Drop Shot Setup

[huntest]

I am planning to do some drop shot fishing over the next couple of weeks and would like some advice on setup.

I have 6lb Seaguar InvizX floro in my Lews on a Skeet Reece drop shot rod.

Any suggestions on swivel / hook / worm / weight combination?

Should I spring for live nightcrawlwers??

thanks, the quality of advice on this forum is outstanding

[Biglerma]

I always use live crawlers... you can catch em on plastics but you will catch more on crawlers. One piece of advice I would suggest is take your worms out of the dirt and put them in just a plain plastic container. I wash mine off to get rid of the dirt which helps keep the boat clean. My cousin was drop shotting on Sunday and caught a nice 4 lb walleye which is another reason I like to use crawlers. I use gamakatsu drop shot hooks, size 2 I believe (can't remember). Just use drop shot weights. It doesn't matter too much the size, just make sure it is heavy enough to get to the bottom.

[Quillback]

I use Seaguar Invisx 6 lb. test, size 1 Gammie Drop shot hook, and a Zoom Finesse worm, I like Old Purple or Plum. Tie the hook on, point up, using a Palomar knot, leave about a 2 foot tag end to attach your weight.

That being said, you'll probably get another 10 or so suggestions on different ways to set up, but that's what works for me.

I have not done crawlers, but if you do, you'll probably be pretty busy with fish, all kinds of fish. I don't know what hook size to suggest with crawlers, or whether to use a whole one or pieces.

[Old plug]

If i was you I would not limit myself to the finesse stuff. You can use a heavier line larger hook and heavier sinker with larger plastic worms and it might surprise you. I do this and can also pitch it a long ways a. You can stop the bait. Above the bottom ( mine about 18") jiggle it in place are retrieve it anyway you wish. It works for me.

[Bill Babler]

I think I have posted this information before but here it is again. When tying the drop shot I use 8 pound mono as my main line, to a size 12 swivel. you could use your 6 pound here but I don't trust 6 pound line on a relatively short leash. Caught way to many big cat fish and walleye on a drop shot along with plenty of bass over 5 pounds to trust short lengths of 6 pound unless you have an excellent reel and a very good drag system. Which I have and still don't trust the 6.

There is also the abrasion factor and 6 is just to flimsy.

Reminds me of a story here. Beck and I were trying to set up one of the other guides on this lake, he is a good friend, and had been pretty secret on what he was using and catching fish on. I called him with some misinformation about baits and line size just to get his reaction telling him this is what Bill and I were going to use. He went completely off the handle when I mentioned the 6 pound line saying after 20 yrs. on this lake we were both dumber than mud. "I'm cleaning this up quite abit."

End result was 6 pound was way to lite for the drop shot the way he was doing it and he told me everything just the way he was doing it thinking Beck and I were complete idiots. We both still giggle about it. Names have been omitted here to protect me from getting pummeled.

I regress. First deal here is to tie a 3' piece of F. Carbon leader to a size 12 closed end swivel I use the sampo style. Without a doubt the best. Buy Dannialson sold ring Swivels, there is another brand around here, but I'm very sorry to say they come apart just way to often and I have had to dump them. Use a palamar to tie the leader. I use Invizx 8 or 10 pound. I really like the 10 It is only .009 diameter and completely invisible to fish. It really helps with the shock of the bite the abrasion of the fish, rocks and underwater cables and other nasty scratchy things. Your leader when drop shotting will take the brunt of everything bad. Your main line is just a way of getting it to the nasty fishy areas, so it does not have to be as strong as the leader. Yes I know the weakest link in the chain, but we are not talking chain we are talking fishing line.

After you have attached your leader to the swivel, attach the other end of the swivel to the main line using a palamar. Now you have a twist resistant drop shot. On the leader end, face the hook point to you and thread the line past the hook point thru the eye and then back and an over hand knot ie the palamar I usually run the hook about 12 to 18 inches below the swivel. I as most of the guides that do this everyday use a size 1 hook of your choosing. I use a gamakatsu drop shot hook. BP sells one for quite abit less money and it works fine. "Yes this hook looks small, but it fishes big, and is the correct circle and bend to catch the fish in the top lip 99% of the time. It is remarkable."

Now an important step before attaching your weight. pull the tag end of the leader line taunt from your swivel to the end. See if your hook is facing up or down. If it is facing down, run the end of the tag line back thru the eye of the hook and it will turn in up. This will make hook-ups much easier and will increase your percentages.

I then attach a drop shot weight, and I prefer the round balls over the crazy stuff, in sizes from 1/8th. to 3/8th. depending of depth and if I'm dragging it some or fishing up and down.

There you have it. Good Luck

[Josh Holt]

Very good info Bill I will have to try this. I am not much of a drop shot person myself I know it is a very productive way to catch alot of fish and I have used it a few times but not with much luck on any fish over 14 in but that could be my own fault for not fishing it enough and probably not in the right places but I think I will wait till after the 4th weekend so most of the ski boats and party people are off the water so that way I got the river arm almost to myself and spend some time with the drop shot rigs around my brushpiles that I have been fishing. Thanks for the info.

[Bill Babler]

Josh, I was headed for your end dock today at Cape Fair, but Pete Wenners beat me to it. We fished FireCracker and the Ramp with no takers, fishing a big worm and a big jig with a brush hog. Nothing. We switched to a 3/8th. oz. Green Pumpkin Pig Sticker with a 4 inch either Chompers or Yamamoto twin tail and just hammered them back to Aunts creek on 45 degree chunk.

Nothing big and not a lot of fish per location, but fish on every stop. Usually 3 to 5 fish, right on the end transitions, rock with the key. All LM up to 3 pounds and the fish were just full of crawdads.

I forgot, 1 30 pound carp at the jig. Hoped it was a big Flathead, but no such luck.

[Josh Holt]

Yeah that dock has been a good place to have fun or just take your clients to catch good numbers with some decent keepers but mostly kentuckies I have been catching most of fish on the big worm in the afternoons when the water starts to get shaded. We have been catching some good bass on the jig as well in the green pumpkin purple or orange with a baby brush hog as a trailer in the 1/2 oz size in the day time but when the sun goes down I got my own color jig I have been murdering big bass on and im the only one I have ever seen throw this color of a jig and I tried to immatate a junebug color and it flat works, It is a black red and junebug skirt with a purple emerald twin tailed grub on it and we have been putting some big fish in the boat with it on those 45 degree banks from bear den down to piney is as far as i have been. I Make all my own jigs these two I didnt powdercoat the heads but they ysually have a black head. Its cheaper for me to make these jigs in any color I want than it is to buy them. I can make a jig for around a dallar from start to finish so I just make them.

[abkeenan]

Josh,

Giving up your secret bait and color! What are you nuts!

[Josh Holt]

no you can buy this color in a spinner bait from stan sloans zorro bait company but you can't buy it in a jig so I made it and plus I dont fish tournaments anymore I fish just for fun so it doesn't bother me to give something up once in a while lol