Dropshot Blues

[BIGSHOW]

In the mist of trying new bass techniques, dropshot has to be on the top of my list. I am having one heck of a time getting used to it. I used it on smaller inland lakes with success. But now on the detroit river with the fast current and many floating weeds its been tough. i'm sure I need heavier weight on to keep it down. Any tips on weight size? Maybe thinner line? Mine is 10lb Trilene XL. Rod, Reel combos? Its been frustraiting..

[Mojo]

This is and will become one of your main staples for smallmouth fishing on the great lakes- all season long. Here are the basics, why it works, and what you need:

Why does it work ?

Simple, smallmouth are sight feeders, looking for food that the current brings to them. A DS rig keeps the bait above weeds and moves naturally With the current. It puts small bait low near the bottom where smallmouth cruise, looking for the easiest meals rather than chasing fish which draws energy.

What you need:

A sensitive rod - 6'8" - 7'2" range. Medium to med heavy. An entry level up to professional
use is the shimano crucial for $160. Lifetime warranty. Ensure you get lifetimes, because the improvements in sensitivity comes at a cost of brittleness and strength. You will lose tips. Also good G Loomis g2 and St Croix Avid, all under $200. These are tournament rod starters. For recreation the Mojo rod is under $100 (no pun intended). GLB folks here can give better recommendations.

Florocarbon is recommended - 6 - 12 lb. They vary in strength and softness and everyone has their favorites and you'll find the one that fits your budget. 8-10 lb is just fine.

Hooks are small - owner 2 is mine, some go bigger like 2/0.  gamas are perfect, some like
the octopus, other prefer red over non colored. I don't need color on my hook to catch em, that's what the lure is for.

Basic baits - are goby looking fellas like Nemesis goby- find McCarter on this site and he'll get you your colors. Use berkley gulp gobies and minnows, anything that mimics small minnow, worm or goby. reaction innovations has a good goby also - find Scott Taylor.

Weights - find Mark Hill on this website for weights. They are the best. You want the movable weight 1/4 to 5/8. Sorry for the big weight range, but it's wind and current dependent. I start with 3/8. I tie about 12 - 18 in of tag line, but usually tag my weight about 4- 10".

Technique - if it's windy and current is moving your boat, pop your bail and let her fall. Line goes slack, click your bail. Gentle tight line so you can feel your weight on the bottom. Weeds, gravel, rock, zebra mussels, sand. That feeling will tell you if you are in smallmouth territory. So much empty space out there. Speed is everything. If the boat isn't moving, you'll have to cast more to move the bait, but not too far of a cast.

Folks may add to this, but it's tournament season, so don't be surprised if folks aren't more specific.. Good luck, and enjoy St Clair- Michigan's golden body of water.

[BIGSHOW]

Thanks alot, got alot out of that Mojo. I assure everyone I won't be doing any tournaments any time soon. So if anyone can help me out on personal messages that would be cool. Fishing is my main hobby and i'm out every chance I get, whether I pick up the techniques sooner or later I would rather cheat a little with the tips from some of you that have mastered them. Guess i'm just impatient.

[Waterfoul]

Get rid of the XL.  You'll miss bites with it.  Go to floro... if you like Trilene try their 100% floro.

[Mojo]

Hence- why this is the greatest fishing site in the US. We take care of our own on GLB.

[Mike S.]

I'm not much of a drop shotter, but as far as the Mojo rod, I would spend another $49 and buy a Rage. I'm not too fond of my Mojo for the fact that the reel never stays tight on it. Always have to monkey with tightening the reel back down. The Rage is way .lighter and more sensitive too. Just my two cents.

[SethV]

Start out on LSC and not either of the rivers.  Way easier to get a feel for it without current.  Once you get the hang of it and some confidence, hit the rivers. 

For LSC I use a 3/8 oz weight most of the time.  Short pitch casts - don't lob it way out there.  Turn up the sensitvity on the graph and zoon to the bottom 5' of the water column.  When you see one on the screen, drop straight down with an open bail.  Let it fall fast, don't slow it down.  You need floro as Mojo said.  No braid - it slows the fall too much and you miss the spot you are trying to hit.  I can beat the braid guys every time when 'video fishing'. 

This time of year find 16 - 18 FOW with weeds on St Clair.  Drive around till you see fish, then stop and whack on 'em.

Rods are not all that critical - I like the G Loomis GLX 7' M, but it really does not matter too much.  Fish the drop shot on a slack line most of the time.  The mistake most of my co-anglers make is that they try to work it too much - just let it slam into the bottom, count 10 and lift up slow.  If there is a fish there, whack him.  If not, move it a bit and let it soak again.  After 2 or 3 lifts, bring it in and put it in another spot.

[djkimmel]

Grandt Rods also makes light, sensitive graphite rods IN THE USA, lifetime warranty. Sponsors this website. Please consider them. All I ask.

I like a light, fast action rod with some backbone for fishing the heavy current and/or deep. I like long spinning rods for most of my Great Lakes stuff. At least 7 foot and usually 7' 6". Not sure if you have a preferred length or not. The models that might work best for this variation of the technique would be like the All American 015 - 7'0 Med Lt; 009 - 7'0 Med; 076ML - 7'6" Med Lt; 076M - 7'6" Med.

I would definitely recommend fluorocarbon at least for deep/current drop shotting. Less stretch. More feel. I use P-Line Halo, usually 8 lbs test. Sometimes I use 10 lbs test.

