Dropshotting Without Finesse

By Larry Hemphill

Reproduced with the exclusive permission of Bass West Magazine, Please Click on the Bass West Enhanced banner to subscribe.

WHEN drop-shotting first came on the western bass fishing scene a few years ago, I wasn’t too excited. Being more interested in catching big bass, I figured it was another way to put lots of keepers in the boat and I would probably use it when guiding. Fortunately, the first day I tried it produced a “big” surprise. Not wanting to waste time, I tied on a jig as the bottom weight and put my drop-shot hook about 14 inches above with a 41/2 inch hand-poured worm. Surely, anything worth landing would hit the jig! After catching a 12 inch bass on the worm, I got another identical heavy feel on my 8# Trilene and lightly set the hook. Whoa, horsy!! This was no dink! About three minutes later, a 4 lb 6 oz spotted bass came aboard – on the “sissy” hook. And thus ended my small fish theory! I realized that the presentation was probably what fooled this big spot rather than the color or size of the bait. Everything under the water is buoyant in a suspended fashion – fish, crawdads, weeds, and sediment. If we can take this most natural of all fishing presentations, commonly used in finesse fishing, and up the ante, we can use this suspending bait technique to attract big bass!

Many anglers are “upgrading” their equipment and baits as they realize this realistic presentation can fool big bass, much like the Yamamoto Senko has done since its introduction. Though the Senko sinks, it does so in an irresistible, slow, shimmering manner. Would it be possible to let a 5 or 6 inch suspended Senko do its deadly dance for several minutes about 18 inches off the bottom? Yes it would, about 25 feet under the boat on a ledge at the end of an underwater point – the strike zone of many large bass! This “power-shotting” (did I just make-up a new term?) will need more power in the way of a medium-heavy 7 foot rod (I use a G. Loomis 843) with 10 to 17# test line and 1/0 to 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hooks. We should rig our Senko wacky style – hooked in the middle. After shaking it a few seconds, drop your rod tip and let it do its Senko thing – wiggling to the bottom. This is when a big bass will often pounce – at their prey’s most vulnerable moment. You can see from reading this and my last column, Senkos from 3 to 7 inches can be drop-shotted at almost any depth or area. You can target the size of the bass you want to catch. The only thing that changes is the size of rods, reels, line, hooks, and weights. It will take a bigger weight to properly work a 6 inch Senko in 30 feet of water and get it down there quickly.

In my opinion, the key to catching large bass is using baits that provide “bulk”. Things that big bass like to feed on move a lot of water and have “bulk”! These past few years I have been experimenting with baits that seem to produce bigger bass when drop-shotted. Zipper-type worms are a perfect example. They are thicker and move more water than traditional hand-poured worms. The Berkley Pulse worm has been an excellent producer. Any 4 to 6 inch zipper worm works great - especially with crawfish scent. I nose-hook all sizes of worms. In my BW ad the client is holding a 9 lb 13 oz bass caught drop-shotting a 5 inch zipper worm at Clear Lake, California. That fish followed his 5 lb 11 oz bass – and this was near mid-day in the fall!! Leeches and lizards from 5 to 8 inches work great also. And if you haven’t drop-shotted a Basstrix plastic bluegill near a pre-spawn or spawning bass, you don’t know what you’ve missed. They attack that lure! I nose-hook it high so it is tilted down while pulling it onto the bed about 6 inches off the bottom. Do not attempt this technique with your finesse toys and - if you have a weak heart – don’t do it!