Thread: What sinker weight for drop shotting crappie and panfish

A drop shot weight should be as light as you can go and still feel it hitting the bottom. Of course, it depends on the depth you are fishing. I use the same 1/4 oz. bass casting type sinker for most of my drop shotting. I'm fishing 10' - 25' depths. A 1/8th. oz. DS weight might just be a tad too light, but there are no hard & fast rules for this game. And don't forget, you can vary the leader length - hook to sinker - based on where the fish are in the water column. A great presentation.

Originally Posted by Crestliner08

A drop shot weight should be as light as you can go and still feel it hitting the bottom. Of course, it depends on the depth you are fishing. I use the same 1/4 oz. bass casting type sinker for most of my drop shotting. I'm fishing 10' - 25' depths. A 1/8th. oz. DS weight might just be a tad too light, but there are no hard & fast rules for this game. And don't forget, you can vary the leader length - hook to sinker - based on where the fish are in the water column. A great presentation.

Thank you I appreciate it. Academy and Wal Mart where I live both have a good supply of the bass casting type sinkers. Will pick some up.

I found some drop shot sinkers yesterday at WalMart and Academy here where I live. Wally World had some 3/16 size round ones so I picked those up with some 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz casting type sinkers. Then i went to Academy and the had 1 pack of the cylinder style 1/4 oz drop shot sinkers. Dont know why they are different from each other, what conditions you would fish one style over another, etc.

Dee .... true dropshot sinkers are made to just pinch the line & hold on there, so that if it should get hung up on the bottom ... you lose the sinker, but not necessarily the whole rig. (it also means you'll have to constantly be buying them )

You can use almost any type of sinker to dropshot with ... regular pinch-on, removable pinch-on, slip sinker, bass casting, barrel, etc. ... you just put them on the end of the line and tie a knot (or add a bead then tie a knot) to secure them. All they are meant to do is hit bottom & stay there while you jiggle the line & make your bait jump around.

The more important part of the dropshot rigging is the hook .... either a stand-out hook or a regular hook tied on with a palomar knot (to make it stand out at a 90deg angle to the line. If using a regular hook/parlomar knot ... you tie the hook on with the palomar knot, then run the tag end of the line back through the hook eye to make it stand out at 90deg. Here's how you do that :




Here's a "Standout hook" to show you the difference :

CrappiePappy
What size standout hook would you use for minnows?

Originally Posted by Northforker

CrappiePappy
What size standout hook would you use for minnows?

I'd say a #2 would be my choice for minnows or plastics. But, if you are using small minnows/baits (1"-1.5") then you might opt for a #4 hook.

Just think of the standout hook as a jig without the lead ... and choose hook size by that reasoning. I say that because I have never used a dropshot rig.

I mainly use 1/4 ounce bass casting sinkers but will occasionally go to 3/8 ounce in deeper water.I don't use a actual dropshot hook,I just use extra light wire Aberdeen hook in a size 4 or 2.

I use a bullet weight for my droop shots.

Thread the weight with the point facing up toward the hook, add a bead, then use a slip bobber knot to keep it on the line. This allows me to adjust the distance between the hook and weight according to how deep the fish are.