Drop Shot Help for Smallies

nwbasshunter · Post by **nwbasshunter** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:06 pm

Hey guys, I am needing some help here. I've been dry on the big fish lately and am needing some help on drop shotting for smallies. I fish Clear Lake in Pierce County and am so addicted to the smallmouth I don't even know largemouth exist sometimes. I am taking this personal now. Any advice on dropshotting would be greatly appreciated. I am finding structure I think, but to no avail, no fish. They are showing up on my electronics, but I don't know if I'm using the right stuff. I know how to tie it up, but do you guys use any special plastics. Do worms work better than grubs or creatures? Anything would help. I am using a 7' light rod with 6lb fluorocarbon line and spinning great, that part is right I think. Thanks in advance and God Bless.

islandbass · Post by **islandbass** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:16 pm

I am not an expert at drop shotting, but I am a bit fond of the technique such that I decided to write a little something on it.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReadArticle.aspx?id=260

With regard to baits to use, don't limit yourself to just worms. Just about any lure that can be stuck with a hook can be used, both nose and wacky hooked.

Hope it helps.

-ib

2000subaru · Post by **2000subaru** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:40 pm

You have a great start on the setup, maybe it is your bait selection that is making things difficult. I usually have one of the following plastics on my dropshot rig: Small Senko (3" or 4"), Yamamoto Twintail Grub (5"), Sniper Bolt, a Panic Minnow, locally made West Coast Custom Tackle Western Finesse Worm. I have only fished Clear Lake once, but I hear that the smallies are kinda picky about the drop speed. I know tubes stuffed with weight has been a killer in the past there. Maybe you can play with lighter and heavier weights until you find what they are wanting. Are you picking apart the docks or just targeting structure? I know the lake has some great rock piles that are in open water. Be sure to check out WCCT's discount for WALAKES members, and also look into the Panic Minnows. They look like real fish!

Let me know what eventually works, because I am just dying to fish that lake. When Sparky gets back online, PM him. He can help.

Dustin07 · Post by **Dustin07** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:20 am

I've had more luck with a 6-7" black power bait worm than anything else. I don't know if it's the color, the size, or the action or what... but I've had basically no luck with Senkos, catch most of mine with power worms. I think they look more realistic myself though. Maybe i'm more confident with them and fish them more?...?...

That said, I'm not really one to give advice yet :P

Bigbass Dez · Post by **Bigbass Dez** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:51 am

IM WITH 2000 !! You just need to get a few packs of WCCT baits , I would personaly suggest the Money shot Minnow in Greenpumkin with copper /black flake .. After you hang a toad share the story about it on here ... !!

BBD

islandbass · Post by **islandbass** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:31 pm

Bigbass Dez wrote:IM WITH 2000 !! You just need to get a few packs of WCCT baits , I would personaly suggest the Money shot Minnow in Greenpumkin with copper /black flake .. After you hang a toad share the story about it on here ... !!

BBD

Can they be bought somewhere like OE? You guys are making me itch to try some out.

Dustin,

If you're targetting smallies, downsize to a 3" senko and wacky rig it. I have caught smallies on black, white, brown, and green senkos or senko knockoffs. Learn to just work the line if you're wiggling your bait to death. Senkos sink all by themselves so with a semi-slack line, all you would need to do is keep it dangling between you and the weight and mix in a little dead sticking. For me, smallies seem to be more receptive to this than largies, but of the other side of the coin, I've almost forgotten what largies are like to catch. Only caught on LMB this season, about 3# from Steel Lake on a crankbait that wasn't even painted. I think the bass in there got tired of the drop shot trap.

2000subaru · Post by **2000subaru** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 2:00 pm

Island Bass - Have faith in DJ and go to http://www.westcoastcustomtackle.com and order some. All in the colors he has listed in previous posts. If you don't like them, get in touch with dez and I'm sure he will buy them back from you!:^o

Bigbass Dez · Post by **Bigbass Dez** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:29 pm

2000subaru wrote:Island Bass - Have faith in DJ and go to http://www.westcoastcustomtackle.com and order some. All in the colors he has listed in previous posts. If you don't like them, get in touch with dez and I'm sure he will buy them back from you!:^o

I stand behind what i believe in !! If these baits didnt catch smallies and i didnt use them myself .. Honestly i wouldnt represent WCCT period !!.. See these baits have already been proven (field tested certified) .. D.J. myself and a few other pro-staff members , we are all tourney anglers ! meaning with $ on the line we have these baits tied up !

so to some things up for ya , heck ya ill will buy them back , not a such thing as too many baits with me .. kinda looking forward to it ! im kinda hoping you hate them ! kinda hoping you buy allot of them and get so angry that you sell them back to me for half the cost just to get rid of them ... Now im kinda waiting !

islandbass · Post by **islandbass** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:49 pm

Bigbass Dez wrote:
2000subaru wrote:Island Bass - Have faith in DJ and go to http://www.westcoastcustomtackle.com and order some. All in the colors he has listed in previous posts. If you don't like them, get in touch with dez and I'm sure he will buy them back from you!:^o

I stand behind what i believe in !! If these baits didnt catch smallies and i didnt use them myself .. Honestly i wouldnt represent WCCT period !!.. See these baits have already been proven (field tested certified) .. D.J. myself and a few other pro-staff members , we are all tourney anglers ! meaning with $ on the line we have these baits tied up !

so to some things up for ya , heck ya ill will buy them back , not a such thing as too many baits with me .. kinda looking forward to it ! im kinda hoping you hate them ! kinda hoping you buy allot of them and get so angry that you sell them back to me for half the cost just to get rid of them ... Now im kinda waiting !

