Refining the Art of Dropshotting
September 25, 2008
It was 1997 when my bass fishing world turned upside down, literally. That was my first realization that hooking a soft plastic lure above the weight can be deadly on bass. Learning of the dropshot popularity in Japan gave me the confidence to give it a serious try in Washington State for smallmouths.
Although I anticipated the benefit of being able to twitch a worm in place to attract curious smallmouths, I didn’t realize that dropshotting would change my entire approach to bass fishing. It became more than just a specialty technique used for deep vertical presentations; dropshotting has transcended into an alternate concept that can be adapted to practically all fishing conditions and situations.
Where Dropshotting is Effective
Water clarity plays a key role in success with dropshotting, so this must be taken in consideration before choosing dropshotting over other methods. If bass can easily see your offering, then dropshotting should be considered a viable tactic.
Assuming water clarity is favorable for dropshotting, you want to present your lure where bass can see it but not detect your presence. Long casts and stealthy approaches tip the odds in your favor. Dropshotting is effective anywhere bass are located, to include structure or cover that bass are relating to, such as on top of gravel bars, underwater humps, next to deep weedlines, under docks, or even suspended above thermoclines. Stealth and location are not the entire equation, you will take full advantage by using a rig that places your bait just above a bass where it can easily be seen regardless of the depth the bass are utilizing.
What’s My Line?
Because most of my dropshotting occurs in clear water, I use the lightest line I that’s practical – in fairly open, clear water it’s often six-pound test, even for big largemouths. Ten-pound and even eight-pound line can be a big handicap in open water because dropshot bass normally can take their time to inspect your rig closely before striking.
Fluorocarbon tips the odds even more in your favor, and the sensitivity and abrasion resistance of fluorocarbon are important advantages. In my experience Gary Yamamoto Custom Bait’s Sugoi Fluorocarbon is the strongest and easiest handling fluorocarbon you can buy.
When dropshotting weedlines and tules for big bass, I prefer 12lb to 20lb Sugoi fluorocarbon and in punching mats and thick cover I prefer 65 pound McCoy braid.
Gamakatsu Hooks
Nose-Hooking - It is important to match your hook size to the line and bait you choose. For much of my dropshotting in open water with six-pound test, I use a tiny #4 Gamakatsu dropshot hook. The hook is strong enough to land anything your line will hold, and the thin wire diameter and sharp point offer advantages that larger hooks cannot. Light wire hooks give your bait more movement, and require only tightening your line for the point to penetrate past the barb. 
When your hook point catches the tooth patch of a bass, the #4 is such a small diameter that it can slip through the tooth socket of the bone patch. A thicker diameter hook will not penetrate bone with light line and results in the bass pushing the hook out of its mouth while executing head shakes.
Wacky-Hooking- For wacky dropshot rigs I use the Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap hooks, and match the size to the thickness of the worm. I try to stay with small sizes and I accomplish this by using rubber O-rings and a Wacky-RigR tool.
Texas-Rig - When fishing in cover, I Texas-rig the soft plastic bait with various styles of hooks depending on the size and model bait I am using. These include the Gamakatsu G-lock hook, and for punching mats I use the new straight-shank Superline Worm Hook or the EWG Monster Hook.
Seasonal Considerations
During the prespawn bass tend to seek emerging crawfish and larger juvenile fish, and during the spawn they tend to let their reproductive instincts dictate their location. Postspawn bass position themselves first based on their protective instincts, followed by their active feeding periods once the water warms and food is more available - this during a period where their metabolism is running at its peak.
The summer season typically finds bass activity in the shallows during low light periods, and deep or under thick vegetation mats during bright sun. Fall brings another feeding flurry in locations where water quality favors peak metabolic activity. Winter typically finds bass in a reduced state of activity, and in much deeper depths.
The dropshot rig can be fished in all these situations providing an alternative presentation, which could be the key to changing a tough bite into a successful day!
Adjust Your Thinking
The two biggest obstacles to understanding how dropshot rigs can be fished under different conditions is the lack of independent thought, and not understanding why dropshot rigs attract bass in the first place.
The dropshot rig is different than other rigs because the soft plastic lure is in-between your rod tip and your weight. When moving your rod tip the attraction of the lure is more enhanced than if the weight was between your rod tip and your lure. With a dropshot rig, even if you do not move your rod tip you are presenting your worm at a predetermined distance ABOVE the bottom where it is easily visible.
No other presentation effectively accomplishes this. As you can see, a dropshot rig does two things that no other rig can compete with, namely “liveliness” and “suspending” above the bottom. Think of a baitfish from the perspective of a bass. Those that become dinner have the same two features as a dropshot rig. Struggling baitfish that display movement at some distance above the bottom do not last long when predatory bass are around.
DropPunching
Change is difficult, so making the commitment to learn different ways to fish a dropshot rig can be a big hurdle. This is where the ability to exercise independent thought allows savvy anglers to cash in on the dropshot rig. Take for example fishing a weed mat. Watch any television show or read any magazine article and you will approach this situation by pitching a heavy tungsten bullet weight with a plastic crawfish to punch a hole in the mat. After your lure crashes to the bottom you then lift the bait back up to the undersurface of the mat, and pump it up and down a couple of times, then quickly move on.
