The drop shot rig: how to tie it and what gear it needs

What a drop shot rig is, and when it beats other rigs

A drop shot rig inverts the usual order. On a Texas rig or a jig, the weight leads and the bait follows it along the bottom. On a drop shot, the weight is the anchor and the bait rides above it on a short length of line. Lift the rod an inch and the weight stays put while the bait quivers in place.

That matters when fish are holding rather than chasing. Cold water, high pressure, clear water, fish stacked on a single rock or a brush pile, fish suspended a foot or two off the bottom on sonar. A bait that stays in front of them does more than a bait that swims past.

It also beats other rigs for precision. If sonar shows fish two feet off the bottom, you set the tag length to two feet and the bait fishes at that height every cast. Few other common rigs give you that kind of control over bait height.

Where it loses is speed and cover. Covering a long flat quickly is a job for a crankbait or a swimbait. Heavy matted vegetation is a job for a Texas rig with a heavy weight. The drop shot is a finesse tool for fish you have already found.

The parts list

Four things make a drop shot rig, and none of them are complicated.

A drop shot hook, which is a short-shank hook with a straight or slightly turned-in eye and a light wire gauge. A drop shot weight, which is a small weight with a line clip or a swivel at the top instead of a hole through the middle. Line, usually braid as a main line. And fluorocarbon leader material, if you are running braid and want a low-visibility connection at the business end.

A soft plastic finishes it. Straight-tail worms, small finesse worms, minnow-shaped baits and small creature baits all work, and the choice mostly follows what the fish are eating. The rig does not care much which one you pick, as long as the bait is light enough that your hook and line can move it.

GearPort does not currently stock hooks, weights or soft plastics. It does stock the Scotty 451 Mini Gear Caddy fishing tackle organizer and the Scotty 152 Ball Mounting System, and those are the parts of the setup the store can help with.

How to tie a drop shot rig, step by step

The standard knot is the Palomar, because it finishes with the hook eye sitting in a loop and the tag end running straight down. That is exactly what the rig needs.

Step one: double the main line back on itself to make a loop, and pass that doubled loop through the hook eye. Leave yourself plenty of doubled line, because the tag you keep becomes the drop and it needs to be as long as the distance you want between weight and bait, plus a little to work with.

Step two: tie a loose overhand knot with the doubled line, so the hook hangs in a loop below the knot. Step three: pass the hook through that loop, so the loop passes over the hook and comes to sit above the eye.

Step four: wet the knot and draw it up by pulling on the doubled line until it seats tightly against the hook eye. Because you started with a long doubled section, two lines now leave the knot at the hook eye: one is the standing main line running back to the reel, the other is the spare tag you reserved for the weight. Leave that tag long instead of trimming it. It is what carries the weight.

Step five: run the tag through the hook eye a second time, from the top down. That is the step people skip, and it is the step that keeps the hook pointing up instead of drooping. Step six: measure your tag length, then clip the drop shot weight onto the very end of the tag.

Choosing hook style and size

Three hook styles cover nearly everything. A straight-shank drop shot hook for nose-hooking a bait, which most anglers find gives more action and better exposure of the point on open water fish. A wide gap or offset worm hook for rigging the bait weedless when there is cover to get through. And a small circle hook where you prefer one.

Nose-hooking means passing the hook point through the very tip of the bait, in one side and out the other, so the plastic hangs free and the hook rides exposed. Weedless means burying the point back in the plastic, which costs you some hook-ups but lets you fish a brush pile without collecting every twig in it.

Size follows the bait, not the fish. A small finesse worm wants a small, light-wire hook. A longer worm or a bulkier minnow bait wants something larger so the gap clears the body of the plastic. If the bait folds over the hook shank and the point is buried in plastic on a nose-hooked presentation, the hook is too small.

Light wire is a feature here, not a compromise. A thin hook penetrates on the slack-line bites this rig generates, and it lets you pull a snagged hook free by bending it rather than breaking off the whole rig. Set with a sweeping lift, not a hard snap, and light wire holds fine.

Drop shot weights: shapes, sizes and how to pick

Two shapes matter. A cylinder weight, sometimes called a pencil or stick weight, is long and thin and slides out of rock crevices instead of wedging in them. A teardrop weight is round and bulbous, gives better bottom feel on sand and mud, and casts a little better in wind.

Weights are generally sold in lead and in lead-free materials, as general background rather than a claim about any particular product. Check the local rules where you fish before choosing a material.

Sizing is about the lightest weight that still does the job. The weight has to hold bottom against wind, current and boat drift, keep your line reasonably straight, and let you feel when it lands. Light weights give the bait more freedom, and many anglers find fish hold them longer. Heavy weights get down faster in wind and deep water and keep contact when you are drifting.

Many drop shot weights use a pinch clip at the top: you run the line into the clip and pull it tight, and the line grips without a knot. That is deliberate. Snag the weight and it pulls off the line, so you lose a weight instead of the hook, the bait and the whole rig. Reclip a new one and you are fishing again in seconds.

Tag length is the other dial. Fish pinned to the bottom want a short tag of a few inches. Fish suspended off the bottom want the tag set to the height sonar shows them at. There is no correct number, only the number that matches what you are looking at on the screen.

