Dropshotters?

[Jim0861]

Any dropshotters here? Anyone tried dropshotting the deeper holes in JF or Current River? Results? Lessons learned?

[hoglaw]

Haven't tried those two locations, but when the fish are poised to hit a drop shot there isn't much that works better. One of my personal goals this summer is to get better at it than, "I'm going to hang on to this tree and drop this straight down and wiggle it...hopefully it works." Drop shotting on some otherwise tough days at Pumpback in Oklahoma has turned me onto it bigtime.

[mixermarkb]

It has become a go-to for me since early this fall on days when the bite was tough. I'm going to keep working on it as well. Bill Babler over on the Table Rock forum gave enough information to get me started and get some fish on the end of my line. It's worth a search back to see if anything he talks about applies to the rivers.

[Jim0861]

I am looking forward to giving it a try this year, particularly along some of the slower, deeper stretches.

[jeb]

It was my goal last year to get better at DSing. And it paid off pretty well for me. I caught the majority of my summer fish last year on it. Once you figure it out and get some good spots to fish it, it can really produce.

[hoglaw]

Jeb, help me out here. When I first got turned onto drop shotting, I was using my uncle's boat/dock at rambo creek. I'd find a bluff line under water that dropped off really sharp and had trees on the edges. I would hang onto a tree to hold still and drop down straight under the boat and catch 'em. After fishing with Trophy for a while, I've realized that folks will cast a drop shot a relatively short distance and work it back towards the boat. Seems like it ought to catch fish right off the bottom. Last summer, I found schools on my cheap electronics in pumpback and counted down the distance until I thought I was just under them and caught fish that way - with my weight far from the bottom.

I guess all three tactics - fishing on the bottom vertically, fishing on the bottom horizontally, and fishing vertically to suspended fish - fall under the umbrella of drop shotting? Any major words of wisdom on when to choose between the three?

[jeb]

You've got it pretty well figured out, from the sounds of it. It's mostly a vertical presentation, but if you're around fish, casting and dragging will work, too. Like you found, the trick is to locate the fish first. Good electronics is a big help there as I can see my dropshot under the trolling motor to control the depth of it and to watch the fish react to it. Humps and the end or long underwater points are great places to look, as well as brush piles.

[dtrs5kprs]

Jeb, help me out here. When I first got turned onto drop shotting, I was using my uncle's boat/dock at rambo creek. I'd find a bluff line under water that dropped off really sharp and had trees on the edges. I would hang onto a tree to hold still and drop down straight under the boat and catch 'em. After fishing with Trophy for a while, I've realized that folks will cast a drop shot a relatively short distance and work it back towards the boat. Seems like it ought to catch fish right off the bottom. Last summer, I found schools on my cheap electronics in pumpback and counted down the distance until I thought I was just under them and caught fish that way - with my weight far from the bottom.

I guess all three tactics - fishing on the bottom vertically, fishing on the bottom horizontally, and fishing vertically to suspended fish - fall under the umbrella of drop shotting? Any major words of wisdom on when to choose between the three?

A lot depends on the water that is available. On the White River lakes it is mostly vertical, but dragging it back while looking for fish and bait (especially on the big flats and roll off places) will scrape up a few extra fish during the day. Would still rather catch them on a spoon or grub when it is an up and down situation.