Questions about drop shot

I've been reading some threads and watching some videos on the drop shot and have a few questions.

1. Does the sinker always touch bottom? Would you ever cast and retrieve like when working a jig through suspended fish? Or do you ever vertical jig it directly below the boat without touching bottom?
2. It looks like it can also be used when drifting. So similar questions when drifting. Are you dragging the sinker across the bottom or can it be up off the bottom?
3. Is it equally a crappie and bluegill/red ear rig? Or do bluegill/red ear suspend closer to bottom so it's more of a bluegill/red ear rig?

Personally I have never used it where the weight was on bottom. Mostly used it tight lining. However really I quit using it because it didn't make sense to me since I could just tie on a jig at the bottom of the line and actually have a weight that also is bait. I do catch a good many of the larger fish on the bottom jig too. Seemed a waste to me having just a weight on the bottom when I could have a hook.

If I tie a drop-shot rig on, it is because I want the weight (most of the time a small split-shot) to be on the bottom with the bait suspended slightly off the bottom. I never fish it any other way. Crappie will hit it when casting with minnows or lots of time we catch many crappie when using a black spider type of "bluegill bug" on rocky points where bluegill/redears bed.

One thing to remember is the drop shot was designed for bass fishing deep clear lakes. People have just reinvented it for panfish.
It was a finess approach to bass fishing also in the colder months.

So really for panfish it's whatever you want to make it to be. But it was designed to have the weight in contact wih the bottom.

I fish it with the weight on the bottom and the bait 12-24" above the weight. For tightlining you can put your bait precisely where you want it. If crappie are suspended on a point or hump 4' off of the bottom, you can drift over them with the hook 5' above the weight, and be right on target with your depth.

If you are trying to target fish more than 5' off of the bottom, a Kentucky rig or some other technique would work better than a drop shot.

The drop shot is a killer rig for bluegill beds though withh bait 12"-18" above the weight.

I use the drop shot rig for tight lining while drifting. A jig head with your choice of plastics & a crappie nibble on the bottom and a Matzuo drop shot hook ( the double swivel one 18" up). I use a piece of cut bait but plastics or a minnow would work on the drop shot hook. The Matzuo rig will eliminate most of the line twist and the red beads hold the hook at a 90 degree angle to reduce tangling. I fish the rig anywhere from bouncing the bottom to whatever the fish are suspended at.

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