Drop Shot Rig for Bass: Everything You Need to Know

The bass fishing world is constantly evolving. From the fishing gear being used to the rigs built to make the most of that gear, it can be hard to keep up with.

One of the rigs that have taken the bass fishing world by storm within the last decade is the drop shot rig. It’s not new, but it gained a massive amount of popularity, and at this point, it should be a staple in most anglers’ repertoires.

However, if you’re new to fishing or haven’t used it yet, it can be a little complicated to understand.

Today, we’re going to go over everything you need to know about the drop shot rig for bass fishing and how it can improve your experience.

What is the Drop Shot Rig?

The drop shot rig is a rig typically used with soft plastic lures that are designed to drop straight down. 

The rig consists of a specially shaped weight, a hook, and a soft plastic lure, but unlike other rigs, the drop shot has the weight attached to a long tail of line that is well below the lure itself. 

We’ll cover the exact anatomy of a drop shot rig soon, but this should give you an idea of what sets it apart.

What Does the Drop Shot Rig Do?

As we said, the drop shot rig is designed to drop straight down. This might sound odd to newer anglers, but it’s crucial for a few situations.

When you cast a normal Texas rig or similar rig, it doesn’t just sink exactly where you see it hit the water. Momentum keeps it going, and it slowly drops through the column at an angle. It can end up fairly far away from your target, depending on several factors. In a few situations, that can cost you bass even if you pull it in right in front of your target throughout your retrieval.

When a drop shot rig hits the water, it quickly drops right down the water column and plants the weight in the water bed, and the lure kind of floats and bobs around a foot or so above it. This provides an extreme amount of precision and a unique presentation.

How to Make the Drop Shot Rig

Now that we’ve gone over a few basics, it’s time to learn how to make a drop shot rig. It’s fairly simple. So, most anglers should be able to develop the skill in a short time at home before using it on the water.

1: The Hook and the Knot

Unlike most other rigs, you don’t start with your weight. Instead, the hook is the first thing to go on the line.

Pick a hook that is a suitable size and shape for the soft plastic lure you’re planning to present with this method. Usually, this is going to be a size 3.0 to 5.0 worm hook, but every lure is different.

Slide the hook onto the line with the barb pointing up. Then, you want to tie a uni-knot.

The uni-knot is required because it won’t allow the hook to flop around or shift orientation. Instead, it will hold the hook straight out perpendicular to the line. 

This is crucial. 

Remember that your presentation will have the line going straight up. To mimic a bait fish, you’ll want the hook perpendicular to it so the lure looks like it’s swimming instead of just flopping around in the water.

When you’re tying on your hook, pick the depth that you’ll want to fish at, and tie the hook at that depth with enough tail to the line that the weight can be tied on at the bottom.

For example, if you want to use this rig a foot off the bottom, you would tie the hook 1-foot up the line plus a couple of inches for you to tie the weight on.

Now, you’ll tie your weight on. There are special drop shot weights made for this. A drop shot weight looks like a long, skinny cylinder with an eyelet protruding from the top. They can be made of lead or tungsten, and which one you use will typically be a matter of preference or what type of sound you want to achieve when it smacks the bottom. Tungsten has a unique sound that stands out a bit from traditional lead weights.

The weight of the drop shot weight is determined by the rest of the gear you’re using, but you typically want it to be on the heavier side of what your rod can handle to maximize its speed falling to the bottom. This also helps you cast with more precision, and since you will usually be making short, accurate casts, it helps you use the slightest motions to achieve the distance you want.

If you tie on your drop shot weight, you can use whatever knot you want for the weight, but we recommend a strong knot that you trust. Most drop shot weights are made with a small clip embedded so that you can thread the tag of your line through it and pull the end of the tag end up into the clip without tying a knot.  

See the image below of a typical drop shot weight with clip built in. What this allows you to do is use a slightly longer tag end so that you can adjust the depth at which you fish it without having to re-tie. , Finally, thread on your soft plastic lure, and you have successfully built a drop shot rig.  

It’s not a difficult rig to make, and once you get the hang of it, you can tie it together in a couple of minutes on the water.  

When Do You Use the Drop Shot Rig?

The drop shot rig is one of those fishing tools that you won’t use very often, but when you do need it, it’s irreplaceable. There are two primary situations where a drop shot rig is optimal over everything else.

First, it is priceless during the spawn.

During the spawn, bass make their beds in the shallows, and they sit there. They will very rarely wonder a few feet away to snatch up a lure you’re dragging by their nest. They’ll simply stare at it and ignore it entirely.

