"Essentially you are structure fishing, working irregularities in the weedline. "I catch them up in the weeds at times, but for the most part they are coming on the rocky shoals located off of the grass cover," explained Scalish. He looks for rock ledges that extend off the outside edge of the weeds. On northern natural lakes Scalish has found June and July to be the best months for taking weed-oriented walleyes on the drop shot. In many ways his approach is similar to Lehman's, with a few added twists and details. And when he's targeting walleyes on natural lakes that contain beds of submerged vegetation, he commonly relies on the drop-shot rig. But the Cleveland, Ohio, pro angler pursues a variety of species.
It doesn't weight the worm down, allowing lots of motion." He rigs the hook Texas-style weedless.įrank Scalish makes his living bass fishing. "But for the drop shot, scaling back to this smaller hook provides an offering where the hook hardly even seems to be there. "If I were fishing the same worm on the bottom, for bass, I'd probably use a 2/0 hook," he said. A favorite of his is the Roboworm, a thin-bodied worm in which the salt slowly dissipates as it is fished.įor fishing the thin plastic worms that he prefers, in the weed-fringed habitat, Lehman shies away from the use of specialty drop shot hooks, in favor of a standard No. Lehman has his greatest confidence in more buoyant soft plastic baits, ones that offer good movement with little to no aid from the angler. "That's not always the case if the bait is lying on the bottom, especially if the bait is competing for room with low lying weeds." "Even if you are not moving, the bait is still moving around," he noted. The drop shot can be pitched up into the shallows, and dragged back off of the break.Īccording to Lehman, who often tests the action of baits and riggings in ponds located on his property, one of the distinct advantages a drop shot is the ability to soak a soft-bodied bait and still have it provide motion. This provides a network of miniature points and cuts, with the 'eyes often being tucked back inside these inside turns. Lehman picks his drop-shot-rigged rod up from the collection that litter the deck when he's working the outside fringe of weed cover, typically fingers of growth that splay off from the edge. And this lake has a marginal walleye population too. Natural baits too can be presented with a drop shot.įrequent fishing partner Dave Lehman frequently impresses me with the many methods by which he catches fish, so when walleyes fell to a drop shot rig he was dragging along the edge of a weed fringed mid-lake hump, it wasn't much of a shocker. Drop-shot sinkers feature a special tapered eyelet that allows the sinker to be affixed to the line without a knot, making it a simple matter to adjust to a different size or shape of sinker when conditions change.Ī diversity of soft-bodied baits can be fished via the drop shot, though the tendency is to go with smaller, finesse-style options. Lead and tungsten are the two primary construction materials. You can get them both round and mojo (cylindrical) shape. The hook is tied to the line with a Palomar knot, with the gap of the hook pointed up.ĭrop-shot sinkers, like hooks, have become a specialized deal. But other styles can be used, particularly when fishing around weeds and rocks, where hanging up is a consideration. Hook makers produce special drop-shot hooks, which typically feature a short shank, fairly wide gap, and light wire construction, keeping with the finesse aspect of the presentation. Hooks styles differ, based on both the type of bait being fished, as well as the cover. The spacing between the two terminal components varies, depending upon how far one intends to present the bait up off the bottom. Dave Lehman took this 'eye along the weedy edge of a hump in Pennsylvania's Conneaut Lake.įor those who don't venture far from traditional walleye rigging methods, the drop-shot rig is one where the hook is tied a distance up the line, while the sinker is attached at the line's end. Though thought of as a bass tactic, drop-shot rigging is also effective on walleyes. From natural lakes and reservoirs that feature a combination of rocks and weeds, to large river systems replete with both natural and man-made structure, drop-shot rigs catch walleyes. Though the popularity of drop-shot rigging came about as a finesse tactic for pressured bass waters, the notion of suspending a bait above the sinker has found numerous applications when pursuing other species, our favorite glassy-eyed friend included.
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