Drop-Shot Tips For Smallmouth & Walleye

Drop-shotting is unquestionably one of the best fishing techniques for catching smallmouth bass and walleye. Despite having been on the angling scene for decades, a drop shot flawless design keeps it relevant as a potent fish-catcher. Its staying power is also supported by the introduction of innovative fishing products (e.g., CrushCity soft baits, RedLine Series Hooks), which help make one of the best fishing rigs even better.

A drop shot’s configuration results in the hook and bait being separated from the weight. This design has several advantages, including outstanding soft-bait action, extended time in the strike zone, excellent hook-up rates and reduced snags. A basic drop-shot rig schematic for smallmouth bass and walleye is a follows:

• 2 to 1/0 finesse drop-shot style hook (Palomar knot)
• 6- to 8-pound test fluorocarbon line or fluorocarbon leader
• 6 to 20+ inch tag end below the hook to a weight (1/8 to 3/4 ounces)

The Jerk, The Suspect and Creeper are three of Rapala’s new CrushCity Super TPE baits that are guaranteed to elevate your drop-shotting game for smallmouth and walleye. Here are just a few reasons why.

A common complaint anglers have with PVC (plastisol) drop-shot baits is they tear easily. This is a nonissue with CrushCity’s ultra-durable, extremely stretchy Super TPE baits. The Jerk, The Suspect and Creeper can be lightly nose hooked for maximum action, and will stay locked in place and continue to be in peak condition fish after fish.

Another Super TPE advantage is buoyancy, which keeps these CrushCity baits horizontal on a drop-shot hook. Naturally, (pun intended) buoyancy also enhances these baits lifelike qualities and subtle actions. For example, the tails of Super TPE baits respond immediately to the lightest of rod shakes or push of current — critical characteristics for triggering strikes with a drop-shot rig.

Further enhancing the finesse fishing prowess of The Jerk, The Suspect and Creeper is Rapala’s Smart Injection Technology. This allows for the precise placement of salt, scent, colour, fleck and other ingredients during the manufacturing process, and gives these baits their incredible actions, lifelike details (e.g., fins, scale patterns) and high-grade colour options.  

When giant smallmouth and trophy walleye are biting light, you’ll be glad your drop-shot rig’s outfitted with a VMC’s RedLine hook. Made of ultralight yet extra-strong vanadium steel, coated with ultra-smooth P.T.F.E. and featuring a compressed Needle Point design, the RedLine Drop Shot and Finesse Neko hooks enable CrushCity soft plastics to perform their best, then immediately find purchase and hold true until you’re ready to unhook your catch. 

The RedLine Drop Shot hook is an ideal all round choice. However, for times when fish are short-striking fish, a good alternative is to thread a soft plastic onto a Finesse Neko hook. This positions the hook point further back, and helps you stick more fish. Even better, the Finesse Neko hook has a fluorocarbon bait keeper that locks the bait in place, ensuring the perfect position is never compromised.

Using a sensitive rod with a soft tip is crucial when drop-shotting. 13 Fishing’s Omen Gold 7’2”, Omen Black Gen III 7’2”, Defy Black 6'7", and Defy Gold 6’9” and 7’2” medium-light spinning rods, for instance, all have responsive tips that bend under the slightest weight. This, in turn, alerts the angler of the strike before the fish feels any resistance that would prove alarming. The upper portion of these rods then continues to load smoothly for a quality hook set.

VMC’s Tungsten Tear Drop and Tungsten Drop Shot weights also help bolster drop-shotting sensitivity. Tungsten’s density makes it significantly better at transferring vibrations compared to lead sinkers. Use a VMC tungsten weight and you’ll be blown away with how easy it is to know when a drop-shot rig’s on rock. Ditto for when it’s being pulled across the soft-to-hard bottom transitions where smallmouth and walleye often stack-up.

Quality fishing line also dramatically impacts sensitivity, and two popular setups dominate the drop-shotting scene. Some anglers prefer the feel and bait action that comes from using straight 6- to 8-pound Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon. Others prefer the no-stretch, thin-diameter advantages of fishing 8- to 15-pound 832 Advanced Superline tied to a 6 to 10-pound Advance Fluorocarbon Leader. Try experimenting with both options to learn what works best for the waterbodies you fish.  

• Super TPE baits are very responsive; take time to acquaint yourself with how they react to light rod shakes, twitches and holds to avoid “over-working” the presentation.
• Casting and then slowly reeling (aka drop-swimming) The Suspect or Creeper is deadly for catching fish suspending off bottom or higher in the water column.
• Soaking a drop-shot near isolated cover or structure (e.g., log, boulder, patch of sand grass) is a potent strategy for tricking trophy smallmouth into biting, but remember to cast the rig past the target and then work it into the strike zone to prevent spooking bass in shallow water.
• Making short pitches with a drop-shot rig parallel to outside weed edges is a reliable way to hook smallmouth and walleye.
• Switching to a drop-shot rig after catching fish on jigs from an area can get you more bites and, in some cases, reveals that drop-shotting is the better presentation for bigger fish.
• Keeping a drop-shot rig vertical when drifting gives you the most control over the presentation and helps prevent snags.
• Experiment with bait colour and profiles to learn what fish like best, switching gears as needed if the bite slows or when conditions change.
• Don’t overdue the hook set; simply reel to get the rod tip loaded and then sweep it back — the RedLine Hook will take care of the rest!