Rod, reel and line that suit the technique

A spinning setup is the normal choice, because the rig is light and spinning tackle handles light line and small weights better than a baitcaster. A medium-light or medium power rod with a fast tip is the pairing most drop shot anglers land on: soft enough at the tip to shake the bait without dragging the weight, with enough backbone lower down to drive the hook.

Length is a compromise between reach and control. A longer rod picks up more line on the hookset and lets you cast lighter rigs further. A shorter rod gives better control when you are fishing straight down under the boat.

For line, braid main with a fluorocarbon leader is the common arrangement. Braid has very low stretch compared with monofilament, so a shake at the rod tip is a shake at the bait, and a bite at depth feels like a bite rather than a vague heaviness. Fluorocarbon leader is used at the end where fish can see it, because makers and many anglers rate it as less visible and more abrasion resistant.

Light braid is the kind of main line this technique runs on. Straight fluorocarbon as a main line also works and some anglers prefer it, at the cost of some sensitivity and a lot of line memory on a spinning spool.

How to fish the rig in different water and cover

The most common mistake is moving it too much. Cast or drop the rig, let the weight settle, take up the slack until the line is just short of tight, and then do almost nothing. Small shakes of the rod tip with the weight still on the bottom make the bait quiver without travelling. Pause between shakes and let it hang.

Over rock and riprap, use a cylinder weight and lift the rig over structure rather than dragging it through. Dragging is what wedges a weight. Over sand and mud flats, a teardrop weight and a slow drag with long pauses works, and the puff of silt the weight kicks up is part of the attraction.

Around brush and wood, rig the bait weedless on an offset hook and fish vertically where you can, so the line comes down through the cover instead of across it. In current, go heavier than you would in still water and fish downstream of the boat, letting the current straighten the line for you.

Fishing it vertically under the boat, over marked fish, is where the rig shines and where tag length pays off. Watch the screen, set the tag to put the bait at their level, and hold it there. A rod holder is useful for a second rod while you work the first one, and GearPort stocks the Scotty 152 Ball Mounting System for mounting one.

Common problems and how to fix them

The hook hangs point-down. You skipped the second pass of the tag through the hook eye, or you passed it through in the wrong direction. Run the tag down through the eye from the top so it exits under the hook, and the shank will stand up.

The knot slips or the line breaks at the hook. Wet the knot before you seat it, seat it with steady pressure rather than a jerk, and check that the loop on a Palomar has come over the hook cleanly without crossing over itself. Light braid straight to a light hook is also harsh on knots, which is one reason a fluorocarbon leader helps.

Line twist and tangles. This is a spinning reel problem more than a rig problem. A rig that spins on the drop, usually a bait that is rigged crooked, twists line fast. Straighten the bait on the hook, and add a swivel above the leader if twist keeps returning.

You keep losing weights, or you never lose them. Losing the occasional weight to a snag means the clip is doing its job. Never losing one may just mean you are not fishing snaggy bottom, or it may mean the clip is gripping too hard and you are breaking off whole rigs instead. Losing them on every cast means the clip is worn or the line is too light for it to grip.

Missed bites. Drop shot bites often arrive as the line going slack or the weight feeling suddenly light, because the fish has lifted the bait. Reel down until you feel weight, then sweep the rod up. Do not snap a light-wire hook against a slack line.

Finally, organisation. A tackle organiser that keeps hooks, weights and leader spools separate saves time on the water, and GearPort stocks the Scotty 451 Mini Gear Caddy, a compact fishing tackle organizer that fits on a boat or a kayak.

Common questions

How do you tie a drop shot rig?

Tie a Palomar knot on a short-shank hook, leaving a long tag end below the knot. Double the line, pass the loop through the eye, tie a loose overhand knot, pass the hook through the loop, then wet and seat the knot on the eye. Keep the long tag, run it back down through the hook eye from the top, and clip a weight to its end.

How far above the weight should the hook be?

As far as the fish are off the bottom. A few inches for fish pinned to the bottom, one to three feet for fish holding just above it, and more when sonar shows them suspended higher. Set the tag length from what you see on the screen rather than from a fixed rule, and change it during the day as the fish move.

What size drop shot weight do I need?

The lightest weight that still holds bottom and keeps your line reasonably straight. Wind, current, depth and boat drift all push you heavier. Light weights let the bait move freely, and many anglers find fish hold them longer. Carry a range of sizes in both cylinder and teardrop shapes rather than committing to one.

Braid or fluorocarbon for a drop shot?

Light braid as a main line with a fluorocarbon leader is the usual arrangement. Braid has very low stretch compared with monofilament, so you feel bites and control the bait precisely. Fluorocarbon at the hook end is less visible and handles abrasion. Straight fluorocarbon also works and some anglers prefer it, though it has more memory on a spinning spool.

Do I need a special drop shot hook?

A short-shank, light-wire hook with a straight or turned-in eye is designed for it and rides upright well. Any small, light hook you can tie a Palomar on will fish, and an offset worm hook is the right choice when you need the bait rigged weedless in brush or wood.

Why does my hook point down instead of up?

Almost always because the tag end was not passed back through the hook eye after the knot was seated, or it was passed through from the wrong side. Run the tag down through the eye from above so it exits below the hook. That pull from underneath is what holds the shank horizontal and the point up.