Drop shot for crappie? An alternate to the bass set up...

[Spoonminnow]

One effective rig I use is to nose hook and super soft curl tail or prong tail grub on a light small hook. Below the bait on a 6-18" depending on depth and weed height, I slip on a worm weight (bullet shaped - nose up) and fix it with a toothpick. A lot cheaper than buying drop shot weights with those fancy little prongs and adjustable depending on leader length changes.

Other than using the worm wt. I use a hair jig on bottom, soft plastic on top.

For slowly swimming the tandem rig through a school or vertically, I use a three way swivel, a short (4") upper leader and nose hooked grub or light 1/32 oz hair jig and a 1/16 oz hair jig on bottom line.

Anyone can eventually get doubles on these rigs - I have!

[shipahoy41]

I often use a drop shot setup for deep water crappies. Substitute the 4 inch worm in this diagram with a 1/16 jig on a loop knot and you are good to go. Welcome from Alabama.

[fishinRod]

drop shot was invented by crappie fishermen years ago......bassers took the idea

[Spoonminnow]

I thought bassers out west copied the technique from the Japanese bassers, but after googling I came up with different answers.

I would call this a Perch Rig. Fished for perch off the shore on Lake Michigan as a child for perch using 12 foot bamboo poles with this rig. The old timers taught this to me so I would assume this dates back to maybe the 1940's or 50's maybe earlier.

the drop shot or down shot rig started as a salt water ganyun rig. The dropper rig is commonly used for a wide variety of salt water fish, including a catch bait like mackerel. A single hook dropper or multiple hook rig is used for deep water rock cod, for example.

When I was a kid, back in the 1950s, we used to fish for tautog using the same arrangement with one slight difference. A "tautog rig" consisted of a bank sinker at the end of the line, and two lines with hooks attached above. There was a space of 6 - 8 inches between these two hook lines.

Haven't seen other sources or time periods it was first used.

[T.C.]

You dont want the hook right on the like like shown in the above diagram, the fish's nose will hit the line and will sometimes spit it out before you even know they hit it. All you gotta do is grab the hook, pull it, grab the line above and below the hook, make a loop knot it your line. This will give the hook a leader and when the fish hit it all they feel it the bait.

[tear-em-up]

We use a 1/16 oz. jig on the bottom and 1/32 jig 2ft above that one on a loop knot for vert. jigging on some of our tidal rivers and we catch doubles alot. Might try that rig with a weight below the bottom jig and both jigs on a loop.

[Ranger690]

Try this sometime. Use heavy line. 15-30 lb and tie on a light hook or jig toa 12-15" piece. Lay this line next to main line and tie the bobber stop type knot. The heavy line will let the hook to stand out. This type knot will let you adjust your hook-to-weight distance to anything you want, at anytime. It's nice to be able to slide it up or down at will. As you know, a small change can sometime be all the difference.

[T.C.]

dont you think the heavy line may contribute to less bites someetime though? 15-30lb test is pretty visible. I think that when the fish are real spooky and not biting good that they might not hit it. But im sure its a good rig when the fish are active and will hit anything you put infront of em. Let me know if im wrong.

[Ranger690]

It's hard for them to turn down a wigglin' minnow. That is what I use most. Not sure if it turns them away or not. Everyone I caught seemed to be okay with the rig. None of the ones I didn't catch would answer any questions. (wink wink)

I know people catch crappie with those double, bottom rigs with the twisted wire arms. A think a piece of 15 lb mono is not extreme.

Dayton

[BigMack]

The lakes we have here in N.Tx are stained year around so no problem with line shy fish.
I use braid with 4" leaders.
this system can be used with jigs too, if you get tired of catching too many fish.
:D
See details on my post:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-...ot-system.html
In cold weather they do slow down but this rig lets it sit longer in one spot better than most.
Sometimes they just come up to it and hold on to it.
The big trick is knowing what your feeling. It feels like grass brushing up against the line.
they will do the same to jigs but if it doesn't feel or taste right the next thing you feel is them spitting it out.