

Thanks for the details, Tom. The drop shot technique is probably the slowest and last to catch with most folks. It's way too much like panfishing with a cricket, and way too radical a departure from casting and winding all day. Pour it on, fella. Everyone here needs to figure it out and add it to their arsenal if they want to be sure to put fish in the livewell. 

I've taught drop shot to maybe as many as a thousand campers over the years, having no boat to fish from. No drop shot rules prohibit use of a float. Around here hydrilla packs the shoreline around most of the campgrounds, so if there isn't a piece of water on the inside weedline, it's vital to get a lure out to the outside weedline. The rig is set a safe distance off bottom using the float. Drop shotting is really about the same technique man has used for millennia, only mostly with a live earthworm or cricket. My first panfishing began with an identical rig, using a cane pole. Sinker on bottom, hook tied a ways up. The difference now is the use of artificial lures. That was unthinkable for many years after the Creme worm came along.

That rig is a heavy hitter for me in winter, and after cold fronts in spring through fall when nobody else is catching bass nosing down into deeper comfort. There are times a bass will only bite a finesse lure, sometimes no larger than a 3" curlytail grub that stays put and barely shows signs of life. If crayfish are not scurrying around on bottom the bass will know that and they won't pay a lot of attention to a bottom-bounced jig. They will be suspended and looking up from concealment of a stump, rock, or clump of vegetation.

From a boat I do recommend, as Tom said, a sinking line like fluorocarbon. But from the bank you don't want line that settles down and gets involved in branches, draping over sharp rocks. For that braid or a tough mono line is better. When you are lowering a drop shot straight down you want it to get there quickly, and fishing deep calls for the most sensitive sinking line- fluoro.

You need a rod with lots of sensitivity to drop shot, about 6'10". Action (amount of rod flex) needs to be medium light to medium (fast taper at the end), yet the tip end 8" needs to be very flexible. Power needs to be ML for 4-8# line in as deep as 25' in open water. There is no yanking to set the hook. You just start reeling and slowly lifting the rod. I prefer the cranking power of a low speed baitcaster since when drop shotting the larger bass are more inclined to bite deep. You can use a spinning rig too, but line twist is really bothersome to me. The bait doesn't spin, but the reel just has line twist built-in.

You can fish a drop shot like a T-rigged worm from boat to shore, dragging it like a C-rig. If a lot of cover could be a problem you'd need a heavier power rod and heavier line. I use up to 12# line in water over 25' deep vertically or whenever casting it around heavy cover. 6-8# line weight is best for vertical drop shotting.

Jim

dave0331_69 said:

I havent had any luck with the drop-shot yet but i make it a point to try it once and a while. But then again im having trouble with the whole finesse thing anyway.  Dave

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Dave, Every presentation technique does not need to be mastered to catch bass. As I mentioned in the post discussion on colors, you can get by with a few choices. However you also limit your opportunities to catch bass when the bass are not responding to your choice of lure presentation. Not catching bass when others are is what motivates us to try new things, it is fun and one of the things that make bass fishing the sport it is.
The most important thing to remember with finesse fishing is to use light line and tackle that is appropriate. I have taught a lot of kids to catch bass on spinning tackle using the slip shot presentation. Slip shot is very similar to Carolina rig, except you use a 1/8 oz.,mojo tubular shaped weight, a small round BB shot or C-stopper to hold the weight up the line about 24", a size 1 Gamakatsu rubber worm hook and a 5 1/2" curl tail finesse worn. You use this rig with a 6 1/2' medium fast action spinning rod and, 8 lb. mono. From shore you cast out and let the weight rest on the bottom, then drag the weight about 2 feet by lifting the rod, reel in the slack and repeat. From a boat you can drift this rig slowly along the bottom or cast and retrieve as described for shore fishing. Drop shotting is very similar, except the weight is at the end of the line and you fish it more vertical with the same tackle. Then there are spider jigs etc. This time of year go to the first major point up by the dam and work the rig up hill, from deep to shallow. Good luck with whatever presentation makes it happen for you.
Tom

Danielt, I bass fished through the 60s to the 80's the old fashioned way, "reading the water" without any electronics. We never dreamed of such a thing. I did make a viewing tube that helped some, a plastic tube with a glass pane glued to one end. It was held under water, and I could make out stumps, rocks, etc, rarely any sizeable fish. Finally I got a flasher and learned to use it on my own, nobody to teach me. Then came the paper graph FFers, and then the "holy grail" LED screens. Gray scale was so appreciated back then. But color screens...the ultimate.

There are many anglers still doing quite well without electronics. They just know where to go find fish because they've fished those magic holes for decades.

There is no need to fish "blind". It's a matter of finding bass habitat that has a lot of "furniture" and the presence of baitfish. Out in the open lake, sure, you'd need electronics, the reason so many anglers still carry an aversion to fishing deep even with fine electronics. But you CAN find a weedline without electronics. That's a great place to expect bass, especially where the line is broken up, irregular, having points and cuts. Other lures like jigs can help telegraph what's on bottom. rocks, weeds, mud, gravel, stumps. All the better to find any of that next to a weedline. You can look up and study the land drainage and rock outcrops, then figure that drainage or rock ridge continues down into the lake. Great. Get fishing! Found a laydown on a steep shoreline? Fish it. Your jig just suddenly fell maybe 8'? You have a ledge or stump hole. Fish it. Anything you find out of the ordinary is a fine place to put a drop shot. Bass like "different".

With that said, definitely a modern sonar is so much better for locating both hidden habitat and fish. There's just no comparison. But with or without, keep "reading" the water. Study it and the land above it. "Read" the signals a bottom bouncing lure sends up the line. Consult a good lake contour map while you're at it.

Jim