Drop Shotting New Style

I thought I would share a great way to fish the drop shot technique that I have been using the last few years. The drop shot technique has been very popular over the last 10 years. It has accounted for many fish in my boat and also giving me the win or numerous top ten finishes over the years. The Drop Shot technique is crucial with so many tournament anglers that it is a must have in your fishing arsenal. I have always used the standard spinning outfit of a Lews or Dobyns drop shot rod with a Lews Tournament Pro Speed Spin TP300 spinning reel spooled with 6-8lb Floro. My set up always includes Ultra Tungsten round or the new X ZONE drop shot weights. My best Drop shot baits are the X Zone Slammer, X Zone Shiver Shad, X Zone Mini Swammer, Anglers Choice Kill Shot in both the 3 and 4 inch sizes, Robo Worms and Gulp Alive Fry. I typically use a 12- 18 inch dropper line from the X Zone Slammer to my weight. I fish it slow with hardly shaking the bait. I only shake my drop shot baits on slack line which give the bait a natural presentation. I find anglers over work the technique especially when they use braided line. I have learned a new style of drop-shotting technique over the last few years using a casting rod and reel. I use this set up for walleye, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. My casting drop shot set up is a Lews Custom Speed Stick LTWS or a Dobyns Champion 682C casting rod using the News LEWS Tournament Light (only 5.7 ounces) for the reel. The only thing that stayed consistent is using 100% floro in 6-8lb test when fishing open water situations. The casting drop shot is also deadly on largemouth in milfoil, Open water weed flats and also mat fishing. For these conditions I use heavier Lews APT floro in the 15 - 20lb test range and a heavier dropshot weight up to 1.5 ounces depending how thick the mat is. I also use a heavier casting rod like the LEWS LMPS or the Dobyns Champion 705C. My casting reel remains the same. For hook style it is important to go with a stronger style hook. I like using a 2/0 size worm hook depending on the baits I am using. What I found using a casting drop shot set up were the following benefits: No line twist which is huge. Because the line comes straight off the spool instead of in a coil like a spinning reel I found I had way better line management. I did not have to re-tie as much on the water due to the fact that I had better line management. My line also did not need to be changed as often because of the lack of line twist. My hook sets were solid just like using any casting rod and did not lose any fish this year or last year when using this set up. I was in better control of the fish when fighting and landing the fish especially in really shallow or very deep water. This set up is way more accurate with my casts if I was drop-shotting to a particular target in shallow water like a dock or a shallow rock pile with deep water around it. It is like pitching and flipping but using a softer rod that is usually meant for open water situations or around some structure without the need for heavy line. I found that with using a casting rod I am in control more on certain situations and being able to be more accurate to targets resulted in catching more fish. This set up has been be added to my other spinning drop shot set ups to what I believe is the complete package now for drop shot rods and reels. I now have a set up for every situation on the water where drop-shotting will be used. Next year use a quality casting drop shot set up and you will definitely catch more fish and enjoy fishing a new set up for drop-shotting. See you out on the water and please practice catch and release!