The drop shot lets you drop your lure right on top of the bed with pinpoint precision. This angers the bass like nothing else. They don’t let other creatures in the water come anywhere near their beds, and when you drop that drop shot rig right on top of it, they’ll attack it whether they’re hungry or not.

The other time you want to use it is when you have an extremely tight target. You need unmatched precision to ensure that your lure gets into that bass-filled spot without snagging on everything around it. Imagine a downed tree with an opening only a few feet wide. 

If you cast a Texas rig into that, the trajectory of the lure will drag it right into a tangle of branches. The drop shot can fall cleanly into that tiny clear zone and pull bass out of their hiding holes.

However, the rig is flexible enough that you can experiment with it. If you want to cast it out and hop the weight back, it can provide a unique presentation that might just get the bass to bite when they’re not hitting anything else. 

This can also be a good way to cast very lightweight lures on heavier equipment thanks to the weight that is far away from the lure but gives you plenty of weight for casting.

Drawbacks of the Drop Shot Rig

The drop shot rig is perfect for some situations, but it does have some drawbacks that you’ll need to consider when you decide to use it.

First and foremost, the descent is quick. This can be eased up a bit by using a lighter weight, but that impacts the positive traits that you’re trying to leverage. That fast descent isn’t going to be very useful for some situations, and when the fish are biting on the drop, it can be an issue. 

A floaty, somewhat slow, and steady descent is typically what’s wanted in that situation. Not one that goes from top to bottom in a split second.

Then, the presentation is unique. When the line is taught thanks to the weight bouncing off the bottom, the action is more rigid while not moving forward in as natural of a movement. It’s simply not designed to provide the natural flow as it moves through the column that a Texas rig or free rig does.

Of course, that second drawback can be alleviated. Some variations of the drop shot rig include tying a shorter second line where you would normally tie the hook and then tying your lure to that. That provides a free lure presentation that still drops quickly, but the lure drops and flops around, as well. There are tradeoffs for everything.

Finally, it works best when you can see your target. Whether you’re sight fishing beds, or you can see a deep hole between some hazards, you typically want to see the target you’re aiming at to make the most of the precision the rig offers.

The Best Tactics for the Drop Shot Rig

Now, we’ve covered a lot of the finer details, but it’s time to talk about the fun stuff. How do you use the drop shot effectively?

1: Use It During the Spawn First

We recommend using the drop shot for the first time during the spawn. This is when it excels the most, and as every angler knows, you need to build confidence with any new strategy you use, or you won’t know what you’re doing wrong when you try it in less optimal conditions. 

Think of the first time you used a Texas rig. If you got skunked multiple trips in a row trying it, you probably put it away for a while until you happened to have a trip where fish bit it consistently. Then, you figure out what went wrong the last time.

Wait for the spring spawn, tie on a drop shot, and target those beds.

If you absolutely must try it before the spawn, try targeting crappie with it first. They suspend the vast majority of the time, and the drop shot works great for dangling a lure in front of them. It can be a great way to gain experience, even if it’s not an optimal option for bass at the moment.

2: Twitches are Best

This is the primary reason the drop shot rig isn’t the dominant presentation in most situations but excels in a few. It isn’t built to cover lots of ground and find bass. It’s made for precision and keeping a lure in small areas for long periods.

As such, you don’t just chuck it out and reel it in like a crankbait. You want to place it in the exact position you’re targeting, and then focus on twitches and pauses. A little twitch will cause your lure to jiggle around quite a bit without moving out of the target zone. 

Make sure you reel in any slack, and let it sit for a moment before you twitch it again.

3: Pay Attention to Slack

A lot of the time, if you’re using the drop shot during optimal conditions, it won’t even get to its set depth. The bass will notice it coming in towards its bed, and it will snap it up on the fall. 

When that happens, you’ll notice the line keeps some slack in it as the fish overs with it, or the line will start moving around before it goes taught. Get ready to set the hook, and you’ll have a fish on the line more often than not.

4: It’s a Great Option for Finesse

We highlighted the two primary times you want to use it, but the drop shot rig is essentially a finesse rig. The lure moves minimally, but it causes big reactions. This can make it a great option in colder temperatures or when the bass are stubborn, but remember that you won’t cover much ground. 

So, make sure you know where the bass are in the first place before you use it this way.

Try The Drop Shot and Land Those Stubborn Bass

The drop shot rig is essential for all bass anglers to know as there are a few situations when it’s the only good option. 

Get out there, use the BassForecast fishing app to find the right spot and the right conditions, and start bringing in record-breaking bass with this lethal rig.