The drop-shot rig has been around for several years but has been only recently caught on with anglers on local lakes. The drop-shot technique is also one of the least used worming techniques on area lakes but it has its followers.

This past week while out on the water, I met up with angler Tommy Lang who uses the drop-shot to drag largemouth bass from the depths of Lake Sinclair. Tommy can catch bass just about any season of the year and is catching nice largemouth bass from the center of coves all over the lake right now with the drop-shot rig.

I have been using the drop-shot rig myself for a few years but I still mostly rely on other techniques most of the time. I have to admit that I had not had much success last week when I ran up on Tommy. Two hours of using crankbaits, Carolina rigs and jigging spoons had only produced a couple of small bass for me.

After seeing one of several nice bass that Tommy had caught and I listened to him tell about losing a 2 pounder and a 3 pounder at the boat, I drug out my drop-shot rig and started fishing nearby. I only had a few minutes of fishing time left before I had to head home but within just a few minutes I had two strikes.

Fishing the drop-shot rig requires patience because it is a slow finesse technique. This technique which is often referred to as drop-shot fishing first became popular in 1999 on the West Coast in clear deep lakes and due to its success there, it has spread across the entire country.

Even though the drop-shot is a heavily used technique elsewhere, the technique is still in its infancy on area lakes and if you asked a dozen local bass anglers to describe the drop-shot rig, a large number would tell you they have never tried the rig and only a few would even be able to correctly describe the drop-shot rig in any detail and a few might even tell you they’ve have never heard of the drop-shot rig.

Since most of the publicity surrounding the drop-shot rig involved using the rig in deep clear lakes, many anglers assumed the rig would not work on stained water lakes like Oconee and Sinclair. Compared to our area lakes where most largemouth bass reside in water depths averaging 1-35 feet and the water is dingy, West Coast lakes produce bass from over 100 foot depths and from water that in many cases is crystal clear.

Some local anglers are now using the drop-shot rig in almost all water conditions and water depths with great success. The rig’s principles make much sense and should over time prove to be a successful lure for catching largemouth bass on Lakes Sinclair and Oconee. One great thing about the drop-shot rig is that it will catch fish all year.

As I stated earlier, the rig was originally thought to be a deep water bait which means 14-35 feet deep or so on Lakes Sinclair and Oconee. However, some anglers have begun to see the versatility of the drop-shot rig even in shallow water where it can be used like a Texas rig.

The drop-shot rig’s weight is below the plastic bait and the plastic bait and hook are well above the weight and floating freely in the water column. This creates a natural action and allows the angler to shake and slightly move the bait without actually changing its location or the angler can simply let the bait’s movement be controlled by the water current.

This allows you to keep the lure in the spot where the fish are located much longer than with a Carolina-rig or Texas-rig. Unlike the Carolina-rig or the Texas-rig, the drop-shot rig was originally intended to be fish vertically straight under the boat. Tommy Lang was just dragging the drop-shot rig by using his trolling motor to move very slowly through some large schools of shad.

I use a modified drop-shot rig when I fish standing timber for crappie at Lake Oconee and brushpiles on Lake Sinclair. When fishing for crappie the drop-shot can be rigged with a crappie jig or a minnow on a standard live bait hook. It is great fun to fish the standing timber with a small version of the drop-shot rig employing 4-6 pound line.

When fishing for largemouth bass, the drop-shot rig is a finesse and light tackle application which means 6-10 pound test line, 1/16 to 3/8 ounce weights, thin wire 1/0 or 2/0 wide-gap worm hooks and small plastic finesse baits in sizes 4-6 inches.

These finesse baits can be any of the plastic finesse baits that are available. You can pay a little more and buy weights, hooks and plastic baits designed specifically for drop-shot fishing. Right now is a good time to try out the drop-shot rig as the baitfish and largemouth are moving into deeper water with the colder water temperatures. Good fishing and see you next week.