Questions for you drop shot experts

[One_Tracc_Mind]

Ya, everyone has their style. I found braid on my cranking rod was just too much, kept loosing fish because of pulling out hooks, same with my jerk bait set up. The mono had too much stretch and fish kept spitting it out. Floro had that perfect combo. I like the mono for top water cause it floats and gives those top water baits a little better action. Works for me I guess. Trial and error.

[JoshEfishing]

I am definatley not an expert but I do a good amount of drop shotting, I use a small size 2 hook with a nose hooked 4 inch trick/drop shot worm or for a less finesse approach I'll use a 1/0 or 2/0 hook with a wacky rigged senko. Lots of the time like Frederick said I will get tons of panfish playing with my bait. Sometimes when I feel tension I instantly know a fishing is on so I just reel up fast and do a somewhat like hook set which is just enough to get the fish hooked well. Where other times I've waited for 10 second feeling the tension just to make sure the bass had it well and then set the hook. That's what I do, good luck next time out!
Josh

[OUTCAST]

5/0 hook is rediculously big for drop shotting, use braid for your main line and flouro for your leader, set the hook when you feel anything, don't reel down then set because 8 out of ten times the fish already had it in their mouth and spit it. Drop shotting bass I use 10lb braid and 10lb floro with proper drop shot hooks.

[Legend Boats]

Dropshot is a very fun way to catch fish in Deep, Shallow and around docks. Usually with a dropshot rig you don’t need to set the hook. The majority of the time the fish will set the hook for you and you just keep pressure to drive the hook home. Lowering your rod tip to set the hook will lower your percentage of hook sets. You will find fish have a tendency to feel pressure from the bait fish they are eating and makes them hang on the bait longer. Removing pressure from the hook will send a red flag and the fish could spit the hook out.


A proper rod setup will allow the bend of the rod do most of the work when lifting the rod. Again you still want to put pressure on the rod when lifting but the hook set should’t be as exaggerated as setting the hook on a fish in the pads.


Hope this helps

Cheers Henry

[DropShot'r]

I'm not really an expert.....just some guy that spent a lot of time fishing lakes and rivers trying different baits, hooks, lines, leaders and a few rods and along the way have become amazed at how versatile dropshoting truly is.

Look at dropshotting more as a bait delivery system for your particular fishing situations.


Most people consider dropshotting a finesse presentation only, and that’s wrong. Generally smallies are the main target of the finesse crowd, me included. My finesse rig is a Dobyns Extreme HP 742SF& a 3000 Shimano Ci4 spooled with 10lb Sufix 832 with 5lb or 7lb Sufix fluorocarbon leader.


What about largemouth? No problem. Beef up the rod, line, weight, hook and bait and work those mid-summer deep weedlines.


With balanced tackle there really isn’t anywhere that can’t be successfully dropshot.


Experiment & have some fun.
Good luck,
Drop

[Swingpure]

A little late replying to my own thread, but I became pretty successful in my hookups. Part of it was better identifying what was a fish, vs rock, vs weeds, but the biggest part was I just kept the image of the fish taking it and closing it's lips closed tight to keep it's "meal" in. I simply wound the line until I felt the weight of the fish, then I would raise the rod, while still winding.

As mentioned sometimes they set the hook on their own.

Funny with the wacky worm or tube jig, I would do a big hook set, but the drop shot I found no real hook set was necessary, just wind the hook into the closed lips.

The KVD dreamshot and the Set the Hook crushworm were great baits. The Gary Yamamoto pro senko and California roll worms were also very good. Friend had a lot of success with the Gulp 3" leech.

[Swingpure]

I forgot to mentioned, I went with 10 lb Trilene Sensation monofilament line for my dropshot rig. It worked well in the stained waters where I fished. I also went with a #2 size dropshot hook.