What Is A Finesse Shot

The driblet shot may be the about versatile finesse technique in fishing.

Here are some of the most unique ways to nowadays baits with this rig

The Bassmaster Elite Series pros accept shown that there is far more than to drop shotting than letting the rig sink straight down to the lesser and giving it a little milkshake and bake. Equally with other bass tactics, you must accommodate the drop shot presentation to brand the most of whatever conditions face you. Here's how v Elite pros make hay with a driblet shot rig in specific situations.

Locked-Downward Bass

Drop shotting becomes outright exasperating for Aaron Martens when temperamental bass demand a deadsticking presentation.

"Information technology's one of the hardest things to do," Martens says. "It's like slamming on the brakes."

Fortunately for Martens — or unfortunately, depending on how yous view his dilemma — he says deadsticking a drop shot is what he does best.

At that place have been several Elite Series tournaments in which Martens and other pros were drib shot fishing in a cluster. Martens says he has "smoked" the bass deadsticking while his competitors struggled to get bites.

This often happens in springtime when the bass are "floating around." So again, deadsticking comes through for Martens someday the bass refuse to bite.

It'south not uncommon for 15 minutes to pass betwixt casts when Martens deadsticks a drib shot rig. Later on the weight touches downwardly, Martens lets the allurement free-fall to the lesser. He lets it balance there for 10 to 20 seconds before slowly lifting it off the bottom without moving the weight. Then he lets the allurement free-fall back down to the bottom for another long pause.

"I only do this when I know correct where the bass are," Martens says.

His most productive deadsticking setup is a four.5-inch Roboworm Straight-Tail Worm olfactory organ-hooked with a No. 1 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Drop Shot Claw (also called the TGW Drop Shot Hook). This light hook allows the worm to slowly "float" to the bottom, which Martens says is the strike trigger. He goes with a 4- to x-inch drib line in the jump and a 15- to 20-inch driblet line in the fall.

The basic driblet shot presentation for suspended bass is to let the rig sink direct down to the depth at which you come across the bass on your graph. Then you hold the rig at that depth. A variation on this ploy immune Kotaro Kiriyama to win an Elite Series tournament on Lake Erie out of Buffalo, N.Y., with 93 pounds, half-dozen ounces of smallmouth bass. The bass were suspended 50 anxiety deep below schools of baitfish where the lesser was lxxx to 90 anxiety deep.

"It was like playing Super Nintendo," Kiriyama says. "I would see the bass on my graph and permit the driblet shot sink straight down."

The smallmouth reflexively nailed the bait as it plummeted past their noses. There was no need for Kiriyama to agree the drop shot rig to a higher place the lesser. His drop shot rig consisted of a 1/4-ounce sinker 12 inches below a Jackall Crosstail Shad nose-hooked with a No. 2 Owner Musquito Hook.

During the February 2008 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell, Kiriyama opted for a ane/8-ounce weight to slow his drop shot rig's autumn because of the frigid water. About 12 inches in a higher place the weight, he Texas rigged a minor shad-imitating bait on a i/0 Owner J Light Hook.

Kiriyama's bass were suspended xx anxiety deep over submerged trees continuing in 40 feet of h2o. He would cast over the trees and allow his drop shot rig free fall. Many bites came as the rig was sinking. If the weight touched a tree limb before a bass nabbed the bait, Kiriyama would make five irksome cranks on his spinning reel. If that didn't provoke a response, he would reel in and brand another cast. He caught enough suspended bass to merits seventh place.

Overcoming a Swift Electric current

Drop shotting in a swift current is i of the tactics that carried Kevin VanDam to victory during the 2016 Classic Bracket tournament on the Niagara River. His drop shot rig had to drift along at the aforementioned speed every bit the current to appear natural to the smallmouth, which were hugging the bottom on flats 5 to ten feet deep. The weight of the sinker was the about critical gene.

"If the weight was too heavy, it would hang on the bottom and impale the bait'southward action," VanDam says. "If the weight was as well light, the current would push it also fast to stay downwardly."

Later on casting upstream, VanDam allow the current usher his drop shot rig downstream. Depending on the depth, a 3/16- or 1/iv-ounce weight kept the sinker ticking lightly over the bottom.

The rig also consisted of 8-pound fluorocarbon line with a No. 2 Mustad Double Wide KVD Drib Shot Claw 12 inches above the weight. With heavier line, the current would take prevented the sinker from reaching bottom. The productive lure was a nose-hooked Strike King Drop Shot Half Trounce, a baitfish imitator.

VanDam ups his drop shot weight to 3/8 or i/2 ounce when fishing for smallmouth 30 anxiety deep in the strong current of the St. Clair and Detroit rivers connected to Michigan'south Lake St. Clair.

To reach a natural drift in such deep h2o, VanDam holds the olfactory organ of his boat upstream with his electric motor and drifts astern downstream at the same pace that his drop shot rig ticks over the bottom directly beneath him.

