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Techniques

Drop shot

A hook tied up the line and a weight on the bottom, so the bait hovers where the fish are instead of lying in the mud. It came out of Japan, the West Coast kept it quiet for years, and it is now the rig the pros reach for when nothing else gets bitten.

Fishing knowledgeUpdated October 6, 202613 min read

What it is

A drop shot turns the usual order of a bottom rig upside down. The weight goes on the very end of the line. The hook is tied on above it, on the main line or on a long tag end, so the soft plastic sits a foot or so off the bottom and the weight does nothing but hold it there. Wired2Fish's description is as plain as it gets: a line tied to a hook with a leader underneath, so the bait hovers off the bottom. The bait moves; the weight stays put. Everything about fishing the rig follows from that.

Most of the time the bait is nose-hooked on a light-wire hook so it can swing freely. Around cover it is Texas-rigged instead, which costs some action and saves some hooks.

Basis: consensus (Wired2Fish, Field and Stream, Virginia DWR, Tackle Warehouse)

When it wins

  • Clear, deep or pressured water. Wired2Fish calls it especially effective in clear or deep water where wary fish are hard to bite, and says a drop shot shines when fish see a lot of pressure. Texas Parks and Wildlife's skill-builder says the same of finicky fish after a cold front.
  • Fish suspended just off the bottom, or fish you can see on the screen. Lower it vertically and hold the bait above them. Bassmaster's John Crews fishes winter bass this way, holding the bait 3 to 5 feet above fish he has located.
  • Soft or weedy bottoms. The hook and bait ride above muck and short grass, so the fish can see the bait and you can feel the bite, which Wired2Fish names as the two things a drop shot does for you on a muck bottom.
  • Breaklines and the last piece of structure before deep water. In the MLF archive piece on drop-shotting, Bob Izumi's best fish came off breaklines in 24 to 40 feet, and the bigger fish sat off the edges of the schools.
  • Any depth. Wired2Fish puts it at one foot of water to 100, and Aaron Martens, who did more than anyone to make the rig standard in American bass fishing, said there was no time or place he would not consider it.

Where it loses is harder to state, because the published sources describe adapting the rig rather than putting it down: a Texas-rigged bait and a straight-shank hook around cover, a pencil weight in grass, more weight in wind and current. Two limits do come through. Bassmaster's Mark Hicks notes that too heavy a weight in current hangs on the bottom and kills the bait's action, and Wired2Fish warns that a stiff wind bows the line and takes away much of the sensitivity the rig depends on, braid or not.

Basis: consensus; editorial on the limits

Species

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, with smallmouth the fish most anglers picture when they hear the words. Bassmaster's Jacob Foutz calls it a natural tool for the deep, rocky water smallmouth live in and a great lure for largemouth around weeds and under docks. It catches crappie and other panfish too; KDFWR describes a drop shot rig with a small baitholder hook as a cold-weather panfish presentation.

Basis: consensus

Season and environment

  • Winter. The best-documented window. Crews: the bass are deep and schooled up tight, and the rig gets a bait down fast and holds it in place. A heavier weight, an 18 to 24 inch dropper, a baitfish-shaped plastic, and a vertical drop onto fish you have found.
  • Spring, pre-spawn and spawn. The bait can be held in one place without moving it, which is the whole argument for it on a bed or beside one. Niggemeyer shortens the dropper for spawning fish. Check the water's regulations page before fishing the spawn.
  • Summer. Ledges and deep structure. Bassmaster's Boyd Duckett worked a main-river ledge dropping from 10 to 16 feet on a drop shot in July heat and suggests an 18 inch dropper as a summer starting point.
  • Fall. Rock piles and brush as the bait moves; Virginia DWR names summer and fall around submerged rock piles and brush. Follow the shad and fish the drop shot where a faster bait gets followed but not eaten.

Wired2Fish's summary covers all four: many of the top professionals keep a drop shot rigged and ready the whole year.

Basis: consensus

Structure, cover, clarity and current

Rock first: points, bluff ends, channel ledges, boulder fields and gravel flats are drop shot water because the bait stays above the snags while the weight ticks across them. Brush piles and standing timber next, with the bait Texas-rigged. Grass edges and docks third, where a short dropper and a skipping cast put the bait where the fish are and nowhere else.

In clear water, lighten everything: a 6 to 8 lb leader, a smaller weight, a natural-colored plastic. In stained water the rig still works; Wired2Fish says it works well in dingy water with a dark plastic, and Texas Parks and Wildlife moves from 6 to 8 lb line in clear water to 10 to 12 lb in stained water. In current, use the weight it takes to hold bottom and no more.

