Drop-shotting for Walleye

[Steve(CO)]

Being home recovering from surgery gives me much too much time to think about stuff like this. The big rage in finesse bass fishing seems to be drop-shotting. My understanding is that you put a sinker on the terminal point of your line and tie one or two hooks directly to the line 1-3 feet above the sinker. Stick a plastic minnow or worm on and you can keep the line stationary (in one spot) while twitching to give the lures enticing action right in the fish's face. Sounds to me like this ought to work like a charm on walleye and perch when they are tight to cover or structure. Anyone have any experience with this method?

[eatereyes]

It's a real common way to fish Perch on the Great Lakes here in Mich.

[Steve(CO)]

Sounds good. What size hooks do you use and what baits? I'd like to try that locally for perch.

[eatereyes]

We use small minnows, wigglers, leeches, wax worms or spikes (maggots) on a long shank #6 or #8 gold hook, or sometimes a small narrow gap jig w/grub body and bait.Always take as many different baits as you can or they will be hitting on what you didn't bring.

[Fuzzy]

It does. Try it with confidence.

[Goldpig]

It works very well. Use the lightest wire hooks you can find (the less weight in the hook, the more realistic action).

[ceem]

sounds like perch jerkin when you run out of bait an
try artificials to me. to me it is a decent back up strategy but
I will do it with real minners!, unless I run out then I break out the plastics. huh they musta been onta somthin 50+ years ago

[delque]

thanks for the breakdown on the lightwire hooks!

[Ric]

And thanks for being sarcastic. Keep in mind that there different levels of anglers here. I am sure there is more than one person, me included, that didn't know using lightwire hooks is advantageous. We are still waiting to hear all of your wonderful input.

[Steve(CO)]

Thanks for ALL of the comments. I agree that the simplest suggestions are helpful, whether someone is experienced or not. When I sit down with the Cabela's or BPS catalogs, every suggestion helps when trying to figure out which hooks to buy, for example. As usual, this board is a wealth of information and I, for one, appreciate it.
Steve

[delque]

that was matter of fact, pretty dry i admit, but no sarcasim intended. Breakdown of detail and clear explaination is often what makes this board so informative-i could have asked,"how light is it?"

[ddt]

Why not just use the old crappie rig ?
Or is that to much wire ? how do you keep the bait away from the line?

[eyedoktr]

try it.....you'll like it. The best thing I found out is that the 'eyes will not feel as much resistance due to the weight being below the hooks. Also, you will be better able to sense light bites without a sinker between you and the bait. Works great on perch and walleye.

[Goldpig]

Maybe I needed to be more specific. Almost all the hook manufacturers have a "lightwire" hook. Some even offer an ultra lightwire hook that was originally designed to prevent minnows from being injured when they were being hooked. I prefer an offset shank to hold the plastic and rig it weedless and use a 1/0 widegap. I will go as small as a #6 when the bite dictates it. My favorite plastic, even for walleyes, is a 3" tube. I will often put a little styrofoam in it so it will float up. For grubs or worms I like to put a small rattle in the plastic.

[delgue]

good post. First question has already been asked, how do You keep the light wire hook line away from the main line(withthe sinker hanging on it)? How long is the wirehook line? also,a 3 inch tube? trying to picture that, seems kind of large for that set up(but i dunno), that would make for a piece of styro larger than say a minnow floater wouldnt it? Scented tubes? One more question,regarding the jigging action, if there is some slack line between the wirehook&line and the mainline, then the "bite" most of the time is more like just weight than a taptap isnt it?
thanks in advance

[Ed J]

check out the article at http://www.snakebitecustomfishing.com/Merchant/ADropshotting.html

For more info on this fishing technique.

Ed

[Goldpig]

I may not fully understand your question about keeping the hook away from the line. The hook is tied directly to your line, and then you attach your split shot directly to the tag end from your knot. I usually leave about 12" of tag line. I do use smaller tubes occasionally (2") and little grubs. Most of the plastics I have used so far have been Berkley, but I want to try some such as Zoom, LuckEStrike, ect. I also want to try the new Berkely dropshotting 4" worm. It doesn't take much styrofoam. I just put a tiny piece inside the tube to make the tube lay horizontal in the water, or perpendicular to the line when motionless. You are absolutely right about the bite. I have never had a tap-tap, nor a smack, just a heavy line.

[Beaver]

You can read all about it in Bassmaster magazine. It was developed out on the west coast. The hook is tied directly to the main line as far up from the sinker as you would like. They generally tie the hook on first with a palomar knot and leave a long tag end. Then they tie on the sinker where they want. It`s used as a verticle approach when these guys are fishing in real clear empoundments out west. I`ll dig up the issues explaining it if I can find them. If you know any BASS members ask them for the mag. They go into great detail about whole system. Beav

[delgue]

thanks for the great explainations, and Ed for the link, that tells most of the story, now i understand the lightwire application of this also. this has alot of applications im looking forward to working on

[curt quesnell]

steve

i fished in the gulf of mexico in january and when fishing
off of the pier they used that very rig you describe...
then we went out on a charter to fish in deep water and
they used the same thing only a bigger (much bigger) version.

it was easy to fish, did not tangle and boy did it catch fish
(may times you would have doubles on the same line). 2- 10 pound
amberjack put up quite a tussle.

all minnesota anglers should be advised that i am pretty
sure you cannot use this rig in our state. if anyone knows
something else for sure feel free to correct me. in minnesota
you get one hook on one line (unless it is a lure).

isnt the old "crappie tree" a version of this same rig?

i think you could do some serious panfish damage with this
rig...or anywhere there are lots of fish around, walleyes
included.

curt quesnell

["COMA"]

This method is deadly on the eyes when they are in the weeds. You can extract them verticaly in thinner areas and sparse pacthes. "COMA"

[Beaver]

I found an article, actually a tournament report, in BASS`n Times. Seems that the whole drop-shotting technique was first used in a tourney out west by an angler from Japan. He fished with the tournament leader the 2`nd day of the tourney and had 4 fish in the box and the leader had none. Nice guy that he was, he rigged up guy in the front of the boat and that`s how he limited out on day 2 and 3 to win the tournament. Beav

[Dave B]

I've been reading the posts on drop shotting and I'm very intrigued. "curt quesnell" mentioned he was wondering about the legality of the rig in Minnesota. I was wondering the same thing about Michigan, so I checked. Michian regs state: "You may not have a weight rigidly attached to a multi-pointed hook; or suspended from a multi-point hook; or suspended below any hook unless the hook is on a dropper line (e.g. a leader) that is at least 3" long."

I guess that means drop-shotting is OK, as long as the tag end that the weight is attached to is greater than 3". I think the point of this Michigan regulation is that snagging is NOT allowed.