Sprint Or Undulate

No single drop shot allurement is the best option in every situation. One critical aspect is how the allurement reacts in the h2o. During the 2016 Bassmaster Classic Subclass tournament on the Niagara River, Kevin VanDam relied on Strike Male monarch's 3 1/ii-inch Drop Shot Half Shell because it mimicked the shiners that the smallmouth were feeding on.

"When you shake the Half Shell … it has more than of a dart to it, almost a jerkbait-type action," VanDam says.

The Half Shell'south apartment bottom and sparse "fin" prompt the darting activeness that triggers bass to react. The aforementioned is true of Jackall's 4-inch Crosstail Shad, which was introduced in 1999; Yum'south 3 3/4-inch Impale Shot; and Zoom's iv-inch Z Driblet Worm. Bass Pro Shops' 3 3/iv-inch, flat-bottomed Quiver Minnow has a similar action.

In that location are too many other deadly minnow imitators that have a darting or gliding activity, including Berkley'due south iii-inch PowerBait Power Minnow and Yamamoto'due south 4-inch Shad Shape Worm.

Near other drop shot baits take an undulating action that teases bass to seize with teeth. Supple straight-tail worms caput the list, including the Roboworms that Aaron Martens and Brent Ehrler dote on and the Havoc Bottom Hopper that Justin Lucas favors. Zoom'south Finesse Worm, Z-Man's ElaZtec Finesse Wormz, Larew'due south Tattletail Worm and Luck-E-Strike'due south Con Man worm are also proven driblet shot killers.

And, not all undulating drop shot baits are worms. For instance, Missile Baits' 3-inch Driblet Craw features flopping claws that motility with the slightest rod twitch.

Shallow Cover

Justin Lucas won an Elite Series tournament on the Potomac River in August 2016 past pitching a drib shot rig to thick forest pilings that supported an elevated parking deck. Because the pilings were planted in iv to eight anxiety of water, Lucas relied on a spinning outfit, which allowed his drop shot rig to sink direct down.

"With a baitcaster, I have to pull line off the spool to get a vertical driblet when the water is deeper than 4 anxiety," Lucas says.

Lucas matched his spinning outfit with 10-pound Berkley Fireline sporting a leader of 10-pound Berkley 100 Per centum Fluorocarbon. A 3/16-ounce drop shot weight hung on the leader 8 inches below a directly-shank i/0 hook. Whenever Lucas driblet shots in shallow water, he goes with a 6-inch hand-poured worm or a vi.25-inch Berkley Havoc Lesser Hopper worm.

Afterwards he pitched to a piling at the Potomac, Lucas would drag the drop shot weight on the bottom until he felt it crash-land into some type of submerged encompass. Then he would softly shake and interruption the worm for 10 or 15 seconds before working it out for another cast. The unseen cover produced about of his bass.

Lucas learned this fashion of drop shot fishing growing upwardly in California, where he used it to coax bites from bass lounging in the shade of docks. He has since used it to pluck bass from docks across the country.

In water less than 4-feet deep, Lucas pitches a 1/4-ounce drop shot rig with a baitcasting outfit and 12-pound fluorocarbon. He targets grass edges, laydowns, flooded bushes and whatever other shallow comprehend that might concord a bass.

"I fish it the same way I would a jig or a worm," Lucas says.

Drib Shot Elevate

Dragging a drop shot rig over the bottom like a Carolina rig pays off when you demand to comb a point, ledge, reef or another large bottom construction to selection off scattered bass. It keeps your allurement cruising along above the bottom, whereas most Carolina rigged baits tend to inch forth on the lesser. The bass may adopt one to the other at any given time.

Brent Ehrler does well dragging a drop shot for spotted bass at Shasta and Oroville lakes in his home state of California. This opportunity happens in autumn and wintertime when the bass cluster in deep pockets that achieve dorsum from the main lake l to 75 yards or so. Ehrler holds his boat in the mouth of the pocket, typically over 50 feet of water, and casts toward the dorsum of the cutting, where the water is 20 to 30 anxiety deep. Then he drags his driblet shot rig down the gut of the pocket, back to the boat.

"The bass are spread out, so you desire to fish that broad depth range down the whole gut," Ehrler says. "I don't know why, but they'll hit the drop shot when I drag information technology, but they won't when I shake it on the bottom."

No doubt there are similar pockets on spotted bass lakes elsewhere in the country where dragging a drib shot could pay off. Ehrler's basic drop shot setup works well in this situation. It consists of a spinning outfit matched with 12-pound Sunline braid attached to a 10-foot leader of 8-pound Sunline FC Sniper. A 1/4-ounce tungsten drop shot weight hangs 14 inches below a 4- or vi-inch Roboworm nose-hooked with a No. one Gamakatsu Drop/Split Shot hook.

Originally published in Bassmaster Magazine 2017.