Thanks, bro. I knew I could depend on you to make me spend some money on new baits. :cyclopsan I will be checking out there site later tonight. I might not fish for $$ (yet) but I am always for positive catching results.

nwbasshunter · Post by **nwbasshunter** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:06 pm

Thanks guys for the advice, I'm off tonight to give it a whirl. I've been fishing open water as I haven't found a decent sized fish on the docks for a couple weeks. I've been full of action, just nothing over 2lbs lately and I know the big ones go deep. It's a technique that I haven't used very much so my confidence level isn't very high with it. I've been doing good with a shakey head jig and a double tailed grub, but this is just something I'd love to master. Thanks again for the advice.

2000, I've ran into Spanky and the gang out there a few times last year, and yes, they seem to have the trick for that lake and just in smallies in general. They have definately put some nice fish on the boat from what I've seen in pics.

Thanks again and God Bless.

BucketMouthCatcher · Post by **BucketMouthCatcher** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:34 pm

sounds like you've been given solid advice. A few notes about clear lake real quick that might help ya some.

1. the bottom of clear lake is covered with some type of vegitation that is about 1' to 3' thick . So for a drop shot rig in clear lake I would use a 4' leader to my wieght under my hook.

2. I've had good luck with green colors like green pumpkin and watermelon as well as smoke with gold and black fleck in clear lake this year in spring. Summer hit and those colors stopped working so well. My last trip to clear lake was about 2 weeks ago and we tried a bunch of differant colors till we finally found what they wanted. BLACK. Just straight up black no fleck just plain black. We drop shotted black 3" gulp minnows and 6.5" yammy cut tail worms wacky style.

Caught lots of fish but the few big ones we seen wouldn't bite anything. We threw the tackleboxes at them and thats quite a lot. Seen 3 smallies that would have pushed 5 pounds or more. They wouldn't even look twice at my 6" catch 22 trout patterned swim bait =( .

Hope that helps ya some. Good luck and happy fishing.

oh yeah forgot to mention that clear lake is a great lmb lake as well. I usually have a 1 to 1 smb to lmb catch ratio there while drop shotting deep 15 to 30' of water.

bassmasterderek · Post by **bassmasterderek** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:34 pm

nwbasshunter wrote:Thanks guys for the advice, I'm off tonight to give it a whirl. I've been fishing open water as I haven't found a decent sized fish on the docks for a couple weeks. I've been full of action, just nothing over 2lbs lately and I know the big ones go deep. It's a technique that I haven't used very much so my confidence level isn't very high with it. I've been doing good with a shakey head jig and a double tailed grub, but this is just something I'd love to master. Thanks again for the advice.

2000, I've ran into Spanky and the gang out there a few times last year, and yes, they seem to have the trick for that lake and just in smallies in general. They have definately put some nice fish on the boat from what I've seen in pics.

Thanks again and God Bless.

I am not sure if you mean sparky or not. Not sure who spanky is though. Sparky does not target largies in that lake and never will. He is smallieking period. We have caught largemouth there but we do not target them at the specific lake. Listen to BBD and 2000Subaru they knows what they are talking about.

BMD

Anglinarcher · Post by **Anglinarcher** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:35 pm

I don't want to put any bait down, but I suspect it is not the worm, but the fish. Are you catching anything at all on what you are using?

Smallies are really easy to catch on drop shot, if it is smallies you are seeing. This time of year I would even suggest trying Gulp Alive Leaches. Senkos should work fine, as well as almost any minnow style soft plastic bait.

Last, if you are indeed catching smallies, but they are small, it is probably that you are not finding the school of larger smallies. Small fish and large fish tend to serrate themselves this time of year.

Dustin07 · Post by **Dustin07** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:50 pm

islandbass wrote:
Can they be bought somewhere like OE? You guys are making me itch to try some out.

Dustin,

If you're targetting smallies, downsize to a 3" senko and wacky rig it. I have caught smallies on black, white, brown, and green senkos or senko knockoffs. Learn to just work the line if you're wiggling your bait to death. Senkos sink all by themselves so with a semi-slack line, all you would need to do is keep it dangling between you and the weight and mix in a little dead sticking. For me, smallies seem to be more receptive to this than largies, but of the other side of the coin, I've almost forgotten what largies are like to catch. Only caught on LMB this season, about 3# from Steel Lake on a crankbait that wasn't even painted. I think the bass in there got tired of the drop shot trap.

deal! thanks buddy! I have not really tried any plastics that short. I've really focused on longer 6"+ plastics, including the senkos. I have caught only two real LMB's this year, one on a spinner, and one on.... a 6" senko (LOL) it was the only bass I caught on a senko this year, both were at Lake Geneva and the bigger one was 2lbs, the smaller around 1lb.