What if the bass aren’t reacting favorably to feeding or reaction strikes? Wouldn’t you like the ability to drop a Senko on these fish, or maybe a lively minnow imitation? You can do this with a dropshot rig by Texas-rigging your soft plastic (so it is weedless), and then dropshotting it with a one-ounce QuickDrop dropshot sinker. The teardrop shaped QuickDrop punches a mat right where you cast it, and pulls your lure through the hole made by the QuickDrop. Now you are showing bass a presentation that they haven’t seen before, and nothing makes a bass more likely to bite than a lifelike rig they have never been hooked by before. I call this “DropPunching.”
DropSwimming
In another example, think of fishing in the summer on a lake where the water stratifies. Most baitfish remain above the thermocline depth, and bass suspend to be near their food source. How do you catch these bass? Many would grab a crankbait or jerkbait, and try to excite the bass into rising and attacking their lure.
If this doesn’t work, try offering an alternative presentation that may appeal to the bass in a different manner. A dropshot rig on six-pound Sugoi Fluorocarbon with a Basstrix Flashtrix minnow and a 1/16 oz QuickDrop may get these bass to bite when it is worked horizontally through the school of bass. This “DropSwimming” technique has been winning tournaments in the Pacific Northwest for years, and it can do the same anywhere bass feed in water with good visibility. If you need to fish a little deeper you can quickly adjust your weight by swapping to a 1/8 oz or 3/16 oz QuickDrop.
With eight sizes available up to 1 ounce in size, you can DropSwim any soft plastic from the surface to the bottom, in shallow or deep water. You can DropSwim slowly for finesse presentations, or you can DropSwim quickly as if you were fishing a crankbait or a Carolina-rig. Use your independent thought process and the unique qualities of a dropshot rig to dictate the next tournament winning tactic that others will mimic years from now.
Dropshotting as a Fish Finder
I first learned about the Carolina Rig in 1975 while fishing the BASS Nationals on Clarks Hill Reservoir. My tournament partner for day one had a 1-ounce egg sinker above his 4-inch worm (with two exposed hooks) separated by a long leader. He used the rig to make long casts and quickly reel it across the bottom until he contacted the top of a rock ridge. Then he would stop his rig and let the worm drift to the bottom and the bass would eat it. The sinker was his underwater eyes to find the structure that held the bass, and then the worm did the rest. A heavy dropshot rig can work even better to find rocks, brush piles, drop-offs, and other key features, especially when using the dropswimming presentation.
Once you find the ridge or dropoff with your heavy dropshot rig, you now have the ability to entice the bass with a presentation that is different and deadly. Think of it this way. How many times do you find you have to make the perfect cast to hit the sweet spot in order to catch a bass with a light dropshot rig? Try using a bigger weight and make longer casts and quickly swim your rig along the bottom until the weight tells you that you are on the sweet spot. Then work the dropshot rig to entice the bite.
DropDrifting
DropDrifting is also a “natural”, but few have considered using it. This technique provides bass a new look at your favorite soft plastic bait anywhere there is water movement due to current. Both rivers and tidal water are suitable for dropdrifting. Bass, as all predators do, become fat by eating more calories than they burn in the process of trying to capture their dinner. Current concentrates baitfish, crayfish, and other tasty morsels and delivers them to bass waiting at the current seams or where cover and structure funnel water into a narrowed area.
To capitalize on this feeding behavior you want to present your imitation prey in a natural manner that bass are expecting to see. A dropshotted craw jumping off the bottom as it is swept down current, or a soft plastic minnow dropshotted above the bottom becomes an easy meal if it is drifting naturally. The key to cashing in on this technique is to attach a QuickDrop that is just heavy enough to lightly touch the bottom as the current sweeps your rig to the bass. The quickclip on a QuickDrop makes changing sizes fast and easy so you can change sizes as current conditions also change. The hydrodynamic shape and full swivel keeps line twist and snags to a minimum. 
Wacky DropShotting
While wacky rigging a Senko or worm is common knowledge, it amazes me how few understand how deadly the same rig is combined with a dropshot! Adding a QuickDrop below your wacky rig gives a unique action to it. Imagine allowing your Senko to drop to the bottom with a half-ounce QuickDrop, and then giving a quick snap with your rod tip to make your Senko jump up off the bottom as high as your QuickDrop and leader length allow, then you slack line and let it flutter back down. Hold onto your rod!
The same rig with a lighter QuickDrop allows you to drift the wacky rigged bait with current, which keeps your lure wiggling every time the QuickDrop hits a rock or skips along the bottom. All you have to do is follow your line downstream with your rod tip and you will feel every bite and load the boat.
Wacky Dropshotting can also be used to invoke a reaction strike in deep water with a vertical presentation. Particularly in the late summer and fall a wacky rigged Senko expressed to the bottom with a half-ounce QuickDrop can produce a vicious strike the moment it hits. The fast drop and smash into the bottom can make resting bass react and attack.
