Drop Shot Rig: How to Tie It, Hook and Weight Sizes, How to Fish It

A drop shot rig turns the usual arrangement upside down: the weight goes on the end of the line, and the hook is tied 12–18 in (30–46 cm) above it. The bait hangs off the bottom, where the fish are looking. It is the finesse rig for deep, clear and pressured water, and the one tournament anglers reach for when the bite is hardest. Forward-facing sonar made it deadlier still: you watch the fish come to it.

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.

When is a drop shot the right rig?

Kevin VanDam’s six seasons, set out on the bass hub, put bass deep on vertical structure in winter (48 °F, 9 °C, and below) and on humps, points, dropoffs and ledges in summer. His guide names other lures, but those deep, holding fish are what a drop shot is built for. Around the spawn it becomes the power-shot, which Tackle Warehouse calls the perfect choice for bedding bass and heavy cover.

The water-temperature table for bass puts the fish deep below 45 °F (7 °C), on the beds at 60–65 °F (16–18 °C) and on the breaks above 80 °F (27 °C), with smallmouth on the thermocline edge. Those are the drop shot’s three seasons: on the spot and slow in the cold, a short drop on the beds, the breaks in summer. In the fall, Cliff Pirch fishes it for suspended fish on a 12–14 in (30–36 cm) drop: “if they’re looking up, they’ll bite it a little bit better.”

What do you need?

• A drop-shot hook, #1 or 1/0, light wire, straight eye; an octopus hook of the same size works (hooks hub).
• A drop-shot weight with a clip eye, 1/8–1/4 oz (4–7 g) to start, 1/16–1/2 oz (2–14 g) across conditions.
• A finesse bait under 6 in (15 cm): a straight-tail worm, a small stick bait, a minnow-shaped plastic (soft plastics hub).
• A 6 ft 10 in to 7 ft (2.1 m) medium-light, extra-fast spinning rod, a 2500 or 3000 reel, and 15 lb braid to a 6–8 lb fluorocarbon leader, or straight 6–8 lb fluorocarbon (rods, line).

Pre-tied rigs are sold too: Gamakatsu’s come three to a pack, on 8 lb line with a size 1, 2 or 4 drop-shot hook. The line runs long above and below the hook so you can trim it; tie the top to your swivel and clip on a weight.

The same rig scales to brush, grass and, as Michael Iaconelli’s power-shot on a baitcaster, matted vegetation. Three sets of parts, with the hooks Brandon Palaniuk, Kevin VanDam and Iaconelli use:

Free PDF · Water temperature chart Which fish are biting at today's water temperature?

One reading, and the 16-page chart shows which of 26 fish are spawning, feeding hard or slowing down; for bass, crappie, bluegill and walleye, where they sit and what to throw. Every number sourced.

Your email address

Send me the free chart

Enter your email, confirm it with one click, and the PDF is in your inbox. Plus one email a week on what's biting. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy.

How do you tie a drop shot?

The hook above, the weight below, and the drop between them. Drawing: fishing.info.

1. Cut a leader of about 4–6 ft (1.2–1.8 m) of 6–8 lb fluorocarbon if the main line is braid, and join it with an FG knot. Palaniuk runs 12–15 ft (3.7–4.6 m) of leader. On a full fluorocarbon spool, skip this step.
2. 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. VanDam adds a No. 12 barrel swivel 2–3 ft (0.6–0.9 m) up the line against twist.
3. Feed the tag end back down through the hook eye once the knot is tight: in from the top, the side the point faces, and out the bottom. This is the trick: the hook now stands out from the line at a right angle, point up, instead of hanging.
4. Set the drop length. Trim the tag so the weight will hang 12–18 in (30–46 cm) below the hook; shorter for fish on the bottom or fished straight down, longer on a long cast or over rock.
5. Add the weight by pinching the tag into the weight’s clip eye. The clip lets a snagged weight pull free and saves the rig. In heavy cover, tie it on instead.
6. 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.
7. 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.

How do you fish it?

Let the weight reach the bottom on a slack line, then leave it where it is. Take up the slack until you feel it. Shake the rod tip with small movements so the bait quivers in place; pause; shake again. Walker Smith’s guidance is “a few very light shakes of your rod tip” instead of dragging the weight around the bottom: the bait hovers, the weight stays put.

There are three ways to fish it:

1. Vertical, on fish you have marked. This is Palaniuk’s deep-smallmouth program. He drops a 3¼ in bait on a size 2 light-wire hook and a 3/8 oz tungsten weight “right on top of the fish” in 40 ft (12 m), and watches the bass react on the screen. He never snaps the rod; he reels down on the bite.
2. Cast and work it back. Cast past the spot, let the weight settle and shake. Then move the rig a foot (30 cm) at a time by lifting the rod, never by reeling it along the bottom. Remember VanDam’s angle: on a long cast the line slopes, and an 18 in drop holds the bait only 4–5 in up. Lengthen the drop or shorten the cast.
3. Power-shot in cover. Iaconelli’s version uses a 7 ft (2.1 m) baitcasting rod, 15–17 lb fluorocarbon and 3/0–5/0 heavy-gauge hooks, extra-wide-gap for creature baits. A 1/2 oz (14 g) or heavier sinker and an 8–10 in worm or a Beaver get pitched into brush, under docks and into holes in milfoil. For mats he goes to 20–25 lb fluorocarbon and a 1 oz (28 g) tungsten sinker, never braid, which floats and spoils the fall. Then the same discipline: a slight bow in the line, an occasional shake without moving the sinker. In Iaconelli’s words: “Most fishermen shake a drop shot way too much.”

