Drop shotting - am I missing something?
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tommos16
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It was the day I've seen many a time on YouTube but had so far eluded me. I googled mapped a lot, saw a lock that was entirely under a bridge and was convinced it was perch central. Eventually walked that mile and it paid off, which was beyond my wildest dreams. I had a follow off a very slow drop shot retrieve, then decided to spin the rig like it was a lure, and then I was in. After that I just dropped the lure in the kill zone and it was non stop bites.
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Another Dave
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I've got a swim that i'm confident has resident perch and i'm keen to give the old dropshotting another go. I have all the right gear apart from the special hooks but if that youtube is anything to go by you can use any hook within reason.
tommos16
Well-known member
I'm a rank amateur but today I got lucky and I couldn't even tell you the size of the hook I had on except it was a hell of a lot bigger than anything I'd ever try and get any Silver fish on. Perch apparently can swallow most hooks (again, youtube is my only informant on that) so I don't think it'll be much of an issue. Hopefully you pull plenty out and have a great time, days like yesterday are what I dreamed of
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Another Dave
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Perch of all sizes are absolute sods for swallowing the hook, dropshotting would seem to be a way of avoiding this almost completely.
Couple of years ago one of the kids had a handsome trout dropshotting a live worm, and on another occasion i messed up a take from another trout How did you get on?
Couple of years ago one of the kids had a handsome trout dropshotting a live worm, and on another occasion i messed up a take from another trout How did you get on?
tommos16
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Finally had a read about your day with the trout, what a day mate!
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sylvanillo
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I know the dropshot a bit but you may also take a few alternative rigs with you. When I fish for zander, it's quite often that I hardly feel a bite, some would probably conclude that there's no fish at all on the area. With perch it might be a bit easier though but still...
The rigs I'm most frequently using for both perch and zander are:
1) Cochard weight. It's a plan-triangular weight, sitting close to a texas hook that hosts a soft lure. Good lures could be very small shads, a classical phospho curly tail, a yellow double tail etc. The good thing with this rig is that the lure is free running and always works.
2) a wobbling deadbait rig - I make them myself, inspired from the Drachko rig.
I use a Shogun PMM rod which is stiff and veeery sensitive. I think I'll feel a roach farting at a 1 feet range. And that being said, while perch tend to bite ok, zander are far more discreet.
If you fancy on, then you could try with a sprat. Cheap, easy to find, very effective on perch, pike, zander.
The rigs I'm most frequently using for both perch and zander are:
1) Cochard weight. It's a plan-triangular weight, sitting close to a texas hook that hosts a soft lure. Good lures could be very small shads, a classical phospho curly tail, a yellow double tail etc. The good thing with this rig is that the lure is free running and always works.
2) a wobbling deadbait rig - I make them myself, inspired from the Drachko rig.
I use a Shogun PMM rod which is stiff and veeery sensitive. I think I'll feel a roach farting at a 1 feet range. And that being said, while perch tend to bite ok, zander are far more discreet.
If you fancy on, then you could try with a sprat. Cheap, easy to find, very effective on perch, pike, zander.
dorsetsteve
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I do enjoy the drop shot, but where I am there are no canals for over an hours drive. So as a method for my local Waters is quite limited. What I have switched to is light spinning, jigging and lure Work.
If you haven’t yet, get hold of a light wire trace and some cheap jig heads. You can bump these about and cover far ore water at a faster rate, once you find the Perch you can switch to the dropshot if appropriate. If you haven’t yet, have a look at the AGM Fishing shop, that will give you some taster things to throw about without melting your wallet.
If you haven’t yet, get hold of a light wire trace and some cheap jig heads. You can bump these about and cover far ore water at a faster rate, once you find the Perch you can switch to the dropshot if appropriate. If you haven’t yet, have a look at the AGM Fishing shop, that will give you some taster things to throw about without melting your wallet.
tommos16
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Steve, thanks mate! I'm nearing the end of a one month ship building project and I haven't so much as seen a rod, when I get back I'm going to be fishing with a vengeance
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spoonminnow
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Drop shot rigs are fine for slowly working areas near the bottom, but not efficient working different depths and more water in more directions from where you're casting. For that I would highly recommend a light unpainted ball head jig and soft plastic lure with a tapered tail - not a curl tail. Jig weight and hook size are very important for best lure action and rate of retrieve. 1/8 oz in my opinion is too large for small finesse lures whereas 1/32 and 1/16 oz do fine in line with what a drop shot rig is intended for.
Lure suggestions:
soft plastic tail design suggestions
Tackle suggestions:
light action rod 6' or medium action rod with flexible 1/3 - also 6'
braid - Kastking - abrasion resistant 8 # test (Ebay) (It's 2 # diameter test allows the best action and good strike detection)
strike detection and hookset:
Keep rod angle near 45 degrees while working the lure.
When nothing is felt with the pull of the line, reel in any slack and raise the rod tip higher until resistance is felt. Most strikes involve fish coming towards you with lure in mouth. Once the fish starts to panic, a few sharp upward jerks of the rod tip sets the hook deeper. When it comes to float strikes, wait until the float stays 6" or more under the surface and then set the hook the same way.
Over-the-shoulder hook set slams are unnecessary and unwanted for smaller hooks as long as the hook is SHARP. Carry a file always and check hook sharpness !!!!! A few rubs on three sides towards the point can make all the difference.
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For thoose that work the drop shot a lot to find it an all year tatic? I tend to fish minnows a lot in summer but there some days when i just want to pop put for hour or so don't have time to catch them or is it better to swap to a jig in warmer months?
David Gane
Well-known member
Dropshotting is just another form of fishing with an artificial lure, so the answer to your question is the same as for spinning etc: it is perfectly possible to catch fish at any time of year, although in my experience it tends to work better in the summer months. Just the same, I've had some outstanding perch during winter.. However at all times of the year it works much better on some days than it does others for reasons that are not always really clear. Atmospheric pressure certainly has an influence though.
There are other factors that definitely affect success that are more obvious. Of these, water clarity is the most obvious. Lure fishing generally relies on predators seeing the lure and if they can see it from a good distance you are much more likely to have success than if the water is murky. This contrasts with other kinds of fishing where colour in the water is a good thing. There are also practical considerations. If fishing in moving water the strength of the current has an influence; you don't want the current to be too strong as it will move your weight around too much on the bottom. Of course you can look for areas where the water is a little slacker, although personally I tend to give dropshotting a miss if the current is strong.
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tommos16
Well-known member
Hi mate. I've found similar to the other post, it worked well up to October then went quiet for me. That's when I switched to dropshotting worms just off the bottom and basically fishing it static, and it was productive for perch. I suppose in theory roach would take half a worm fishing in a similar way but with perch, you can move the bait, for anything else I'd assume it'd have to be dead still.
I fish float, ledger, spinning, desdbaits, all sorts, and by far and away dropshotting has got me the most fish. But with worms, not atricifial lures.
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Have you tried drop shotting in and around Ramsgate Harbour?
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They have recently put in restrictions but I’m sure there will be a few spots close to the harbour that could prove ideal for a bit of drop shotting.