Basis: consensus

Rod, reel and line

Beginner

A 7 foot medium-light spinning rod with a fast tip, a 2500-size reel, and either 6 to 8 lb fluorocarbon straight through or 10 to 15 lb braid to a 4 to 6 foot leader of 6 to 8 lb fluorocarbon, joined with an Alberto knot. Wired2Fish names the 7 foot medium-light rod and both line systems; the braid-and-leader version is the finesse system on our line systems page. Our spinning setup guide walks through spooling it.

Intermediate

Adjust the leader before anything else: 6 lb in clear water with light weights, 8 lb as the default, 10 lb around rock and brush. Tackle Warehouse's guide runs 6'10" to 7'3" rods in medium-light or medium power with a fast or extra-fast tip, 12 to 15 lb high-visibility braid so you can see a slack-line bite, and a 6 to 10 lb fluorocarbon leader. A faster reel helps you catch up with a fish that swims at you in deep water; Matt Lee, writing for Strike King, pairs a 6'10" rod with a 6.2:1 reel for exactly that reason.

Advanced

Match the weight of the whole system to the depth and the fish. Jacob Powroznik's view in Wired2Fish is that the most common drop shot error is line that is too heavy: he fishes 6 lb fluorocarbon with the drag loosened rather than 8 or 10. For smallmouth in deep clear water, In-Fisherman's roundup has tournament anglers on 5 to 7 lb fluorocarbon leaders behind 10 lb braid. For skipping docks or fishing brush with a Texas-rigged bait, step the leader up to 10 lb and the rod to medium power. A longer rod (7'6") moves more line on a sweeping set at depth.

Basis: consensus; editorial on the recommendations

Leader

Fluorocarbon, 6 to 10 lb, 4 to 6 feet for most fishing and longer in very clear water, joined to braid with an Alberto or a uni-to-uni. Two pros in the sources run the leader much longer than that, 15 to 30 feet, so the knot sits on the spool. KVD's alternative is a small barrel swivel 2 or 3 feet above the hook to stop line twist, on 8 lb fluorocarbon straight through. See leaders and tippet and mono, fluoro and braid for what the materials do.

Basis: consensus

Terminal tackle

  • Hook. A light-wire drop shot or split shot hook, No. 1 to 1/0 for nose-hooking a 4 to 6 inch finesse bait; that is Wired2Fish's recommendation and the range most of the pros in the sources use. Go to a size 2 for a small minnow bait, and up to a 2/0 straight-shank or EWG when the bait is bigger or needs to be Texas-rigged for cover. The makers publish their runs: Gamakatsu's G-Finesse Drop Shot hook in sizes 4 to 2/0 and its Split Shot/Drop Shot hook in 4 to 3/0; Owner's Down Shot Offset, built to ride horizontal when tied into a vertical line, in 4 to 3/0; Owner's Mosquito, a favorite for nose-hooking on light line, in a run from No. 14 up through 7/0; VMC's SpinShot, a hook on a swiveling wire stem with a line tie at each end so the bait turns without twisting the line, in 8 to 2/0.
  • Weight. Start at 1/4 oz for most water, 1/8 oz when the water is shallow and calm, 3/8 oz at 25 to 30 feet, and heavier only for wind or current; Wired2Fish and Strike King's Matt Lee give those same numbers. Two shapes do different jobs. A cylinder or pencil weight slides through grass, and Lee uses lead for those because they get lost in weeds. A teardrop or round weight comes through rock better, and there he wants tungsten, which clicks on rock and tells you what the bottom is made of. Most drop shot weights have a line clip at the top; Wired2Fish ties a knot in the end of the line anyway, because a jumping fish throws an unknotted weight.
  • Bait. Anything streamlined under 6 inches, in Wired2Fish's words. Straight-tail finesse worms are the default, and the Roboworm Straight Tail may have caught more tournament bass in recent years than any other single bait. Minnow and shad-shaped plastics for fish on baitfish; a small craw or creature when the fish have seen too many worms.

Basis: consensus on the ranges; official on the makers' size runs, which are quoted from the product pages named in the sources

Knots

A Palomar at the hook, tied with a long tag end that becomes the dropper. Then, and this is the step that makes the hook stand out from the line with the point up, the tag goes back down through the eye from the point side before the weight goes on. Owner prints that instruction on its Down Shot Offset page, and Wired2Fish, MLF's Cody Meyer and James Niggemeyer, and Texas Parks and Wildlife all describe the same move. The weight is tied on with a Palomar or an improved clinch, or clipped and then knotted. Braid to leader is the Alberto.

