The drop shot rig turns the usual arrangement upside down: the weight goes on the end of the line and the hook is tied above it, so the bait hangs in the water a foot or so off the bottom, in front of fish that will not pick anything up off the sand. It is the finesse rig for deep, clear and pressured water, the rig that made forward-facing sonar deadly, and the one the tournament anglers reach for when the bite is hardest. Japanese tournament anglers worked it out in the 1990s on lakes where the bass had seen everything, and it crossed to the United States by the end of that decade. Below: how to tie it, which hook, weight and leader length for the water, what to put on it, and how to fish it without the one mistake everyone makes.
The weight sits on the bottom and the bait hangs a foot above it, twitching in place. Fish that will not pick anything up off the sand take that.
What you need
- A drop-shot hook, #1 or 1/0, light wire, straight eye; an octopus or split-shot hook of the same size works. The hooks hub covers the styles.
- A drop-shot weight, 1/8–1/4 oz (4–7 g) to start, 1/16–1/2 oz (2–14 g) across conditions: cylinder for stealth, round for all-round use, bell or teardrop for rock. Most have a clip eye so the line pinches in without a knot.
- A finesse bait under 6 in (15 cm): a straight-tail worm, a small stick bait, a minnow-shaped plastic. The soft plastics hub lists them.
- A 7 ft medium-light spinning rod with a fast tip, a 2500 reel, and 6–8 lb fluorocarbon, or 15–20 lb braid to a 4–6 ft fluorocarbon leader of 6–8 lb. The rods and line hubs explain why.
How to tie a drop shot, step by step
- Cut a leader of about 4–6 ft (1.2–1.8 m) of 6–8 lb fluorocarbon if the main line is braid; join it with an FG or double uni knot. On a full fluorocarbon spool, skip this step.
- Pass the line through the hook eye from the point side, leaving a tag of 18–30 in (46–76 cm) below the hook, and tie a Palomar knot.
- Feed the tag end back down through the hook eye, from the point side, before you pull the knot tight. This is the trick: the hook now stands out from the line at a right angle, point up, instead of hanging.
- Set the drop length. Trim the tag so the weight will hang 12–18 in (30–46 cm) below the hook; shorter, 6–12 in, for shallow water and fish on the bottom, longer, 18–24 in (46–61 cm), for deep water and suspended fish.
- Add the weight by pinching the tag into the weight’s clip eye, or tie it on; the clip lets a snagged weight pull free and saves the rig.
- Nose-hook the bait through the tip so it hangs straight and free, or Texas-rig it lightly on a hook with a keeper if there is cover.
- Check that the hook stands out at ninety degrees and the bait is horizontal. If the hook hangs down, retie with the tag through the eye.
Choosing the weight, the drop and the bait
| Conditions | Weight | Drop length | Bait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shallow, under 10 ft (3 m), calm | 1/8 oz (4 g) | 6–12 in (15–30 cm) | 4 in straight-tail worm, small stick bait |
| 10–25 ft (3–8 m), the standard | 1/4 oz (7 g) | 12–18 in (30–46 cm) | 4½–6 in straight-tail worm |
| Deep, 25–40 ft (8–12 m), or wind | 3/8–1/2 oz (11–14 g) | 18–24 in (46–61 cm) | Minnow-shaped plastic, 3–4 in |
| Rock and rubble | Bell or teardrop weight, 1/4 oz (7 g) | 12–18 in | Craw or worm; Texas-rig the hook |
| Suspended fish on sonar | 1/4–3/8 oz (7–11 g) | 18–36 in (46–91 cm) | Minnow plastic; hold it in front of the fish |
| Smallmouth on clear flats | 3/16–1/4 oz (5–7 g) | 12 in (30 cm) | Green pumpkin or natural worm, 4 in |
| Current | One size heavier | 12 in (30 cm) | Compact bait |
The rule for the drop: match it to where the fish are holding above the bottom. On sonar that is a measurement; without it, start at a foot and lengthen when bites stop.
How to fish it
Cast, or drop straight down over fish you have marked, and let the weight reach the bottom on a slack line. Then leave the weight where it is. Take up the slack until you feel it, and shake the rod tip with small movements, the line barely moving, so the bait quivers in place; pause; shake again. Walker Smith’s guidance at Wired2Fish is to use “light shakes of your rod tip” and to avoid dragging the weight, because the bait’s job is to hover and the weight’s job is to stay put. Move the rig a foot at a time only when you want to cover new bottom. Bites are a heaviness, a slow pull or a line that goes slack; reel down until the rod loads and lift, no hard set, because the light-wire hook is designed to penetrate on pressure. In Kevin VanDam’s six-season framework from the bass hub, the drop shot is a winter and summer rig, when bass are deep on vertical structure and ledges, and a spawn-and-post-spawn rig for fish that will not chase; with forward-facing sonar it is the rig for suspended fish in any season.
Mistakes to avoid
- Dragging the weight. It pulls the bait to the bottom and the rig fishes like a Texas rig. Shake in place.
- Hook tied without the tag back through the eye. It hangs down, the bait fouls the line, and hookups suffer.
- Heavy line. 12 lb fluorocarbon on a drop shot kills the bait’s movement and the fish see it; 6–8 lb, or braid to a light leader.
- A stiff rod. A medium-light with a fast tip shakes the bait without moving the weight and protects the light wire on the fight.
- Too much action. The most common error is working it like a jig. Less is more; the bait moves on its own.
When to use something else
The Ned rig sits the bait on the bottom instead of above it, for fish feeding down; the shaky head does the same with a bigger worm; the Texas rig goes through cover. All three are on the jigs and rigs page beside the Texas rig and Ned rig pages. When the fish are chasing, the jerkbait and crankbait hub covers the moving baits. The drop shot also catches walleye, crappie, perch and inshore fish; the hook sizes scale up with the bait.