Nonstop Dropshot

California pro Aaron Martens is well-known as a dropshot wizard. Probably nobody tinkers with it and studies it more than he does. Whatever combination of line, weight, hook, lure, and leader length can be created, he's likely to have tried it.

While most serious bass anglers now know how to rig a dropshot, some still wonder: When's the best time to use it? Martens says there's no bad time.

"I always have at least one dropshot rig on the deck," he said. "I won three of my four tournaments using it."

Many anglers don't think to fish a dropshot shallow, where bass will be in the spring, but Martens says that's a mistake. He won his first Bassmaster Elite Series tournament at the California Delta recently fishing a Roboworm on a dropshot rig in front of shallow tules and milfoil. Even though he was fishing shallow for monsters (he caught an 11-03 on the second day), he used 10-pound line and an 1/8-ounce weight. His bait of choice was Roboworm's 6-inch Fat Straight Tail.

"It works almost anytime, any season," he noted. "It represents a fish or minnow, so you can use it year-round. It's like a Carolina-rig or crankbait to me. You just have to adjust it for different situations."

Rising Above

The beauty of a dropshot rig is that it gets the worm (or other plastic bait) up off the bottom. Just how far off the bottom depends on the length of the leader between the hook and the weight at the end of the line.

"I fish dropshots with leaders as short as 1 inch on up to maybe 3 feet," Martens said. "It's the best vertical fishing technique there is, along with a jigging spoon. But it's also one of the tools I use for bedding fish. It just keeps the lure in place, and I can shake it without moving it (out of the bed).

"There are always minnows and bluegill around trying to eat the bass eggs, and they're not smack on the bottom. They swim in off the bottom like the dropshot worm does."

He said a dropshot rig often works a lot like a Carolina-rig, in that the fish may hear or see the commotion of the weight banging across the bottom stirring up silt, and be drawn to it. "Then here comes this worm floating by right in its face, and the bass just grabs it," he added.

Tackle Tweaks

Below are some thoughts from Martens on various tackle options.

Leader Length
"Probably the biggest thing you need to adjust is your leader length," he said. "If I want to imitate a crawfish, I might have a leader as short as an inch. I use it a lot like a shakey-head jig doing that.

"But most of the time I start out with one about 6 to 12 inches long. I use a longer leader in cold water and in the fall, and if I'm making long casts, or fishing deep. If you see the fish suspended off the bottom on your graph, you need a long leader then too. But if I'm fishing around rocks where (bait) like sculpins are hiding, or shallow water, I go with a shorter leader."

If he catches a few fish while using a short leader, he'll still lengthen it and keep fishing. "I want to see if I might get more or better bites with a different length leader. I try to experiment a lot in practice."

Weight
Martens said he likes to "fish as light a weight as possible. I use an 1/8- or 3/16-ounce weight a lot, and I like a 1/4-ounce if I can get away with it. I've used up to an ounce to punch through and work it under grass or canopies, or down in trees in 30 feet of water. Those odd situations sometimes come up."

The lighter weights allow him to feel the bites better, and the fish senses less weight when it takes the lure.

Hooks and Rigging
Most anglers nose-hook or wacky-rig their worms on a dropshot. Surprisingly, Martens uses big hooks and Texas-rigs his worms. "I normally use 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 Gamakatsu Re-Barb hooks from Roboworm," he noted. "I use the biggest hooks I can get away with" for a better hookup ratio. He prefers a straight-shank hook.

He never wacky rigs his worms. "You miss and lose a lot of fish doing that," he said.

Whole Lotta Shaking Going On

BassFans know the rule of thumb is to impart less lure action in cold water than in warm. That applies to shaking a dropshot rig too, but Martens says it's best to experiment and let the fish tell you how much to move the bait.

"A dropshot rig is kind of like a cross between a worm and a reaction bait," he noted. "I use it more like a reaction bait.

"I start off with a shake-drag retrieve. Then I'll go to a shake-then-drag with pauses in between. Sometimes they'll take it if you shake it violently – if they're really aggressive and chasing bait. About a third of the time they're really aggressive and that works.

"You have to careful and not shake too much, though," he added. "There's a fine line in getting their attention, and losing their interest. If fishing is tough like a lot of our tournaments are, you don't want to shake it much at all.

"Conditions like when it's calm and clear with high skies mean you shouldn't shake very hard. Sometimes I'll even let it go to the bottom and deadstick it."

Notable

> Almost any soft-plastic bait will work on a dropshot rig, from small curlytail grubs to bulky lures like a Zoom Brush Hog. Martens' favorite is a straight-tail Roboworm. "It works really well and doesn't twist the line very much," he said. "Bulky lures cause more twist. Some guys use swivels to try to reduce line twist, but I don't like to use any gimmicks. I just tie straight to the hook."

> While he normally uses light weights, he occasionally finds that 3/8- or 1/2-ounce ones are more effective. "Somewhere different like Lake Erie or Lake Champlain, I've found that a heavier weight works better for me."

Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.