Drop Shotting bait question

[bshaner]

There's a question at the end of this, I promise.

Ok so after my conversation in Spinninbug's thread about drop shotting I decided to challenge myself over the weekend.  I took nothing but a drop shot rig out of the rod locker all 3 days out on the water on 3 different lakes. Then I realized.... I dont have any drop shot baits.  I never needed them.

Oh wait!!!  When the bait monkey hit me at BPS a couple months ago I picked up some 3 inch little mini senkos (I forget the name of them, bps brand) in a roadkill color box of 20.

I brought the 9 year old with me as my test subject because I wasnt totally committed to sleeping with a rod in my hand all weekend.  I rigged him up with my drop shot rod and gave him specific instructions to just go to the back of the boat and have fun.  So I rig up a carolina rig and start working the bottom of a beautiful point in about 21 FOW.  Ok when I say start working the point really what I meant was I was just about to make my first cast after sending the boy to the back of the boat when he starts whooping and hollering and I turn around just in time to see him pull up a 2 lb LM.

So what do you do? (this isnt the question at the end)  You are faced with a dilema.  Do you a) tell the boy that's your pole he's using and hand him the carolina rig? or b) pretend it's a coincidence, pat him on the back and get back to your first cast?  I chose B and went back to casting.  My line had just touched down when I hear hooping and hollering again and I didnt want to turn around.  Honestly, I had to force myself to turn around.  Cast #2 = keeper #2.  This time I chose A.  Guilt overwhelmed me within seconds and I was forced to rig up a backup rod for him and let him have at it. 

By the end of the day the 9 year old had out fished me 35 bass to 20.  I cant say for sure if these were all the same 3 or 4 bass he was catching but he boated no less than 35 fish off that same point, we never moved from the area.  I ended up nailing a 3 lbr and a 4 lbr and broke off on something bigger.  (I say bigger because it never made it to the boat and that makes it a big fish)  We ran out of drop shot baits.  I ended up just using Zoom finesse worms the rest of the weekend.

Needless to say I spent the rest of the weekend living up to my challenge.  I drop shot the rest of the weekend.  I learned alot of things in addition to this presentation as a result of the presentation.  I encourage anyone who hasnt done it to force themselves to.  After one weekend I believe I have an intimate knowledge of my electronics and how to read and fish structure, particularly reading how bass are relating to them and capitalizing on it.  Man this is one heck of a way to learn structure fishing.

So my question is, what's your most productive drop shot bait?  What's your favorite?  How deep do you prefer to drop shot and why?  Do you favor it during calm clear conditions or any condition?  Ok so that was more than one question.

B

[dartag]

get Kevin ( fishon1219 ) a 6 pack of suds,  a can of Kodiak.  take him out.  he is the inland lake drop shot king.   

[Dan]

Spend $20  on Seth Burrills two dvd set on drop shotting. You won't regret it. axfishing.com

[rufus]

I do not honestly know of a soft plastic bait made that you can't put on a drop shot. I love drop shotting Senkos (wacky style). The most consistent producer for me though are small 4-5 inch finesse worms. They work anywhere and accounted for my 19'4" sack in the BFL this past weekend. Drop Shotting is an amazing thing that absolutely puts fish in the boat when conventional methods fail. I use 1/0 owner mosquito hooks and the cheap bell sinkers in 1/4 to 5/8 sizes. I like a short leader usually less than 14 inches. My brother gets crazy sometimes and has actually fished them on a 5 foot leader. It scares the heck out of me each time he casts the thing, but I have never had a problem netting his fish . I have found on Erie the fish want the drop shot completely motionless and on inland lakes a little shake or two never hurts anything. God Bless and Good Fishing
Rufus

[Duke]

Rufus, do you rig that finesse worm wacky style too? Is the senko 4" too? Do you ever use the goby bait on Erie?

Duke

[bshaner]

Dan,

I'm taking your advice from the other thread and will have those DVD's shortly.

The zoom finesse worm in watermelon worked well for me too.  I hooked all mine nose hooked with a finesse gami drop shot hook.  That is probably why I was losing the bait on every fish.  I'll experiment with rigging and probably do a modified texposed rig.  A good shaking/quivering seemed to be the ticket for some of the fish. 

Kevin,

Will skoal mint do?  What kind of beer?  I was thinking Schlitz?  Milwaukee's Best?  We could get a 30 pack cheap!!  I'll let you drink them all and treat it like truth serum!!

Rufus,

I guess you just let the fish tell you what length of leader.  If they are suspending 5 feet up I guess your bro will slay them!  I've heard that drop shot can kill them on beds as well.  I'll be trying it next spring.

B

[Dan]

Hey bshaner,
I don't think you will regret getting the DVDs. You get two hours of video for $20. The first DVD is all instructional. Shows you everything. He swears by the double uni knot and shows how to tie that so you can always quickly adjust the length of your drop shot. Also if you break off you just use the knot to tie a piece back on so your back where you want to be. He also has a few tricks he shows you involving some yarn and a bead. Goes through does and don'ts with baits. Shows you all the different rigging with the various methods of running hooks. After the instructional part he has the second DVD that's all fishing. He shows you how he uses it to catch bass, walleye, lakers, crappie, etc. This guy has a TV show out in Washington I think it's Washington, somewhere out there. A friend of mine went out to Seatle and went with a buddy to a walleye club meeting. That's where he pick this up. He bought the DVD and brought it home. He came over and we watched it. I ordered it that day and have watched it at least 5 times. I don't think anybody in this section of the country would have easily come across it but with the new drop shot law change it is very timely. I have a link and a review on the teardropbass.com website. Let me know what you think of it.

[HellaBass]

I like a 3-4" Fluke Type minnow bait nose hooked

www.RichLindgren.com

[rufus]

I almost always rig my finesse worms wacky style. I do not know if it makes a difference at all, but in my mind it does. I use Poor Boy's Goby's a good majority of the time on all the Great Lakes. They are very good for putting big fish in the boat and they can catch numbers, but when I have trouble getting the fish to bite it I always go to my secret finesse worm. God Bless and Good Fishin'
Rufus

[plumley]

Ahhh the drop shot. many years ago I was fishing the drop shot in Erie at a BFL (Canada only), I was catching fish and could only anticipate doing so in Michigan water. Well I needed a rod and purchased a Kistler graphite one 6'9", sweet rod with 6 # test you could feel the fish breath on the yamamoto flat tails on a yamamoto drop shot hook. well Dartag thought I was a sissy using 6# test, I believe last weekend at the double barrel he was drop shoting with 10#, drifting on the river. my point is you hang a slim bait in their face and they will eat it. oh, I also smear some megastrike on, they hang on just a little better. my son-in-law George also has started using the setup, he bought a walley specific rod for the task. It is a vertical presentation, when you get bored toss it out (not more than a 45 degree angle), that keeps the line twist down. I did switch to 8# after breaking off 3 times on Thompson lake.

[Dan]

Hey BShaner,
Did you get the Seth Burrills drop shot dvd's yet?

[bshaner]

Not yet, the woman put the hurts on my cash flow until payday (friday).

B