Drop Shottin' for Bass
In this article, I would like to introduce "Drop Shot" fishing to you. Many of you might be aware of the powerful potential of this method, while others may have never tried this technique.
Drop shot fishing is one of the best "go to" techniques to use when the bite seems to be a bit slow or the fish are all suspended and will not strike anything else. When reaction baits are not working well, I tend to rely on dropshotting.
The drop shot technique will work in stained water, but I find it to be more effective in clearer water. I use this technique in all depths of water from 6 feet to 60 feet. . A drop shot rig tends to work most of the year for me, although it works extremely well during pre-spawn and early Spring as well as the hot days of Summer for a variety of reasons.
The bass may be deeper because they are keying in on bait moving off of the bottom and they have been living deeper due to the cooler weather. The bass may also be inactive during the daytime and need to be finessed. Dropshotting can be used to fish fast or slow, depending on what the bass want.
The drop shot is also a wonderful technique for a vertical presentation. Bass will sometimes be as deep as fifty feet in summertime, and drop shot is the method I rely on to catch those deep lunkers. I usually catch most of my fish in ten to thirty feet of water, and I locate them using a fishfinder. You can use a fishfinder on a boat or the "Smartcast" type from shore.
The rod I use the most for dropshotting is a 7' medium lite action baitcast rod. If I am dropshotting in shallower water, I might go to a 6'6" medium light baitcaster. Because this technique is a finesse situation, I like to use a 8lb to 10lb fluorocarbon line with a 1/8 to 1/4oz weight. If you find that the bass are not responding to this presentation, you might switch to a 6'6" spinning outfit with 6lb to 8lb fluorocarbon. The lighter rig is good for most applications including finesse fishing with smaller worms. More>
