Regardless of time of year, there are a lot of different ways to catch fish. There are usually some techniques that will be more productive at certain times, but often several methods will fool at least a few fish. One method that will almost always take fish when they are in deeper water is dropshotting. Drop-shotting is a technique that was popularized for bass, but is effective for a wide variety of species. Here’s how you go dropshotting.

Dropshotting is a finesse tactic that is usually most productive on the deeper structures of clear lakes. Six pound test line is most popular, with four pound test being employed in extreme situations. Fluorocarbon lines such as Vanish Transition are very popular when dropshotting. Vanish Transition is a golden color on your reel, but becomes almost invisible underwater. It also sinks faster than traditional monofilament lines, getting your bait into the fish zone faster.

To tie a dropshot rig, attach a #6 hook(a size smaller or larger will be ok) to your line using a Palomar knot. Tie it so the hook points up, and leave about a foot of line below the hook. Attach a split-shot below the hook. Your split-shot should be below the hook. By doing so, the split-shot is tapping the lake bottom and your hook/bait is above it. How far above it depends on the distance between the hook and the split-shot.

Some anglers prefer to cast the drop-shot rig, others fish it directly below the boat. If you will be casting, the distance between the hook and split-shot should be just a couple of inches: For a vertical presentation there should be about a twelve inch separation.

Attached to the hook is a plastic bait such as Power Bait or a Gulp! bait. Both of these have body styles that are very good for drop-shotting. Drop-shot baits will often be three or four inches in length, although five inch worms are effective as well. Baits that resemble worms or minnows are most popular.

Drop-shot baits are also usually pretty subtle in color. Smoke and silver glitter colors are popular, as are colors that resemble a real minnow. Watermelon, black, and purple are also productive.

Drop-shotting is a little similar to jigging or live-bait rigging. In fact, if you are an effective jigger or rigger, you will pick up drop-shotting easily and quickly.

On a recent trip to the Great Lakes region of Iowa, we had an opportunity to drop-shot. West Lake Okoboji is a deep clear body of water that gets a lot of fishing pressure in the summer. We worked our drop-shot rigs on rock and sand structures in fifteen to twenty five feet of water and caught a variety of fish. In this case, drop-shotting was a very productive technique. There are many other bodies of water across the Midwest that can be effectively fished with drop-shot rigs, you just need to give drop-shotting a try.

For more fish-catching information, visit fishingthemidwest.com