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Dropshotting for Clear Water Bass

by Kevin Patton

Tournament bass pro Shaw Grigsby of Florida gave a seminar about dropshot fishing for bass at the recent Midstate Fish and Feather Expo in Bloomington.

Dropshotting is a finesse technique that catches largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass in a variety of clear lakes and rivers, according to Florida bass pro Shaw Grigsby.

Among the lakes where Grigsby has successfully used the technique are the Great Lakes, Table Rock Lake, and Kentucky Lake.

"The Great Lakes all have spectacular smallmouth fishing because of the gobies," says Grigsby. He describes this forage that smallmouths eat to grow to huge proportion as "little marshmallows."

The dropshotting technique was supposedly created by Japanese anglers, but Grigsby believes that catfishermen can lay claim to some of the credit. He recommends teaching the technique to kids because "it is the simplest way ever to catch fish." He especially likes to use a dropshot rig when bass are suspended.

Drop Shot Equipment

Grigsby uses a spinning reel for dropshotting, choosing one that has a wide spool to avoid problems with line twist. He matches the reel with a six-foot, medium-action rod.

He spools his reel with 6 to 8 pound fluorocarbon or monofilament line, but notes that heavier line is practical in murky water.

Rigging Your Drop Shot

A dropshot rig has the weight at the end of the line and the hook higher up the line so that your bait is off the bottom during much of the retrieve.

Grigsby recommends a distance of 10-12 inches between the hook and the weight as a general guideline. However, he increases the distance in cold water to give the rig a "more finesse" approach.

He ties a # 2 Eagle Claw dropshot hook onto his line the appropriate length up from the end by using a palomar knot. After tying the knot, with the hook pointed up, he then runs the end of the line through the hook eye to allow the hook to stand straight out from the line. He then ties his dropshot weight to the end of the line.

With the hook perpendicular to the line, Grigsby then nose-hooks his finesse worm, leaving the hook exposed and pointing up.

"The advantage of the exposed hook is that you get the hook into the fish even when you don't know that you have a bite," according to Grigsby.

He selects bait colors using the same criteria that he uses to fish other soft plastic baits on Texas or Carolina rigs.

"In clear water I use more natural colors and smaller four-inch baits," says Grigsby, "and in stained or murky water I go to darker, longer baits up to six-inches."

Grigsby stayed after the seminar to answer questions and show anglers how to tie the palomar know he uses on his dropshot rig.

Drop Shot Retrieves

You can either cast your dropshot rig or fish it vertically under the boat. Both methods have their advantages.

Casting or pitching the rig changes the distance the bait is from the bottom, depending on the length of your cast, thus giving the bait a different presentation. Fishing it vertically enables you to possibly see fish bite your bait on your bow-mounted graph or GPS unit.

"If fishing under the boat, just open your reel bail and let the bait fall straight down," suggests Grigsby. He then shakes the bait by slightly moving the rod tip, lets it slowly settle back down, shakes the bait, lets it settle again, etc.

Grigsby allows the line to go totally slack so the bait sinks back to the bottom before gently lifting the rod tip to shake the bait again. He maintains that it is important to give the bait some "off time" before lifting it off the bottom to shake it again.

Once you get a bite, he advising simply pulling back on the rod to set the hook, avoiding a big, hard hook set.

"Whatever you do," he said, "don't horse a fish in on this rig. You have to play them on this light tackle. "

Prior to finishing his seminar Grigsby proved the effectiveness of this technique by catching several fish from the gin-clear water of the fish "Hawg Trough" at the sport show.