Drop Shot Pointers wanted

[robbor]

I read an article on drapo shotting crappie and was thinking about giving it a go. I would like some pointer from those of you who do it regularly. Thanks Rob. I plant in trying it with 4# test and My bnm 7' rod.

[Darryl Morris]

I occasionally drop shot for crappie. Sometimes when using a map and depthfinder it's easier to find structure (creek channels, ledges or humps) than it is to find cover (brushpiles, stakebeds, submerged stumps). So, when I can't find cover, I find structure and fish using a drop shot rig if I find the fish are near the bottom of these structured areas. I use 8# test with an 3/8 to 1/2 ounce weight tied to the bottom. You can tie a 6-8" loop in the line every 12-18" so you can thread 3-4 hooks up your line to work more of the water column. The key I've found is while holding the pole in hand, move the boat along slowly and bounce the weight off the bottom keeping the line as verticle as possible. Release more line as needed when the structure becomes deeper. The opposite is equally true when the structure become more shallow. Reel up excess line to keep the wieght and bait straight down.

[crappiehunter]

If you do not want to tie loops in your main line you can buy the snelled hook and leader at your local bait and tackle store and tie them to your main line. The deeper you fish the heavier weight you will want. I do not drop shot in anything under 10ft. of water due to the boat noises scaring fish. Stay directly under the boat as much as possible. The farther you get away from the boat the more likely you are to get hung up. I tell people that have not casted for a long time, do not worry we do not cast. We drop it right under the boat. I keep my hooks at least 18" apart and sometimes more depending on how scattered the fish are on the structure. Your drop lines off of the main line/loops should be about 9" or so. This is a personal preference. I feel that the length does not hinder the feel of the bite and also helps in getting the hook free when you tangle with the brush. Bounce the sinker up and down when you get hung up and you will be amazed at how many times it comes free without breaking off. I think the heavier 3/4 oz. sinker also helps pull the the hook down out of the structure it is hooked in. Basically, the drop shot is the same thing as a kentucky rig. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about the dropshot/kentucky rig.

I read an article on drapo shotting crappie and was thinking about giving it a go. I would like some pointer from those of you who do it regularly. Thanks Rob. I plant in trying it with 4# test and My bnm 7' rod.

[Darryl Morris]

Hey there crappiehunter:

Good to hear from you again, and after all, I added the drop shotting technique to my portfolio from you after the tourney in (near) Nashville. THANKS!

You're exactly right, there are many ways to rig your leaders and hooks to your main line. Covering the full water column is key. You still have to get the bait in the strike zone of the crappie.

But obviously a major pain is when trying to store those rods with three or four hooks on them. I know because I keep 2 rods rigged this way in my boat. Those who have rigged this way know what I'm talking about. Perhaps we can ask for some tips from the boys in MS.

Anyway, drop shotting is a very effective way to crappie fish, especially when you can target your presentation in structure related areas where the crappie are congregating.

[Roberta]

You don't say where you live on your personal profile, so...

Check your state regs. Michigan, and maybe other states, forbid placement of a weight BELOW the hook. That prevents use of the tradiitonal drop shot rig descibed above. I don't know if Michigan allows the bottom hook to be a weighted jighead.

Also, double check the number of hooks allowed on your line. Three is the max here in Ohio.
Better to be safe than fined. - Roberta

[Shellback]

If you are using snelled hooks tied off to the main line, what type of knot do you use? I've just tied my hooks right to the main line with a palomar knot, but I would like to use a stiff leader to get the hook away from the main line.

[Roberta]

You can tie a dropper loop on your main line, then run your snelled hook through that. Then run the hook end of the snell back through the loop on the end of the snell and tighten. I'm sure there are other ways; that's my lazy way.
- Roberta

[Moose1am]

run that past me again please?


First I have no idea what a dropper loop is or how to tie it.

