Winter Tips: Dropshotting

Story by Russ Bassdozer

I say Gary Yamamoto makes dropshotting a dream because he has expertly designed so much of the gear you need to dropshot - the rod, the line, the hooks and of course, his soft baits. Indeed, dropshot fishing is one of the easiest of all tactics and terribly productive - particularly on clear to stained deep water impoundments.

Best of all, in winter, as other fishing tactics fail, dropshotting shines one of the very few techniques able to reach and consistently entice fish that have gone deep and slowed down their metabolisms in order to ride out the worst of winter's weather.

So don a pair of warm gloves and let's learn how to dropshot for winter bass, shall we?

The Dropshot Spinning Rod

I'm convinced that spinning can be better than baitcasting for drop shot due to reasons such as:

The way light line spills easily off an open bail spinning reel as the drop shot weight plummets toward bottom.
The ability to crook your right index finger in constant contact with the line to feel what the heck's going on down there.
Plus, as you often dropshot deep vertically, the natural way you hold a spinning rod, your arm angle is better positioned to load up the tip for a sweep set of the hook.

I've tested many different brands and models of dropshot rods over the last decade since dropshot first came to the USA from Japan. The best dropshot rod I've found is Yamamoto's 6'6", one-piece, 100% graphite spinning rod model #22-SDS-3. Designed by Gary Yamamoto specifically for dropshotting, this custom-made blank brings together several distinct and desirable dropshot rod concepts:

Butt: It's IM8 from the butt to the first guide. This section provides power for unsurpassed fightability.
Midsection: Hooksetting is taken care of in the rod's IM7 midsection, and more guides than normal in this section help to further increase hooksetting ability. The rod is wrapped with seven high-quality Fuji Silicon Carbide Concept guides plus matching tiptop.
Tip: The rod tip section is IM6 for incredible feel of the bottom and to detect even the most sensitive pressure bites.

Although IM6 in the sensitive tip, IM7 in the flexible hooksetting midsection and IM8 in the lower fighting section, the rod is one piece and perfectly seamless. In fact, if I didn't tell you, there's no way you could see or notice that the rod sections are three separate modulus (IM6, IM7, IM8), each designed into a single seamless blank.

I add what's called a "Rod Balancer" on the end. It's a rubber butt cap that slips over the end of the rod, and you may include lead disks to custom-balance the weigh of the rod/reel in your hand. This slips snugly over the end of the rod, and the weight of the rod/reel literally disappears from your feel, adding greatly to the fishing sensitivity of the outfit.

The Dropshot Line

Gary Yamamoto had not only perfected his dropshot spinning rod, but he has also provided anglers with the best dropshot spinning line to go with his rod - Yamamoto's 5, 6 and 8 lb clear Sugoi fluorocarbon line.

I mainly dropshot with the 6 lb test Sugoi fluorocarbon. That is my main line.

On occasions when I must dropshot within close vicinity of brushy, woody or weedy cover where I find it necessary to bury or shield the hook point within the soft bait so it will not pick up debris nor snag, then I will switch to a spare reel spool with 8 lb test. For dropshotting, I always have a spare reel spool with 8 lb test Sugoi since it lets me use a little more muscle to drive a buried hookpoint through a soft bait and to steer mad fish away from grabby cover, out into the open where I may land them.

Most of the time, however, I am going to dropshot on relatively snag-free bottom where an exposed hook point and 6 lb test work best. In these open water conditions, 6 lb works best. The difference between 6 and 8 lb test can be like night or day, especially on the dropshot rig. Get dialed into dropshotting for a few trips with only 6. Then suddenly switch to 8 lb test, and you're not going to like it a bit. In comparison, 8 will feel clumsier, heavier, more awkward, 8 will take longer to reach bottom, with less feel for the bottom and less sensitive to detect bites. I am not bad-mouthing the 8 lb test here. It's great for 8. I'm saying it's just not 6. The 8 lb test may be necessary not to break off as easily as 6 in raspy underwater cover, to set a buried hookpoint better and to steer ornery fish away from line-popping cover.

