Drop Shot Style

Good afternoon everyone. This has been covered a lot I know, but this is new to me.

Ok, so we mostly tight line bridges at night with minnows. Sometimes I will jig a double /triple jig rig as well. But I have never tried my hand at the Drop Shot style.

I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some 1/2 oz. bell sinkers. I was going to tie the sinker on and tie on (2) #2 hooks about 16" apart from each other. Here's my question/concern.

If we are sitting in 30 fow, and the fish are showing at 12-15, wouldn't the weight swinging spook the fish? I want to try this, but I see in that with the Drop Shot style, you are supposed to drop all the way to the bottom and then reel 2-3 turns with the reel. If the fish are not sitting on the bottom, say 25 ft then would this technique be that good of an idea?

Thanks

There are millions of objects that are in the water, if the fish does not see it as food , it want hit it or care . Yes if the fish are really deep drop shot is not my first choice . Slip cork, jigging, cast and retrieve , vertical jigging would all be better in my opinion . To drop shot you still need the bait above the fish . Weather that is 5 ft. off the bottom or 10 ft. .Drop shot is a great method for high barometric days . jmo

Yeah, I always just tightline or vert jig

Yeah, you wouldn't really be using a "drop shot" method, but just a drop shot "rigging" ... as you are correct that Drop Shot fishing is keeping the weight on the bottom & dancing the lure on semi-slack line with rod tip shakes. So, if the fish are not within a few feet of the bottom, the Drop Shot technique is basically useless. Its greatest use is as a finesse fishing technique, at a distance ... kinda like vertical jigging from a distance greater than the length of the longest Crappie Spider Rigging rods (~20ft long).

Now, you still could use the 1/2oz weights & double minnow rigs (or minnow/jig combo rigs, or double jig rigs), but you'd probably be better served to put the weight above the baits. But, in your case, I'd opt for using the "cast & pendulum swing" method with jigs, or my Vertical Casting technique, and use slip floats & hook/sinker rigs with the minnows.

One thing you can also do is combine the cast/swing method with the Vertical Cast method. You would do it like this :

Fish are 15ft deep, so you make a 25ft cast ... once it splashes down you engage the reel but don't turn the handle & just let the jig pendulum swing back until it's directly below the rod tip ... then you start reeling it up very slowly. I say a 25ft cast, because when the line is at a 45deg angle, the jig will be about 15ft deep (25x0.6=15) That's the same formula I use when Pushing jigs (based on the Pythagorean Theory). NOTE: your hits would be the same in either instance, whether they hit it when it was swinging back or when you were slowly reeling it back up. They'd be either a lite thump or single jump in the line, or the line would just go slack like your jig was on the bottom (but you know it isn't). In either case, you immediately set the hook ... regardless of whether you "think" it was a hit or not.

You may even want to go to a slightly smaller/lighter jig than you'd normally use, so as to allow the jig to swing back to you much slower. That not only gives the fish a chance to see it coming (before it goes below them), but also offers a "easy meal" scenario to the fish.

You are a very wise man. Thank you for taking the time to apply your knowledge for me. I'll give that a shot!

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Originally Posted by Jiggah

You are a very wise man. Thank you for taking the time to apply your knowledge for me. I'll give that a shot!

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Not a problem, BB .... that's my primary reason for being on this site, to pass on what I was taught by my Grandparents, mentors, fishing partners, and my own experiences of the last 60yrs of fishing for Crappie.

crappiepappy & Eagle 1 said it all. Time to go fishing.