Basis: consensus; official on the maker's instruction

Lure, bait or fly choices and color logic

  • Clear water, bright sun — a 4 to 6 inch straight-tail worm, nose-hooked, on the longest dropper of the day. Green pumpkin, watermelon red, and the pink-and-purple blend sold as Morning Dawn, which Wired2Fish names as a clear-water starting point and which Outdoor Life says clear-water largemouth have a particular taste for.
  • Clear water, overcast — shorten the dropper. Powroznik's rule for smallmouth is 16 to 18 inches in sun and 6 to 8 inches under cloud, because the fish hug the bottom. Darker greens; a touch of chartreuse on the tail for smallmouth and spots.
  • Lightly stained — a minnow or shad-shaped plastic over rock, a slightly heavier weight so you stay in touch. Smoke, pearl, and shad patterns.
  • Muddy — Wired2Fish says the rig still works with a dark plastic; junebug, black, dark purple, and Texas Parks and Wildlife's heavier 10 to 12 lb line.
  • Cold and clear — the smallest minnow-shaped bait you own, deadsticked on a long dropper. Translucent and natural shades.

Basis: consensus

How to rig it

The steps below are Wired2Fish's method, with the hook detail the makers and the pros add.

  1. Tie the hook on with a Palomar, leaving a tag end 12 to 18 inches long. That tag is the dropper, so cut it to the length you want the bait to sit above the bottom. Tackle Warehouse's range is 12 to 24 inches; the pros in the sources run 8 inches under cloud or on a bed to 24 inches in deep water.
  2. Pass the tag end back down through the hook eye from the side the point is on, and pull it through so the hook stands straight out from the line with the point up. If it hangs point-down, you threaded the wrong way: pull it back and go through from the other side.
  3. Tie or clip the weight to the end of the tag. If the weight has a clip, pinch the line into it and then tie a simple overhand knot in the very end of the line below the clip so a jumping fish cannot throw it.
  4. Hook the bait. Nose-hook it by running the point in under the chin and out the top of the nose, so the bait hangs level off the bend. Around cover, Texas-rig it instead, point buried, on a straight-shank or EWG hook.
  5. Hold the rig up by the line. The bait should sit level and the hook should stand out from the line. If the bait spins when you turn the rod, it is rigged crooked; re-hook it.

Basis: consensus (Wired2Fish steps; the tag-through-the-eye move from Owner, MLF, Texas Parks and Wildlife)

How to fish it

The whole technique is in one sentence from Wired2Fish: move the bait, not the weight. Let the rig sink on a semi-slack line until the weight hits bottom, take up the slack until you can just feel the weight, and then shake the rod tip with the weight still on the bottom. A light shake is enough; the bait does the rest. Aaron Martens' version, as In-Fisherman recorded it, was shake your bait, not the weight, and the MLF archive piece has Lawrence Mazur warning that the angler who shakes the rod tip a foot at a time is attracting little fish with a bait that is bouncing all over the place.

Four ways to present it:

  • Shake in place. The default. Weight on the bottom, rod tip quivering, bait hovering. Count to ten, lift the weight a foot, set it down, and shake again.
  • Deadstick. Leave it. Tackle Warehouse calls it deadsticking and says to hold the rod loose and let the bait sit; Bassmaster's Mark Hicks has a pro admit it is one of the hardest things in fishing to do. Fish that follow a moving bait often eat the one that stops.
  • Drag. A slow sideways sweep of the rod, so the weight crawls and the bait dances above it. Wired2Fish describes it for spooky fish, and Hicks quotes a pro whose fish hit the dragged bait when they would not hit a shaken one.
  • Vertical. Over the side of the boat, straight down to fish you can see on the sonar, holding the bait at their level or a few feet above. Crews holds his bait 3 to 5 feet above winter fish.

Bites come as a tick, a sudden weight, or the line going slack or swimming off. The hookset is a reel-and-sweep, never a snap: Wired2Fish's hookset guide calls it a reel set, reeling while you lean into the fish, and warns that a hard set bends or straightens a light-wire drop shot hook. Set the drag so it slips before the line or the hook gives.