But when I am away from troublesome cover - which is most of the time with the dropshot - I don't get as many bites on 8 as on 6. On good days, yes you may feel you do as good on 8 as on 6. Yet there are tough days with dropshot when you can switch between 6 and 8 - and you will get less bites on 8. Pick up a rod with 6, you'll get more bites. Switch to 8, you'll get less bites. Line test can be critical some days. Why? Gee, I just don't know. Knowing why is not as important as knowing it does happen. I don't think it has anything to do with visibility, sensitivity, but simply that the lighter line is more supple, unfettered, doesn't hamper or dampen the bait down as much. That's my guess.

Yamamoto's spinning rod model #22-SDS-3 with either a 2000 (shown) or 2500 size reel with a spare spool lets you dropshot in relatively open water (6 lb test) with an exposed hook or, if need be, in cover such as weeds, wood or brush (with 8 lb test) and by embedding the point in the soft plastic. Although the rod's the same, switching to 8 lb line, the rod responds a little different and acts a bit beefier.

My personal preference is to rarely use 5 lb test. I draw the line (pun intended) at 6 lb test. I just don't want to risk a big fish (the number one reason for losing trophy fish is light line). Yet some dropshot anglers feel the difference between 5 and 6 may make for more bites with 5 lb test some days. When fishing gets tough, 5 pound test can possibly pay dividends. Interestingly, this phenomena doesn't exist in reverse. It's not as likely they'll be tough days when you'll get markedly more bites by going up the ladder from 5 to 6 to 8 lb test. But sticking with 6 or dropping down to 5 is something to keep in mind when the dropshot bite gets tough.

The Wacky and Cuckoo Dropshot Baits of Winter

One of the biggest drawbacks to spinning tackle is line twist, and dropshot fishing is one of the worst.

Most anglers have been taught to and tend to hook dropshot baits at the very front (in the nose) and that turns them into line-twisting propellers that spin wildly on the way down and when reeled back up.

One trick to reduce much line twist is to wacky or cuckoo rig baits when you dropshot. Wacky or cuckoo rigging will get rid of most all line twist, especially if you remember to reel up slowly when you wind in to make another cast.

Not only does wacky and cuckoo rigging deter line twist, but I feel that wacky and cuckoo rigged baits outproduce nose-hooked baits by a 3:1 margin. Believe you me, if I felt nose-hooking landed more fish, I would gladly put up with a little line twist for that awesome opportunity.

Most of my dropshotting situations are going to be in relatively open, snag-free water. Let's face it, there are other better rigging methods than light dropshot for snaggy situations. In relatively open water where dropshot rules, I'm going to wacky rig soft baits in the middle or cuckoo rig them about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way back in the "shoulder" section of the bait - and I am going to leave the hook point plainly exposed.

Whether I wacky rig (in the middle) or cuckoo rig (approx. 1/4 to 1/3 of the way back), depends on the model as follows:

4" Kut Tail. 7-series. This is the #1 soft bait in Japan for over 20 years, and one of my favorite dropshot baits. Cuckoo rig in shoulder with flat tail facing sideways (not with tail up or down),
3-1/2" Kut Tail. 7S-series. Cuckoo rig in shoulder with flat tail facing sideways, same as 7-series above.
3" Senko. 9B-series. Wacky rig in middle. The wacky rig acts just like a parachute that causes the dropshot Senko to descend horizontally and much more slowly than a nose-hooked bait (nose-hooked Senkos spiral tightly on the fall and when reeled up). The wacky-rigged small Senkos should surely be tried when fish suspend along sheer walls - or any sort of vertical presentation that falls past fish holding above bottom. As the sinker pulls it under, the wacky dropshot Senko will wriggle both tips uncontrollably, attracting strikes on the way down.
4" Senko. 9J-series. Wacky rig in middle, same as 9B above.
3-3/4' Shad Shape Worm. 68L-series. Wacky rig in the middle of the crescent-shaped body length only, disregarding the thin whip tail length for a moment. That is, in terms of total body/tail length, about 1/3 of the way back, directly in the middle of the crescent shaped body.

