@Clive
Well-known member
A few years back Flightliner mentioned a dropper that can be set to open at any depth. Two years ago I made my own and it works a treat. I'll try and describe it. The one that I made was designed to have a maximum depth range of 6 foot because that ass the most that I could comfortably cast with my 11 foot telescopic pike rod that doubles as my dropper / spod rod. If you have a longer rod then it can be made longer by adjusting the measurements below.
Start with 14 foot of mono' around 15lb bs. Double it and form a small loop knot at the top end where the line is doubled over. That loop knot is then attached loop to eye with a swivel. Of the two lengths of line, call them A & B for clarification.
On A slide on a substantial ledger stop and then on both lines a large sliding pike float ideally with the lines passing down a tube in the middle of the float.
On B tie a strong link swivel 6 feet from the top swivel. Use that to attach a banjo dropper. Then lay the rig on the ground extended with lines A & B side by side with no slack in them. On line A tie a loop that just fits over the trigger loop of the dropper when the door is in the closed and latched position.
In use the ledger stop on line A can be set anywhere from a few inches below the top swivel to a few inches above the dropper trigger which would be around 6 feet down. Before filling the dropper slip the loop on line A over the latching trigger. When you cast out both lines pass through the sliding float equally until the ledger stop on line A prevents that from giving any more line. Line B however continues to feed through the sliding float as the dropper descends and this causes the dropper to open as the trigger is pulled up effectively suspending the dropper on line A.
There is a bit of fine tuning regards the trigger on the door of the dropper. It has to be tight enough so as not to open on the cast but opens freely as the dropper's weight is taken up by line A.
Between use you can take the dropper off the rig and wind the two llnes in parallel on a large pole winder.
I normally use this in the warmer months to get maggots past the millions of bleak that inhabit the surface layer or when fishing really deep river swims where allowing the bait to start dispersing 6 feet down is better than firing it in with a catapult and gives a tighter baited area.