Drop-shotting St. Clair/Erie.

[Firefighter Jeff]

I've read a lot on here about drop-shotting on these waters.  Would someone give me a few pointers??  Why or when would you choose drop shot over just draggin or workin a tube??  What type of bait is your preference??  I see most report tubes.  Do you target specific spots, or do you cover area with it??  I'm guessing if you have a slow drift you could move the DS along behind the boat.  Thanks in advance for any help.  I'm heading that way this next week and would like to try it some.   Jeff.

[Waterfoul]

Jeff... erie darters.  Put one on, cast, shake, reel in the pigs.

[Firefighter Jeff]

Simple as that , huh Mike???  lolol  How much line between bait and weight??  Cast ahead of the drift or behind it??  Thanks

[bassassasin88]

I usually drag it in deeper water, and cast it in shallower water. They hit it on the fall a lot when I cast it. I use mostly gulp minnows, and gobies.

[fiker]

Sometimes the fish want is on the bottom, sometimes not.  A friend of mine will sometimes put a tube on the bottom as the weight, and drop shot about a foot above that. 

In this way he lets the fish tell what they want that day. 

I shallow water, I've dragged the bait behind me.  In deeper water like the channels, I try to vertical jib it below me.

[Waterfoul]

Simple as that , huh Mike???  lolol  How much line between bait and weight??  Cast ahead of the drift or behind it??  Thanks

Nemisis Gobies and Poor Boys Erie Darters are my prefered baits.  I normally run about 18" of line between hook and weight and "toss" it out in deeper water and "cast" in shallower water.

[rufus]

A few things that I have found in my years of fishing Erie and Clair. The fish almost always hit a drop shot. As far as leader length it varies, but many times I start out with 12-14 inches. I have had them as long as 2 feet though. You can drag them, although 95% of the time I fish them vertically. They work very well dragging them like a tube, though. My preference is to fish them vertically. For some reason, I can't explain why, the smallies in the Great Lakes prefer absolutely no shaking or any movement in your drop shot presentation. Now this is different than my experience with them on inland lakes. Good electronics are absolutely imperative to your success with a drop shot if you are fishing them vertically. If you see fish on your electronics out there most of the time you can catch them with a drop shot. There is no depth that they don't work in although most of the time on Erie I fish them in 10-35 fow and on Clair from 6 feet on out. My favorite drop shot baits are the DS Darter, the Poor Boy's Goby, and just about any Gulp product. I rarely use less than 3/8 ounce bell sinker and many times I use a 1/2 ounce or more. I like to stay in contact with the bottom at all times. One thing I have also learned about Clair is when the fish are scattered across a certain area in a flat there will always be a sweet spot where you will catch larger fish. This is where your vertical presentation will help you out. If you catch a big one when drifting, mark that spot on your GPS and return to it and fish it vertically with a drop shot making repeated casts to the same area. Hope this helps, let me know if I can help you out in any other way. God Bless!

[Mojo]

When
It seems, and I could be wrong, but it seems prespawn and spring fish like tubes, grubs,creature baits on the bottom and as the summer comes along (and the weeds grow) DS picks up. Its during the J months and august that youll need to try both. In the fall its crank baits and mostly DS with goby and minnows.

Where
If you find weeds growing vertical - the DS weight is placed 8 - 18 inches above the sinker helps as you enter, leave or parallel the weed beds. Tubes would have to be yo-yo'd or ripped through which can also be productive, but here DS does a good job of finding smallies when tight to weeds.

How
Best to get Gama or Owner hooks, #1 and 2 - when you think they are too small you've found the right one. I like owner ssw straightshank small for Gulp! minnow and slightly larger for Gulp! goby as examples. Make sure once you tie, you thread your weight lead (12 - 16 inche)s over top and drop it through the eye. Then put on your 1/4 3/8 or 1/2 oz (depends on your drift speed) DS weight (Recommend seeing Mark H for these because the tackle stores only give 1/2 what Mark will for same price). Adjust starting about 8" and experiment. Many of us like only 4 or 6" some like up to 10 - 12". I like 6 -7 cause if it pops off I usually lose about 1/2" and after a 5" I will retie. Use 8 lb flouro up to 10 lb max. Berkley, XPS, Segaur are all fine just make sure you spray with reel magic or KVD silicone (no smell) deep into your reel. Some ppl use baitcasters, most use spincast. I have a med 6'8" w/ xf tip. Recommend 6'6" to 7'0" max. Its the sensitivity up to your hands that you need and extra long rods wont make them any more sensitive, just a harder hookset for the small hook + once summer comes you will have 30 - 50 foot of line out when you are in the channels going vertical. Agree with the others - vertical or close to vertical is best whereas tubes can be dragged so you can twitch, leave flat for missed strikes, pop and show bottom tube color etc ......

Why
DS goes through sparse weeds much better, you can mimic baitfish on the bottom better (tubes mimic creature and crawfish) and you can pitch a DS with a senko near cover without the big splash, run it down ledges without it getting caught, and bounce along rip rap without getting caught up.

So you have the When, Where, Hows and Whys of DS.

Guys chime in if you need anything else.

[TCook]

The most productive way to fish a dropshot is to fish it vertical in deeper water. Get your electronics dialed in so you know its a fish when it marks them. Watch your electronics 100% of the time and drop it on there heads. Make sure you take into account where the transducer is at and your drift (if your drifting) so you can line up the marked fish.

[jcox7]

Just listen to Rufus very few people on this forum beat him anytime he is on clair or erie and those who do will agree with everything he says his history and tournament results speak for themselves.  All I can say is the poorboys ds darter are a bait I wouldnt leave home without.

[Firefighter Jeff]

Wow, you guys really came through  !!!!!  Awesome information.  Thanks     Jeff

[MadWags]

Good info guys! Way to go.

[Dan]

Lots of great info. If you are interested in a drop shot DVD, the best I've ever seen is Seth Burrill's. He does a great job of talking about the knots, the rig itself, secret tweaks, and then has a second DVD, which is included that demonstrates how he catches multi species using the drop shot. Here's the link: http://s21030.gridserver.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=26_166&osCsid=052ccedde3bcf46cbb02fc7fa3b8393d

[Waterfoul]

Wow, you guys really came through  !!!!!  Awesome information.  Thanks     Jeff

Jeff, I'll be pouring DS weights very soon. Let me know if you need some.

[Firefighter Jeff]

Sure Mike,

  I'm not into the DS heavy yet, but I could use an assortment.  Let me know how much.  Maybe you can get them to me when you come fish Hamlin Lake.  Mark you calendar, we head up for two weeks starting June 19th.

[Revtro]

I totally agree that Dropshotting shines, fishing deep and vertical.  When I'm in the St. Clair River fishing 30ft. deep, I normally start with a dropshot.  But I have found it to be extremely effective in shallower water also.  It's a day to day deal, but sometimes you'll be in 8 foot of water and for some odd reason, the fish just want the bait a little off the bottom.  There are days out on St. Clair when the dropshot in shallow water far outfishes tubes on the bottom.  So anymore these days, I have a dropshot ready to go and if the bite seems slow, I'll switch to it and see what happens. 

Gotta say, in deep water Gulp Gobies absolutely rock.  Dropshot tubes seem to work fairly consistently too.  I have a few packs of the Nemesis Gobies and look forward to giving them a try this season. 

I would keep the line under 8lbs though.  It seems to make a HUGE difference in the bite.  I stick to 8lb floro myself, though a lot of guys are going down to 6lb.