Clockwise from upper right: Wacky 9B Senko. Cuckoo 7S Kut Tail. Shad Shape Worm hooked in top and out side of crescent-shaped body, exactly mid-length (not counting the thin tail length). Next, cuckoo 7-series Kut Tail and finally, wacky 9J Senko.

The above drop shot bait selections are all 3-inch to 4-inch baits, since it seems winter bass often prefer smaller lures.

During spring, summer or fall, I tend to dropshot bigger 9-series Senkos and longer 7L or 7C Kut Tails, but not in winter. These bigger baits just don't produce as well as the smaller ones in winter.

Note that the above are all basically straight without any appendages or twisty tails. Baits with a lot of action parts don't seem to appeal to lethargic bass in winter. Besides, baits with mobile appendages or action tails tend to increase line twist whenever pinned on dropshot rigs.

Many anglers have been taught and the standard practice has become to dropshot and wacky rig with short shank hooks like shown on left. Small offset shank hooks like shown on right and rigged in the baits work just as well, and have the added benefit that you can Texas-rig a bait to bury or shield the point within the soft bait to cast into snaggy areas. So really, a smallish offset shank hook - like the #2 Yamamoto Sugoi shown above, is one of my favorite hooks to use for dropshot and wacky rigging.

About the only time I nose hook a dropshot bait is to Texas rig one to be able to bury the hook point to render it weedless in troublesome cover (weedy, woody, brushy vicinities) or anywhere that is terribly snaggy, I'll bury the hookpoint and probably switch reel spools to use 8 lb test Sugoi line if I'll be spending any time in snaggy locations.

How NOT to Set the Hook Hard

I'll wacky or cuckoo rig with an exposed point most of the time. Hooking dropshot bass, with the point exposed on 6 lb Sugoi, you begin with gentle rod pressure after detecting a bite or a bass down below on the line. Use gentle reeling and rod pressure as if to pull the bait and hook slowly out of its mouth. This will only make the bass more determined to clamp down and hold onto its prize. The hook will slip until it catches like a splinter that barely sticks behind the upper lip. Then the upper 25% of the rod tip - the sensitive IM6 section - will continue to bend and load under pressure as you reel in slack moderately slowly. All this takes a scant second or two. The IM6 helps pin the hook point against the mouth. The fish should often start to swim away (hopefully not at you) which now flexes the IM7 midsection of the rod in order to set the hook beyond the barb as you sweep the rod back in a confident controlled manner while you reel down until full pressure of the fish's weight is on the line, thereby setting the hook.

Think of the hook set as a two step process. Actually, three steps as follows:

First come the "preliminaries" when you suspect/detect a bite or a bass on the line below, you must first wait until you sense the bass has the bait and hook in its mouth. Sometimes this happens instantly, and some days it seems to take a long while. Fortunately, most bass will act the same way on any given day. So if you figure one out, you can apply the same successful chess move to others.
Second, we've already described above how to pull the line, reel slowly and load the rod tip until the hook point pricks behind the lip. The upper 25% of the rod tip - the IM6 section - should bend over and load.
Once the tip is loaded down, sweep the rod up as you reel to sink the hook home. You do not let the hook-holding tension in the IM6 section loosen as you reel down. In the next moment, visualize that the hook is being sunk deeper by the midsection of the rod that starts 25% down from the tip where the IM7 backbone begins. The hook is not driven home in a jerk like you would set the hook with a jig or Texas rig for instance.

If you do it right, you should be hooking most every bass in the upper lip (or the corner of the mouth some days). You are doing something not quite right if you hook them too deeply or on the other hand, if you miss them. You should hook almost every - 19 out of 20 - dropshot fish if you are doing this correctly.

Drop Shot Knot

Okay, you'll need to use your imagination here, plus have an illustration handy of a standard Palomar Knot:

Thread the single line through the hook eye one way.
Double the line back forming a short loop, and thread two feet of tag line back through the hook eye the other way.
Using the shorter loop end, tie the loop in an overhand knot above the hook.
Pass the hook through the tip of the loop and slowly draw tight.
Once the knot is tight, insert the two foot tag end down through the "top" of the hook eye so the hook point faces up.

The most important thing with any knot is that the line is kept straight and does not twist over, lie over or pass over itself during the process. I can't emphasize enough the critical importance of making knots correctly because, if they're tied wrong, they'll fail. If they're tied right, they won't fail.

Tag End of Line

I like to leave a generous two feet of tag line below the hook, and the dropshot sinker can be clipped on the tag line anywhere along this two foot length. A special purpose drop shot sinker has a line-gripping swivel on top. The swivel grips the line tightly, and it attaches in an instant. There is no need to tie a knot to the sinker or swivel. The beauty of the knotless, clip-on kind of dropshot sinker is, at any time, you can clip the sinker two feet below the hook, one foot, six inches or whatever distance below the hook where you want to clip the sinker for your next cast. If you're not getting bites with the sinker clipped a certain length below the hook, try a different length next cast!

As a starting point, I often like to begin with the sinker clipped the full two feet below the bait. A generous two feet of tag line gives you more "weightless free fall" for your bait at that precious moment after the fast-falling sinker thuds down and stops when it hits lake bottom. As it hits bottom, there's suddenly not a sinker pulling the bait down quickly, and two feet of tag line gives the bait a longer moment of weightless free fall. It also gives the bait a longer leash to move up and down unweighted on a slack line as you work the drop shot rig to attract bass. So a distance of two feet gives the bait a little more freedom of weightless movement.

Keep in mind, although the hook is tied two feet up the line above the sinker, the bait often dangles far less than two feet above the lake bottom. This is due to line angle caused by distance cast, boat movement, line drag which bellies line out under water, and just that a lake bottom is rarely flat like your kitchen table, but has a lot of up and down to it. So two feet between sinker and hook doesn't mean the bait's always buoyed two feet above bottom. It's usually less.

Nevertheless, two feet of tag line also keeps the open hook from snagging as often on an obstructed bottom full of rocks or weeds, plus it keeps the bait flying higher like a flag above rocky or weedy bottom. You may wonder why I mention weeds in a story on winter bass fishing. I don't feel weedbeds ever truly die completely. Like trees on land, water weeds just go dormant, drop their leaves and shrink back to the deeper recesses for the winter, just like bass shrink back deeper, largely avoiding the shallows until spring time. Same with weeds in winter. They're still there, just deeper, hunkered closer to the bottom, and bass still gravitate to them.

Sorry to wander off into the weeds there. To get back on topic, these are some of the reasons why I like a "longer" (meaning two foot) tag line for starters:

to increase length/distance of weightless free fall,
to keep the open hook higher above snags, and
to keep the bait visible above obstructions.

Certainly, if two feet isn't working out, I'm going to shorten the distance between sinker and bait. It only takes a second to do. Just re-clip the sinker closer to the hook. Especially in the dead of winter, you may need to find a way to be able to present a bait directly in front of shut-down, lethargic bass sitting on bottom, cold as heck, in near-freezing water - the coldest water the bass will ever face in the season, or even in its lifetime. Picture bass sitting with their bellies on the bottom, not moving at all, due to cold water, especially during cold front passages. A shut-down bass is not going to maneuver or move too much to hit any lure. You almost have to hit it on the head with something that lands right in front of its mouth. A lure that's laying down in the dirt such as a jig, it's too low down. A lure that's barely over it's head two feet up on a dropshot rig, it's a little too high up. So clipping the sinker very close below the hook - say 4 to 8 inches, that may position the bait at mouth level for these lock-jawed, immobile bass.

With the sinker on the bottom, just 4-8 inches below the hook, the wacky or cuckoo bait is barely lifted up and suspended at most a few inches (due to line angle, etc.) above the bottom. Picture bass sitting with their bellies on the bottom again, and you'll see, the short tag line presentation helps suspend the bait at mouth level. They just open their mouths and it's right in. So don't neglect to try shorter dropshot rigs in winter.

Dropshot Sinker Considerations

I like the very thin, elongated dropshot sinkers, particularly 1/4 oz. This one shape and size of sinker covers a lot of water for me. I have caught bass from 1 to 90 feet deep on this particular dropshot sinker. Plus, it seems to slip through rocks, brush and weeds better than other sinker shapes.

If targeting bass in water less than 20 feet deep (or for enticing bass that are suspended above bottom as the dropshot rig drifts down through them), I'll clip the tip off the 1/4 sinker to make it lighter. The cut-down sinker pulls the bait down so, so slowly through suspended bass.

I also use 3/8 ounce a lot. Especially in water deeper than 30 feet, the 3/8 (or 1/2) ounce may be better than the 1/4.

Something to seriously consider though, is that day in and day out, I have enticed more bass with the 1/4 ounce dropshot sinker (on 6 lb Sugoi) than the 3/8 ounce. I have experienced many tough days when I don't get as many bites on 3/8 as on 1/4. On good days, yes you may do as good on 3/8 as on 1/4. Yet there are tough days with dropshot when you can switch between 1/4 and 3/8 - and you will get less bites on 3/8. Clip on a 1/4 sinker, you'll get more bites. Switch to 3/8, you'll get less bites. The 1/4 oz sinker size can be critical some days. Why? Gee, I just don't know. Knowing why is not as important as knowing it does happen. Even some days when it's a little windy, when it's a little deeper and easier for you to manage with a 3/8 sinker, the 1/4 may be harder to use, but gets more bites. It's rare to see the reverse - where the 3/8 gets more bites than the 1/4 sinker. There are days (in spring, summer and fall) when the fish are fired up and hitting anything that moves. On those days, the 3/8 will deliver the bait in less time, and you'll catch more fish faster than the slower-sinking 1/4 ounce rig. But those kind of feeding frenzies don't happen in winter, and are really exceptional days in spring, summer and fall too.

Bottom line, the 3/8 is easier to manage, easier to use - but the 1/4, although it takes more effort and attention, may produce better on tough days. Just something to consider.

How NOT to Work the Bait Too Hard

My philosophy is - you don't work a dropshot bait, it works for you. I rarely shake or jiggle a dropshot rig. I almost always simply hold it there - like fishing the bottom with a sinker and live worm on a hook - which is quite identical to how I fish a dropshot except with a fake worm on the hook. Point is, I just let it sit there and soak as I wait for a bite.

In actuality, trying to manage the boat position, bobbing around with the trolling motor, often with some wind or surface chop, it is pretty hard not to move a dropshot bait or more specifically, the dropshot sinker. Even if you are not imparting any rod tip action, you are probably moving the sinker around, but that's not bad! The sinker rolls and drags a ruckus down there. It serves to attract bass.

A drop shot sinker is constantly in touch with bottom. It clicks against hard stuff and the sinker stirs up soft sediment. Before you leave the dock, rig up your rod and jiggle the sinker up and down on a rock on dry land. You'll hear all the tap-tap-tapping which serves to attract bass under water when the sinker moves around. And as the sinker makes constant bottom contact, it will grab behind something, then pulls free, rolls around, and the tag line between it and the bait is constantly tensing and slacking as the sinker grabs, pulls free, and rolls over the bottom. Even on a smooth sand bottom, there are ripples for the sinker to bog behind, jump free of, and mini-slopes to roll down. So even though you are doing nothing with the rod tip, the sinker is imparting a lot of action to the bait by pulling on it from the other end of the line.