What does a bite feel like?

A bite is a heaviness, a slow pull or a line that goes slack. Pros split on what comes next. Palaniuk does not snap the rod: he reels down on the fish and puts pressure on the rod, and “the rod then drives the hook into the fish’s mouth.” Skeet Reese sets hard on smallmouth, whose mouths he calls tough: “You have to crack them to get a hook in them.” He pairs that with a lighter-action rod so the hookset does not snap the line.

How heavy a weight, and how long a drop?

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. The pros’ own numbers, with who gives each:

Which weight shape, and why tungsten?

Walker Smith’s rule: cylinder weights are stealthy but wedge in rock crevices, round weights are the versatile base option, and bell weights are best around rock. Palaniuk uses tungsten teardrops exclusively, for snag resistance and for how they telegraph the bottom. He starts light and goes heavier as depth and drop speed demand, from 1/8 to 3/4 oz; at Lake Champlain in 2020 he dropped 3/8 oz into 40 ft (12 m). VanDam takes a pencil weight through grass and tungsten on rock and shell, where it “clicks” and fishes a size lighter. A smaller lump for the same weight snags less and tells the hand more.

Which bait goes on it?

Nose-hooking is the standard in open water: Tackle Warehouse calls it the most common rigging method, the one that gets the most out of the tail. Around cover, VanDam rigs it weedless and the power-shot anglers Texas-rig it. Palaniuk brings the point in under the chin and out through the tip of the nose, not the top, so the bait sits in line with the shank instead of spinning on the bend. He fishes a 2–4 in bait when the fish want little, and threads a 6–7 in worm on a Neko-style hook when they want a meal. VanDam wants a bait “without a lot of swimming legs or appendages” and a tail that quivers.

Which rod, reel and line?

St. Croix sells the drop shot rod as a specialist. Its Mojo Bass series carries a 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) medium-light extra-fast spinning model named Dropshot Finesse, rated 6–20 lb line and 1/16–3/8 oz lures. Palaniuk fishes one rod, a 6 ft 10 in Alpha Angler DSR, with a Daiwa Exist 3000 and 15 lb Seaguar Smackdown braid. His leader is 6–12 lb fluorocarbon, 6 lb in the clearest water. Skeet Reese refuses a 4/0 or 5/0 hook on 8 lb line: “you’re going to lose 70 to 80 percent of the bites you get.”

Where did the drop shot come from?

Most accounts, Niggemeyer’s and Tackle Warehouse’s among them, call it a Japanese development that reached American bass fishing through California in the 1990s. On The Water calls the history muddled, and NetKnots credits saltwater anglers. James Niggemeyer’s history column for Major League Fishing tells the California side. When he was growing up in Southern California, everyone fished Don Iovino’s doodling rig or a split-shot rig. Aaron Martens showed him the drop shot, “definitely a Japanese development,” in the mid-1990s, and soon “it was like no one threw a split shot or doodled anymore.”

There were no drop-shot weights to buy. Niggemeyer crimped 1/4 oz split shot onto No. 14 barrel swivels and tied his line to the swivel.

With forward-facing sonar

A friend of Niggemeyer’s spun his console graph around to watch fish pass under the boat and drop on them. Forward-facing sonar made that the standard tournament way to fish the rig. “DropSwimming,” which Marc Marcantonio and Ron Hobbs Jr. developed and Marcantonio wrote up in Western Bass, is what the screen made possible. He nose-hooks a minnow bait on a #2 or #4 Gamakatsu G-Finesse hook, with a 1/16–1/8 oz weight and 6–8 in (15–20 cm) of drop. Cast to a suspended bass and let the rig sink to the fish’s level. Then shake the rod tip while turning the reel handle slowly, so the bait swims just above the fish.

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 in open water. Tackle Warehouse’s rule is the lightest leader you can get away with, 6–10 lb fluorocarbon, for stealth and action; go heavier only for cover.
• A stiff rod, or a big hook on light line. A medium-light with a soft tip shakes the bait without moving the weight; a 4/0 hook on 8 lb line loses most of the bites.
• Too much action. The most common error is working it like a jig. Less is more; the bait moves on its own.

When does another rig win?

The Ned rig sits the bait on the bottom instead of above it, for fish feeding down, and the shaky head does the same with a bigger worm. For spawning bass in a few feet of water, the wacky rig is the choice.

When the fish are chasing, the moving baits on the jerkbait and crankbait hub cover more water. The drop shot also catches walleye, crappie, perch and inshore fish; the hook sizes scale up with the bait, and the other finesse rigs are on the rigs page.

Free PDF · 16 pages

Know what's biting before your first cast

The Water Temperature Fishing Chart. Take one water temperature reading, find it on the chart, and see which of 26 freshwater fish are spawning, feeding hard or slowing down. Six pages go deeper: bass, crappie, bluegill, walleye, catfish and trout. For your phone and the tackle box.

• Where they sit and what to throw at every temperature: bass, crappie, bluegill and walleye. Catfish, one by one. Trout: the 68 °F line where you stop, and where they hide
• A bass that drops 3 ft feels more pressure change than the biggest cold front: the front day by day, and what to throw on each
• The three thermometer mistakes that make a reading lie (the first one is the surface)
• The 26-fish chart: who's spawning, feeding hard or slowing down at your reading

Your email address

Send me the free chart

The chart's numbers come from state fish and wildlife agencies and fisheries research: 61 sources, each listed on the site.

Enter your email, confirm it with one click, and the PDF is in your inbox. Plus one email a week on what's biting. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy.