Found some Gills

I’ve been missing the gills this winter at the Town Pond .:
I’d catch one or two every once in a while on warm sunny days , but I knew they were there . I just needed a method to reach them .
After thinking it over , I decided to downsize and go with the drop shot .
On my 5’ Major Craft Aji do rod paired with a Shimano Soare XR500 spg and Daiwa J-braid and a 4# Floroclear leader .
I make my drop shot weights from 1/16 jigheads that I clip the hook off . I loop tied a size 14 spider fly about 18” above my weight .
My first cast , which went farther than any casts I’d been getting, produced a small gill about six inches.
I also used a 5’ Daiwa Presso UL rod paired with a KastKing SFS 1000 reel and 2# Floroclear.
The lure was a size 12 micro woolybooger about 18” above the 1/16 weight .
Both worked well and in just over two hours I caught 10 gills, 3 bass , and three shellcrackers .
I lost my woolybooger because my casting finger hung up on the line and the 2# line snapped. I’ll probably put braid on this rod next trip .
I lost my spider on an underwater hang up .
Weather was nice , sunny , low to mid fifties, with light winds .
Rain and cold temps coming back tomorrow until next week .

Nice. Gotta let’er rip to get them. Good job.

That’s a good bag for the day! The crackers look extra good to me. Wish I could find em steady like you do. Good news for me though, my trailers got wheels. Now for the crummy weather the next few days into the weekend. Yippee!

Looks like you had a good day. What stands out to me is all the yellow in the fins of those Redear.

I love the idea of the micro wooly booger and will need to tie some of those up! I don't drop shot often for gills and redears, but when I do, I just crimp a fairly heavy split shot to the end of the line and that gives me plenty of weight. I originally did so with the thought that if the weight hung up it would just slip off the end of the line and save the fly and keep me from re-tying. I've found that with 2lb. test mono it is still more likely to break than for the split shot to slip off, but at least it is a really easy and cheap way to apply the weight.

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Originally Posted by Cricketcage

I love the idea of the micro wooly booger and will need to tie some of those up! I don't drop shot often for gills and redears, but when I do, I just crimp a fairly heavy split shot to the end of the line and that gives me plenty of weight. I originally did so with the thought that if the weight hung up it would just slip off the end of the line and save the fly and keep me from re-tying. I've found that with 2lb. test mono it is still more likely to break than for the split shot to slip off, but at least it is a really easy and cheap way to apply the weight.

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I don’t use the drop shot enough .
The biggest issue I’ve run into is I’m fine fishing at the town pond where there’s not many hang ups, but when I tried it at bigger reservoirs, I was hanging up a lot anf having to retie .
I use the 1/16 jigheads cut off , because I no longer have a use for them in my normal fishing routine.
The hooks are usually too big for what I’m fishing for .
I’ve tried the regular drop shot weights and actually prefer the ball shape of the repurposed jigheads .
Fishing the drop shot I twitch , so I’m getting my thump that I like .:)

Very nice!

I like a dropshot with a loop knot and a #8 gamakatsu circle hook. I never have to worry about gut hooked fish unless a monster takes it and don't have to mess with swallowed hooks. A very effective way to catch sunfish. And those little circle hooks stay sticky sharp

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Originally Posted by Happyfisherman

I like a dropshot with a loop knot and a #8 gamakatsu circle hook. I never have to worry about gut hooked fish unless a monster takes it and don't have to mess with swallowed hooks. A very effective way to catch sunfish. And those little circle hooks stay sticky sharp

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I like to fish micro , whether it’s a jig or some type of fly .
By using the drop shot I can go tiny with my flies although I usually don’t go below a size 12 unless I’m using the tiny 1/200th jigs that come with the Mini Trout Magnet kits . And they’re a size 14 hook .
I like a 1/16 or even a 1/8 drop shot weight , but I’m thinking of playing around with a 1/32 weight .
Trying to decide on braid or 2# Floroclear.
The combo I just setup has 2# Floroclear with a 1/32 ball weight from a 1/32 collarless jighead and a size 12 chenille and rabbit fur 3mm tungsten bead streamer . Around .35g . .62g total casting weight . Maybe too light if there’s any wind .

A deadly setup is a double dropshot with loop knots, I dont have one tied right now but ill post a pic when I tie one up. So one jig will be about a foot off the bottom and the other jig will be about 12 to 16 inches above that. You can obviously mix up baits and with the loop knots the jigs will just dance in the water. I like using tungsten weights because it's half the size of lead but way more pricy

I’m gonna have to try some of these rigs you’re talking about. I’ve never drop shot once so it’ll be a learning thing. I’ve used an eighth jig with a BGBS on it and a wooly bugger a bit up from it that was weightless and the spotted bass loved it. Tried to get the rod out of my hand. I’ve got a YouTube video on it. Drop shot has to be similar is my thought. Now I’ve got to tie some tiny buggers for that.

Here's the double drop shot with loop knots, I got a couple 1/32 jig heads with #6 hooks and 1/4 oz tungsten bullet weight for the drop weight. 1/48 or 1/64 jig heads should work well too