Let's take the case of a cuckoo rigged Kut Tail with the tail sideways. It will swim forward (in the direction the nose faces) and wiggle its tail like a cautious minnow during the brief moment of "weightless free fall" when there is slack in the line. This only happens when the sinker is not moving and therefore the sinker's not towing the Kut Tail around. Just lower the rod tip a foot to let some slack in the line and it will happen. Keep your right index finger on the line above the spinning reel. When you lift the rod tip again, which can be some seconds later (the colder the water, the longer you should pause), your finger's feeling for a bass that took the bait as it fell freely on the slack line or while the Kut Tail rested motionless on bottom.

Most of the time, the line is not totally slack. Most of the time, even with the slightest line tension or line pressure, the sinker is being dragged or bounced around the bottom, which gives the Kut Tail a minnow-like darting action with a squiggly, squirming tail movement as it's pulled around by the sinker, by the line tension and even the shortest accidental rod tip movement will drag the sinker as you shift your feet to tap the electric motor or turn your body to talk to your fishing partner, the result is that the sinker drags the bait around - not you. The sinker is a lot closer to the bait than you'll ever be, and imparts more action to it than you can.

So even though you're doing nothing, the sinker is always doing something to impart action into the bait, and that's why I say you don't work a dropshot rig. It works for you.

Parking on Depth Breaks for Winter Bass

Getting under the shadowy eaves of overhanging ledges, snuggling up against the foot of bottom slopes, humps, channel walls or tapping your bait down around the toes of any other depth break are where I want my dropshot rig to be in winter. Bass will often hold tight to, and won't budge from these places to get your bait in winter. So you need to get your bait nestled right in where the fish are - or you'll go home frozen and fishless.

How I do this is, position the boat on the shallow side, on top of the ledge, the hump, the ridge or simply in shallow water, and cast out as far as possible directly toward deep water. So your boat is in shallow water (or atop a high spot), you cast into deep water, and in between, there's some sort of depth break that your bait will swing in until it reaches that, and then butts right up against that depth break - and the rig stops or parks itself there.

After you cast, you let your rig fall, letting additional line slip freely off the spool if the bottom depth break is more than a cast length deep. As the rig falls, it will pendulum arc in toward you, sinking toward the bottom and the goal is for it to come to rest and park at the very base of the ledge, channel wall, or any other depth break you target.

Casts always need to be at a 90 degree angle to the depth break and directly in front of you.

Where you are casting, it could be out over very deep water, but that's not where you want the sinker and bait to come to rest. Somewhere in between you and the end of the cast, on the bottom, is the depth break, and you're overcasting it so the sinker will swing in, parking the bait tight up against the depth break as it swings back to that point and then stops right there.

There's usually not such a steep angle that the line's going to rub against the top of the ledge or other structure between you and a hooked fish. Often, but not always, the fish may swim out to deeper water when hooked. Still, you need to keep the boat's bow and electric motor angled so that when you hook up, you can tap the foot pedal and bump the boat itself out over the deep side during the fight. Needless to say, you are not going to have the boat positioned too far back to begin with, so only a couple seconds on the trolling motor will ease you off the high or shallow spot and over deep water where you may play and land your fish.

If you don't hook a fish as your rig parks itself right up against the depth break, you may try lifting the rod tip slowly to make the rig climb up a foot or two, then lower the tip to let it fall back down. The sinker makes some commotion as it does this, and that may encourage a nearby fish to sidle over as you then let the rig sit there for what seems like the longest. I call this tactic "knocking on the door" because you can repeatedly let the sinker knock against the depth break, fall back down to the base, and wait for a bite. If no fish answers after a few minutes, move the boat a few yards further down, cast out, park the bait and knock on the door, casting out again each time you move the boat down along the structure, keeping in mind that fish will tend to gravitate around any irregular features - indentations, outcroppings or whatever - other than the smooth, straight, featureless stretches of the depth break.