Sight fishing is tailor made to use a wacky dropshot rig. No other rig can be fished in one spot with so much action as a heavy QuickDrop on a wacky dropshot rig. If you aren’t using this method you are missing out on the hottest sight fishing method there is. Bedding bass will not tolerate a wacky bait dancing in one spot in front of their nose. A heavy QuickDrop keeps you from pulling the bait out of the bed before the strike.
My heaviest tournament bass was a nine-pounder that I caught using this method after trying fruitlessly with other methods first. I have won several tournaments sight fishing for smallmouths with this rig, and now it is my first choice for sight fishing.
The Ugly Side of Dropshotting
Line twist - Traditionally dropshotting had been relegated to vertical presentations due to some unpleasant qualities of this rig, particularly line-twist. In long casts and horizontal retrieves line twist can be a nightmare because of improper weight shape and design. Line twist also occurs with vertical presentations, but most find it more manageable in this case.
Even with fluorocarbon line, annoying twist can almost be completely eliminated if you use the correct weight, hook your bait properly, and understand how to play a bass on a spinning reel. QuickDrops are designed to eliminate twist caused by the weight, and this will be explained later.
Spinning reels increase twist if you reel while your drag is slipping, or even letting fish take line with the drag instead of backreeling. Giving line by backreeling is the best way to minimize line twist caused by a spinning reel. Another factor increasing line twist with spinning reels is closing the bail automatically. Close the bail by hand and you will reduce twisting.
Nose hooking your soft plastic produces most of your line twist. Be sure to hook the worm perfectly in the center of the worm, and most importantly make sure your hook is as close to the nose of the worm as possible. The farther from the tip of the worm you place your hook, the more line twist you get when retrieving your bait back to the boat to make a cast. Fix these things, and use a QuickDrop, and line twist becomes a problem of the past.
Line Clips - Weak line clips that exist on many dropshot brands can be frustrating. They are time-wasters, and costly in lost weights. Any time you hear of someone tying an overhand knot at the end of their line, they are using a poor quality dropshot weight. Weak clips open up on a hard cast, and your weight parts company with your line. Some line clips are made with wire that is too stiff, and those cut your line on a hard cast, or even when rigging.
Clip Tip - When tying my dropshot rig I always use the clip on my QuickDrop to trim my leader to the length I desire. After estimating the length of leader below the hook, I attach a QuickDrop and instead of reaching for line clippers I pull the weight and line to use the clip to cut the leader to length. Then I reattach the QuickDrop. This method performs two functions; it saves time by not needing clippers, and it presets the gap in the clip to perfectly grip the line diameter that you are using.
Snags - Snags happen easily in rocks with round weights, and when using weights with half the swivel buried in the lead. A fully exposed swivel has two hinge points that allow the weight to snake over rocks if the weight is properly shaped. Cylindrical weights are snag resistant, but they don’t telegraph by feel the bottom composition, so you don’t know if you are fishing productive areas or wasting time. Plus, cylindrical weights twist your line on the cast, while sinking, while fishing, and while retrieving. They also do not provide a stealthy, compact package.
Yes, the Weight Makes a Difference
The more I learned about dropshotting, the more I realized that round weights and cylindrical weights were not the best design, and limited how and where I could dropshot. Since I couldn’t find what I needed on the market, I made my own teardrop shaped weights, and in 1998 QuickDrops were born. Sure, you can catch a dropshot bass using a spark plug for a weight, but not without getting frustrated and certainly not as effectively as using the right weight.
The more your dropshotting skills improve, the more you will demand the best weight, and likewise the more you use the best weight the more your dropshotting skills will improve.
QuickDrops Shape - The unique teardrop shape is the biggest advantage QuickDrops has over any other weight on the market. The reasons are many. The taper of the weight keeps it from snagging in rocks or in weeds, yet it maintains a low center of gravity which provides many other advantages. The low center of gravity along with the long taper allows you to feel small movements of your bait without having to lift your weight off the bottom.
The large surface of the bottom allows you to feel if you are fishing over rocky bottoms, sand, weeds, or soft bottoms. No other shape gives a better feel for the bottom. The shape also makes it easy to hold in your hand while making underhanded pitches under low hanging docks and tree branches.
The shape is also one of the secrets for reduced line twist. The molds that produce QuickDrops are computer designed to obtain the perfect balance and shape, and because of the quality of the metal molds and because they are made in the USA, QuickDrops are consistent in quality. The shape and balance make QuickDrops both aerodynamic and hydrodynamic, which reduces line twist.
They cast perfectly straight without twisting, they sink straight (more on the importance of this in a later article, I promise), they drift straight, and they retrieve straight. Even the design of the molds helps prevent twisting because QuickDrops are poured with the sprue in the center of the bottom. Other weights have seams or uneven sides which cause twisting when retrieved or when drifting.
Parting Thoughts
Remember that dropshotting is much more than a vertical presentation. With the right tools and an independent thought process you will discover a whole new way to approach your fishing and achieve greater success. Instead of following the pack where the view never changes, try being the lead dog. You will take your fishing to a much higher level, and your success and enjoyment will follow. If you have questions don’t hesitate to drop me a line - LimitBy9@aol.com
Ciao!