Then I don't understand how you attach a hook to the loop after you get a loop in your main line. Do you use any other fishing line at all or just your main line. Do you push the loop of line though the eye of the hook? Then where do you run the loop? I will have to play with that a bit after I figure out where to find out how to tie the dropper loop. I have a web site link or used to have some that showed different types of knots. When I reformated my computer I could not retrieve my old favorite sites list. I backed up my hard drive on an External Hard Drive but I can't figure out where on that back up the favorites folder is located or how to get the list into my hard drive on my computer. MS does not make it easy to figure that stuff out.

I may have to do a web search and find sites that show how to tie different knots and make a new favorites folder that has all knot tying web sites.

You can tie a dropper loop on your main line, then run your snelled hook through that. Then run the hook end of the snell back through the loop on the end of the snell and tighten. I'm sure there are other ways; that's my lazy way.
- Roberta

[Moose1am]

Here is how I fish the drop shot rig.

Equipment used:

1. BnM 12ft long graphite jig pole
2. Daiwa ultralight spinning reel
3. Berkley Ironsilk 6lb test fishing line
4. Bass Pro Shops Squirmin Squirt White Lightning jig body
5. Wal-mart 1/16 oz plain lead head jigs (minnow head shaped)
6. Berkley Chartruse Crappie Nibbles
7. Bass Pro Shop Finesse Drop Shot Weights (various sizes from 1/4 oz to 1/16 oz.

Knots used:

1. Arbor knot to tie the line to the spinning reels arbor.
2. Palmar Knot to tie the jig head to the line

I used the Palmar knot but I would like to start using the dropper loop to get the jig out away from the main line. The reason is that sometimes the main line interferes with the crappie sucking the jig into his mouth and I miss some bites. I feel that with the jig sticking out about 3" from the main line that the crappie would be able to get the jig in it's mouth easier and I could get the hook to catch in the crappie's mouth better.

Now I tie the palmar knot at the end of my fishing line and attach the jig head but>>> I leave a long tag line. I leave about 18" or more. I can alway cut the tag line and make is shorter but can't make it longer. I then attach the Bass Pro Shop Finesse Drop shot weight to the tag line and then tie an overhand knot in the tag line below the finesse weight. The Finesse Drop shot weights come with a special swivel on them which makes it not only to attach the line to the swivel part but it helps prevent line twist to a degree.


The key is to move the jig every so slowly and at times to let it hang right in one spot. Sometimes the crappie need to see the jig standing still before they bite (negative mood crappie). Most active crappie will attack the jig if it's moving and comes within sight. Crappie that are suspended out over open water may be active or in a negative mood.

I try to move the boat with the trolling motor or use the trolling motor to slow down my drift when there is a good wind pushing my boat. Go into the wind and you can get the speed just right and sometimes even hover over a brush pile.

I have my trolling motor at the bow of my boat and I put a new humminbird trolling motor transducer on the trolling motor and moved my humminbird LCR 8000 to the front of my boat so that I can sit in the raised pedistal seat in the front of my boat and look straight and down and see the graph screen. With the transducer right under the trolling motor I can be assured that if I see a brush pile that I am getting my jig right over the brush pile or right in the brush pile. I can confirm how good I am by how many times I get hung up in the brush pile. LOL I also made my jigs weedless by adding a short piece of 40lb test monofilament fishing line to the jig head. I drilled a hole at an angle in the lead head jig. I can insert the short piece of stiff fishing line in that hole and glue it in place with some super glue. Also glue the squirmin squirt to the jig head with superglue. Now the fishing line 40lb test will stick out of the jig head right behind the eyelet and runs back and in front of the hook's opening. That 40lb fishing line acts like a blocker for a running back and helps prevent the hook from getting hung up in the brush. The line is springy enought to let the jig bouce off the wood and prevents the hooks point from hitting the wood. When a crappie bites the fishing line is compressed downward and then the hooks point is exposed and hooks into the crappie's mouth. At times the weed guard also prevents the hook from catching the fish and then I have to go to a regular open hook jig. I get a better catch/bite rate with the open hook than when the weedless hooks but I also loose a lot more jigs and waste a lot of fishing time having to tie on new jig heads attaching new jig bodies and putting on another crappie nibble and adding another drop shot weight to the rig. Meanwhile the boat is being pushed away from the brush pile and I have to use the trolling motor to get back to the spot after I get the new rig tied. You can hear me as I will be raising hell after a few lost jigs. I hate wasting time and I don't like to put the anchor out either.