Basis: consensus; the retrieve names are editorial

Common mistakes

  • Line too heavy. Powroznik's number-one error. Six pound fluorocarbon gets more bites than eight or ten; loosen the drag to make up for it.
  • Shaking too much. The bait has its own action. Small movements; long pauses.
  • Shaking the weight across the bottom. The weight stays still while the rod tip moves. If the weight is hopping, you are fishing a different rig.
  • Hard hooksets. Light wire bends and light leaders break. Reel down and lean.
  • The hook hanging point-down. You skipped step 2, or threaded it from the wrong side. Re-rig it; a hook that hangs down fouls the line and misses fish.
  • Not tying off the weight. A clipped weight comes off when a fish jumps.
  • Keeping it in a box. Niggemeyer's own confessed mistake was treating the drop shot as a deep-water-only rig. It skips under docks and fishes a bed as well as it fishes a 40 foot breakline.

Basis: consensus (Wired2Fish, MLF, Tackle Warehouse); editorial

Kayak notes

The drop shot and a kayak get along, because the rig fishes well without moving the boat and because a vertical presentation from a seat is as natural as it is from a casting deck.

  • Sit on the fish. Over a brush pile, a ledge end or a school on the sonar, drop straight down and shake. The low seat puts the rod tip close to the water, where a short shake moves the bait and nothing else.
  • Drift and hold. On a point or a flat, let the wind carry the boat and hold the rod still; the drift does the dragging. A stake-out pole or an anchor trolley holds you over a brush pile in a breeze.
  • Shorter rod, same line. A 6'10" rod is easier to manage seated and still long enough to sweep. Keep the leader light; a kayak hookset is softer than a boat's, and the reel-set this rig wants suits that.
  • Watch the line. You are closer to the water than a boat angler. Keep the tip low to the side so wind does not bow the line and hide a slack-line bite.
  • A small box covers it. Hooks in two sizes, weights in two shapes and three sizes, a bag of straight-tail worms and a bag of minnow-shaped plastics.

Basis: editorial

Fly counterpart

Fly anglers have taken the idea over wholesale and call it drop-shot nymphing: the split shot or a tungsten weight goes on the very end of the tippet, below the flies, so the weight bounces along the bottom and the flies ride above it where the insects they imitate actually live. California Fly Fisher's description notes the extra benefit that a multi-fly rig tangles less with the weight at the trailing end. Orvis teaches a drop shot arrangement on a Euro-nymphing rig, and Hatch Magazine's piece ties the fly version back to the bass rig it came from. The weight-on-the-bottom, fly-above logic is identical to the bass rig, and the strike detection works the same way: with the weight on the bottom as a point of reference, anything that stops or moves the line is a fish.

Basis: consensus (California Fly Fisher, Orvis, Hatch, Troutbitten)

Where it came from

Niggemeyer's account in MLF is the clearest published history: the drop shot was a Japanese development, Aaron Martens showed it to him in the mid-1990s, and it spread across the clear, pressured reservoirs of Southern California until, in his words, it got to the point where every tournament was won on a drop shot. Martens' own version, recorded by Gord Pyzer in In-Fisherman, was that a friend in Japan was using the technique to win there, and a handful of West Coast friends kept it a secret for years. Early anglers made their own weights by crimping split shot onto barrel swivels; Niggemeyer says he now could not imagine drop-shotting without tungsten.

Basis: consensus (MLF, In-Fisherman, Tackle Warehouse)

In Kentucky

KDFWR has no published drop shot article for bass that we found. Its species pages place smallmouth in reservoirs along rocky shores under ledges and around stumps, and largemouth around shallow vegetation, standing timber and stumps, which between them describe the two kinds of drop shot water on this site. Its spybait article names drop shot rods, medium-light spinning rods of 6'8" to 7 feet, as the right tool for a related finesse presentation on Dale Hollow, Cumberland and Laurel River lakes. In published tournament reporting, the drop shot shows up on Kentucky Lake's summer ledges, where MLF noted in 2017 that it caught a lot of fish without a lot of mentions, which it called the usual fate of finesse tackle on the Tennessee River, and in the baits expected at Dale Hollow in spring. For the deep clear smallmouth lakes, Cumberland and Dale Hollow, it is the first rig to tie on when the fish are suspended off bluff ends and channel swings.

Basis: official on the KDFWR habitat and rod references; published reporting on the lakes; editorial on the recommendation

Skill level

Beginner to rig and cast, intermediate to fish well. The rigging takes one try to learn and the retrieve is restraint rather than skill. What takes time is reading the sonar, choosing the dropper length for the day, and believing a bait that is doing almost nothing is doing enough.

Basis: editorial

Sources and how confident we are

Sources

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Knots

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