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Advantages of fishing a Drop Shot Rig are many. Easier to cast than a Carolina Rig, cast further than a Texas Rig and also sinks faster. Bait is always suspended and easy to adjust depth for suspended fish. It wears line less and because of weight being on the bottom of rig you can feel the bottom better.

DiSadvantage is heavy line twist, and gets hung in heavy cover. Putting a swivel on the sinker helps slow twist.

What type bait is best? Smaller slim type baits are best in clear water. In clear water this is a GREAT finesse technique. This is a great system for fishing spinning rod, light line deep water.

When fishing any structure the Drop Shot Rig should be a consideration for a presentation option. This technique is extremely effective on fishing structure. When fishing muddy to clear water, one foot to 100 feet this is a technique that will catch fish. YES I said 100 feet, the deepest he says he has caught is 120 feet, remember he lives and fishes in California, so deep water is a normal event. Any structure free of heavy cover is an easy place to learn to fish the rig.

Why choose this rig over a Texas Rig? When fishing a Drop Shot Rig, the bait is always suspended just off the bottom putting the bait at eye level or just inches above when the fish is on the bottom where he prefers to stay. This also gives an angler the ability to keep the bait in the strike zone longer.

How to rig Drop Shots. Tie a Palmer knot leaving 1 to 2 feet of line extra. Thread the loose end back through the eye of the hook so the hook stands point up. Tie on weight preferably with a swivel about 12 to 18 inches below the hook. Weight size range from 1/8 to 5/16. Line size should range from 6 to 8 pound on a spinning rod and reel. Tungsten weights give a better feel of the structure. The deeper you are fishing the longer the leader up to about 2 feet long. When fishing deep, lighter line lets the bait fall faster giving a better feel of the bait and strikes. When fishing shallow water, heavier line and a bait casting outfit can be used. Lighter weights may be better fish on lighter line sizes on any type outfit.

Presentations vary from casting to vertical jigging. Casting Drop Shot Rigs is similar to casting a Texas Rig except into heavy cover. Drop Shots tend to get hung easier than Texas Rigs. This rig can be used as a swimming rig, hopped, crawled, or dragged. You can even fish as a stationary rig on bedding fish.
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Hi there daymere,

It's interesting how anglers seem to swing from one setup to another. I believe that in just about everything 'there is nothing new under the sun' excepting technology advances of course.

Little by little I am using drop shot variations on the ol' floattube when fishing coventional gear. I mostly fish saltwater where there's most usually some degree of current.

I'm able to much longer and stiffer leaders with the drop shot setup. Maintaining a uniform depth is not a diffucult task using kicks, retrieves, light back trolling, and......... changes of direction.

More and more guys are using them on the sportfishing boats too.

JapanRon
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