I actually just started fishing this method this year with jigs. But when I was only 8 years old I was fishing for KY lake Crappie using a very similar method with minnows. I used the old cane poles and live minnows with the KY LAKE Crappie rigs. These consisted of a three way metal thing that allowed one hook to stick out from the main line about 2" or so and the weight was below that hook with another hook just below the weight. Back then and still today the KY Lake crappie rig uses a 1 oz lead weight that is shaped like a football. We used very heavy fishing line back in those days and fished in the bruck brush with a long cane pole. We could easily pull the hook out of a stump as the line was at least 20lb test and the good hooks were soft and bend easily. And you can easily bend the hook back into shape once you got it back out of the stump. I still use these KY Lake crappie rigs today sometimes. We often would catch two crappie at the same times back in the old days. Man I miss those days.

One very important thing I need to mention. When fishing drop shot I highly recommend that you hold the pole and even hold onto the fishing line to increase your feel. If you feel anything hit the line or bait raise the rod up slowly to set the hook. Don't jerk the line but be quick to start raising the rod. A crappie or any other fish can inhale the jig and spit it back out in less than one second. The Bass Pro Shop Squirmin Squirts and the Crappie nibbles help by fooling the fish with salt taste and bait fish scent. They make the crappie hold onto the bait longer so that you have more time to set the hook. By more time I am talking about a second or so. The Berkley Crappie nibbles not only make the crappie bite more often but they help fool the crappie into thinking he has a real minnow. They Squrimin Squirts are salt impregnated and that salt must taste good to the fish too.

Drop shotting is very effective and when you get into a school of fish you can catch a lot of fish in a hurry. I have caught limits in just a few hours when I found the fish.

Finding the fish is the KEY. If you know a good spot then fish it thoroughly as sometimes the crappie may not be there in numbers but will move in later OR they may be there but not hungry and refuse to bite. By fishing the spot all day long you can see when fish move into the spot or when they turn on and get hungry and start biting. The fish will let you know they are there if you put the bait where they can see it.

Remember too that crappie don't look down when suspended. By that I mean they are less likey to see and hit a bait that is two foot below their level. It's very important to get the bait to the same depth that the crappie are at. Especially if the crappie are suspend out over deep water during the daytime. Cover all dephts until you find the crappie. I use my deph finder to see schools of fish suspended. I then get the right amount of line out to get my jig to that level. I cruise the lake to see where the fish are located. ie what depth. Then I fish that depth and if I don't find fish I will move out over deeper water and look for suspended fish. I set bait to the right depth. Also remember that if your transducer is attached to the bottom of your trolling motor and your trolling motor is 2ft deep in the water then you are starting out with a 2 ft difference. If you read on your graph that the fish are at ten feet they are really at 12ft since you must add two more feet to get offset for the fact that the transducer is not right at the surface. You are see the fish ten feet below the transducer but you must remember that the transducer is two feet below the water's surface. Some of the newer Depth Finders allow you to make an internal adjustment for this fact so that they read Two feet deep when you are in two feet of water and the trolling motor and transducer is scrapping the bottom. LOL But they also have a shallow water depht alarm that warns you when this is about to happen.

Hope this helps. Note that any pole, reel and line will work and you don't have to use what I use. My system works but so do a lot of other rods and reels lines and baits.

[Roberta]

It would be a lot easier if I could just post a drawing.

Okay, take your main line and make a loop by doubling it next to itself and tying a knot. (Think Palomar without running the loop through anything.) That gives you something to tie to.

Then, take a snelled hook - the kind on a stiff line with a a loop on the tag end and run THAT loop through the loop on your main line.. Pull the hook end of the snell through the snell loop, making a cinch knot. If your snell line is stiff enough, it will stick out like a sore thumb. Got it? - Roberta