Drop-shot rigs prove effective
Finesse tactics — ones refined on the professional bass tournament trail — are highly applicable on Western Pennsylvania lakes.
Armstrong County's Keystone Lake is a waterway where finesse tactics often are needed. The lake's clear water, coupled with its popularity with the bass fishing community, equates to fish that have become conditioned to more standard offerings.
Scoring consistently in the bass fishing game here often means showing the fish something new or adding a new twist to an accepted approach.
One refinement in the way soft-plastic baits are fished, the drop-shot rig, has been highly effective in environments where bass can take a good look at a bait and get the chance to do so often.
The drop-shot rig consists of a relatively light wire hook and a special sinker. The sinker is rigged below the hook, keeping the soft-bodied bait off the bottom.
Tying a drop-shot rig is simple. The hook is tied to the main line by way of a Palomar knot. If you don't know how to tie it, instructions can be found in most fishing knot books, as well as a host of Websites.
Tie in the hook about 2 feet from the end of the line. Set the knot so the open gap of the hook is up.
The sinker is affixed to the end of the tag line coming off of the knot, which is why it must be long. Though lengths vary according to fishing situations, it's most common to rig the hook about 12 to 18 inches above the sinker, so you'll need to trim the tag line to this length.
Drop-shotting is a finesse technique, so tackle should be kept light. Hook sizes of No. 1 and 2 are typical for this application. Special drop-shot hooks, which are light-wire, wide-gap hooks, are available.
One fishing partner of mine, who has experimented with various hooks, prefers to use a standard light-wire 1/0 plastic worm hook.
Sinkers designed for the drop-shot rig come in both round and cylindrical shapes. There's no need to tie on drop-shot sinkers. The taper clip that serves as the attachment pinches onto the line. When the sinker snags, this clip cuts the line so only the sinker is lost.
Round sinkers are fine for working on soft bottom areas, typical of spots where submerged aquatic vegetation is found. Cylindrical (pencil-shaped) weights are less snaggy in rocky situations.
Drop-shot rigs can be line twisters, so it can pay to tie in a small ball bearing swivel a few inches above the hook.
The list of soft baits to use on a drop-shot is limited only by the imagination. The common denominator is that they tend to be small. Examples include slender, buoyant worms like the Roboworm and minnow imitations like the Berkley Power Minnow.
On Keystone Lake, where many largemouth and smallmouth bass relate to weed edges, drop-shot rigs can be pitched along this leafy cover.
With the lake level going down and the weeds growing up, edges can be easy to distinguish. Short casts can be made back in open pockets in the weeds, as well as cuts along the weed edges. Good polarized sunglasses aid in this.
Drop-shot rigs work because you can hang the bait in the fish's face, so work it slow. Allow the bait to pause, twitching the rod tip to make it shake. It's common for bites to be triggered after the bait has remained in one place for several seconds.
In addition to fishing edges and open pockets within weeds, the drop shot also is effective when worked around submerged wood and rocks.