I would love to hit Geneva again... so maybe I'll go with the 3" senko! I hear there are some bigguns there...

Post by **Amx** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:03 pm

So is that launch big enough for a bass boat? Not to mention enough parking so the trailer isn't in other people's way?

BucketMouthCatcher · Post by **BucketMouthCatcher** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:48 pm

Amx wrote:So is that launch big enough for a bass boat? Not to mention enough parking so the trailer isn't in other people's way?

Geneva and Killarney(launches are across the street from each other) both have dirt ramps. Killarney has better parking then the Geneva lot and is a short walk. I dont think either launch will accomidate a 16'+ bassboat though. With the water down I'm not sure if I could even launch my little 12' boat =( . both launches are very shallow.

islandbass · Post by **islandbass** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:39 pm

Dustin07 wrote:
islandbass wrote:
Can they be bought somewhere like OE? You guys are making me itch to try some out.

Dustin,

If you're targetting smallies, downsize to a 3" senko and wacky rig it. I have caught smallies on black, white, brown, and green senkos or senko knockoffs. Learn to just work the line if you're wiggling your bait to death. Senkos sink all by themselves so with a semi-slack line, all you would need to do is keep it dangling between you and the weight and mix in a little dead sticking. For me, smallies seem to be more receptive to this than largies, but of the other side of the coin, I've almost forgotten what largies are like to catch. Only caught on LMB this season, about 3# from Steel Lake on a crankbait that wasn't even painted. I think the bass in there got tired of the drop shot trap.
deal! thanks buddy! I have not really tried any plastics that short. I've really focused on longer 6"+ plastics, including the senkos. I have caught only two real LMB's this year, one on a spinner, and one on.... a 6" senko (LOL) it was the only bass I caught on a senko this year, both were at Lake Geneva and the bigger one was 2lbs, the smaller around 1lb.

I would love to hit Geneva again... so maybe I'll go with the 3" senko! I hear there are some bigguns there...

Dang, I didn't realize you lived that close! Unfortunately, I am shorebound and my luck at those lakes, such as 5 mile, Geneva and the one next to it Kilarney I think have been dismal. Steel lake, now that's a different story.

If the cover allows and you haven't already, try 6# line, FC preferably. Good luck!

PS: You need to get to Lake Union.

MaxExp82 · Post by **MaxExp82** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:13 pm

islandbass wrote:I am not an expert at drop shotting, but I am a bit fond of the technique such that I decided to write a little something on it.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReadArticle.aspx?id=260

With regard to baits to use, don't limit yourself to just worms. Just about any lure that can be stuck with a hook can be used, both nose and wacky hooked.

Hope it helps.

-ib

I went bass fishing today, I had never drop shotted before, But i read this thread, and the article, and tied up a drop shot today. I used a Creature bait on the hook , and it was only a matter of mins before i hooked a decent 12 inch LM in 17 feet of water , and boy was it fun ! Caught 3 more drop shotting today, with only limited use, but I can see where drop shotting could be a useful tool, and I will be adding it to my bag of tricks !

Thanks !

nwbasshunter · Post by **nwbasshunter** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:48 pm

BassMasterDerek, Yes you are absolutely correct it's Sparky, not Spanky, don't mean no disrespect there, just a typo on my part. I used to see him a few times there at the launch in the morning, this of course being pre WALakes or I would have introduced myself. Anyways, He was always taking pics of nice fish, they definately had the touch and skill there.

Well went up last nite and am going again tonight. I think I just haven't found the right structure or right school cause the fish are around 2lbs and then seem to have found a few schools of perch. It will take some time, but I'm pretty persistant to figure it all out. It definately is a challenge fishing the 25-40 feet range but just another tool to add to the arsenal. Thanks again for all the advice.

islandbass · Post by **islandbass** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:22 pm

MaxExp82 wrote:
islandbass wrote:I am not an expert at drop shotting, but I am a bit fond of the technique such that I decided to write a little something on it.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReadArticle.aspx?id=260

With regard to baits to use, don't limit yourself to just worms. Just about any lure that can be stuck with a hook can be used, both nose and wacky hooked.

Hope it helps.

-ib

I went bass fishing today, I had never drop shotted before, But i read this thread, and the article, and tied up a drop shot today. I used a Creature bait on the hook , and it was only a matter of mins before i hooked a decent 12 inch LM in 17 feet of water , and boy was it fun ! Caught 3 more drop shotting today, with only limited use, but I can see where drop shotting could be a useful tool, and I will be adding it to my bag of tricks !

Thanks !

Man, that is awesome! Glad it helped. Congrats on your success. :smurf:

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Drop Shot Help for Smallies

Drop Shot Help for Smallies

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