I'm still playing with P-Line Spectrex (usually 10 or 15 lbs test) once in a great while with a fluorocarbon leader from a small barrel swivel. Sometimes, I don't use a leader and still catch bass. I have also played with lighter braid with no leader since it is still tough (better through zebra/quagga mussels), very sensitive and very thin. Sometimes I have caught bass fine and sometimes I'm not sure if it cost me bites. A work in progress.

The barrel swivel is the recommendation particularly for the floating weeds - an old walleye drifter/troller trick. I'm not crazy about the barrel swivels myself but I will admit that they can help catch some of the weeds that slide down your line. It might help too if you leave a little extra long tag end of line on the upper swivel knot to help catch weeds.

Drop shot isn't really my favorite way to fish but I can't argue that it isn't real effective at times. If you want to learn it, and you should, keep at it until you get confident with it. Some people get really caught up on it and do well often but there may be times when something else works better depending upon your location, the conditions and what you are trying to accomplish.

[fishstick]

My setup is a Dobyns DX701sf, 8lb P-Line Halo, and a #1 Trokar. The rod is a 7 foot light action rod with LOTS of give at the tip. I really like the super light action rod for this because I lose very few fish on it. It amazes me sometimes how you can land fish with it that are just barely skin hooked. It's also got great sensitivity which really helps me feel whats going on the bottom. It's really hard to miss bites when dropshotting no matter what rod you have because the fish usually just has it and you'll feel pressure. But feeling the bottom is really important to me and can help you pick out sweet spots. I also don't set the hook with a dropshot instead I just apply pressure and start reeling otherwise you will miss some fish with the small hook.

I usually use 1/4 and 3/8 oz weights but I'm not fishing current.

Good Luck!

[fiker]

I use a ml St. Croix Avid, 8# fluro, and a variety of hooks. 

The hook depends on what bait I'm using. 
For smaller baits earlier in the season I use Owner Mosquito hooks, #1 - 2/0 depending on bait and conditions. 

Lately I've been using 2/0 straight shank worm hooks to drop shot 4 -5" tubes, and 3/0 EWG hooks to ds beavers. 

I did try the spin shot hooks earlier in the season and I don't like them.  They seem to get too tangled up for me.

For weights I use the lightest ones I can get away with.  In the North Channels of Clair in 40FOW they are heavy.  3/8 and more.  On most of the fishing on the lake itself 1/8 and 1/4 most of the time rarely 3/8.  On the Detroit River I seldom go above 1/4.  But, when fishing in current boat control against the current/wind is necessary to use lighter weights.  You have to learn to slip the current.  On most inland lakes in most situations I use 1/8 oz.
I agree with Mojo about Mark Hills' weights.  Good price, and high quality. 

[dartag]

My son is turning into the drop shot king.  That is all he will fish now.  7ft Powell lite rod,  8lb fireline ( no memory or spool blow out ) barrel swivel, 10 lb flouro leader, Gamakatsu 2 EWG hook, Case Plastics drop paddle stick.   Just tied 2 rods up for Lake Oakland tonight.

I will be using them all day tomorrow on st-clair.


what every you come up with go out and fish it for a couple days you will love it.

[BIGSHOW]

  @ Fiker, that seems like light weight for the river (1/4). I was having a hard time with 3/8. Grant it I am new and need to practice.  As for the rod I've been looking at all models. I like the St. Croix models. The premier is nice but the few places around me don't have a big selection. I want to see and try what i'm getting so I'm not really cool with just online shopping, and the prices don't seem to vary from place to place. I like the two piece handle models. Also interested in seeing the Shimano Crucial. Lots of good reviews all over. Just not sure if their warrenty is as good as St.Croix, or the trade in deal. Guess I will head to Cabelas this week. I know it will take alot more than just a rod to catch fish but i've been needing a new combo to add to the collection.                 

[BIGSHOW]

Ended up getting the st.croix premier 7' with split handle. Just liked the feel of it in that price range. Was on the fence with the shimano crucial but liked the whole warranty and trade in thing with st croix. Not sure if shimanos was as good. But always room for another. Along with a few hundred$ in baits im on my way in the AM. Det. River/Erie look out.

[Mojo]

That's the spirit. Good luck n

[BIGSHOW]

My day started like crap. Got a late start from work in the A.M. and when I get to the launch the freaking FLW tournament is goin on. Forgot all about it. The parking lot is full. So I launched out of the cruddy gradule dropoff of trenton boat launch. When I finally made it out I did pretty good. Got a few smallmouth on dropshot (still practicing). Also got 5 largemouth 7 smallmouth and some rock bass on plastics and crankbaits. One largemouth over 5lbs. Wish I knew how to post pictures on here. I only saw 3 boats that were probably tournament boats in the river/mouth. I heard 2/3 went to St.Clair and the rest in Erie. The big ones came back from Erie. 6-11 was the big fish on Thursday from what I read.

[djkimmel]

One largemouth over 5lbs. Wish I knew how to post pictures on here.

Several options and even a video tutorial in the General Support forum at the bottom on how to do this. So easy even... well, even bass anglers can do it.

[Skulley]

One largemouth over 5lbs. Wish I knew how to post pictures on here.

Several options and even a video tutorial in the General Support forum at the bottom on how to do this. So easy even... well, even bass anglers can do it.

I resemble that remark!!!     


BD                                     

[Waterfoul]

Yup, so easy even a bass fisherman can do it!  My biggest challenge is always getting the picture down to 2500kb or less.

5 lb drop shot fish:

[Skulley]

That's always my issue. Getting the picture down to a size that's upload able.


BD.                 

[BIGSHOW]

One of the bass I got. See if I upload this right