Using a bobber on a drop shot rig

[Richie29072]

I was watching one of the Scott Martin Youtube videos the other day. He used a cork on a drop shot rig to keep it suspended at a certain depth. That is a thinking outside of the box idea. I might have to give it a try. Thoughts?

[white gambler]

Sounds like a similar result, presentation wise, to a float and fly

[ECobb91]

Bill Dance used to do that with a swimbait too. Allowed the swimbait to fall to a certain depth every time. More hassle imo, when you set the hook you have to take the bobber off and that fish has every opportunity to get off the hook when the tension is changing and you’re messing with the line., if you want the drop shot at a specific depth, change the length of line between hook and weight. If you want the bait suspending at a specific depth, you’ll Be limited to the length of the rod (7’ rod, 7’ depth)

[DaveBrabec]

Bill Dance used to do that with a swimbait too. Allowed the swimbait to fall to a certain depth every time. More hassle imo, when you set the hook you have to take the bobber off and that fish has every opportunity to get off the hook when the tension is changing and you’re messing with the line., if you want the drop shot at a specific depth, change the length of line between hook and weight. If you want the bait suspending at a specific depth, you’ll Be limited to the length of the rod (7’ rod, 7’ depth)

use a slip bobber and you can fish it as deep as you want

[Hollada]

I think I was 4-5 years old when I first used this “technique”. Bobber with a weight and a hook.

[Richie29072]

Well me too.. but I had never thought to suspend an artificial bait like that. I thought it was neat is all.

[Lund1625]

I've fished a wacky rig senko under a slip bobber. Use a bobber stop to set the depth; usually 4'-6' around weeds. Better with a good chop on the water; that gives the float a lot of up and down motion which gives action to the bait. Then the bobber slowly goes under and moves away, bass on.

[Jeff Hahn]

Back before tubes became popular for smallies, I made my own 1/8 ounce hair jigs that I fished with an Uncle Josh #210 split tail pork rind on the back. I caught a lot of smallie with that "fly and rind." We hired a guy in my department. He and his family vacationed in Maine and fished a little. So, I gave him a few of my jigs and rinds to try. When he got back, he raved about how good my baits where. After talking to him, I realized that what he called "fishing" was drowning nightcrawlers under a bobber. What he had done was instead of tying on a bare hook, he tied on my hair jig and rind and tossed it out under a bobber and proceeded to catch the fire out of smallies. Unbeknownst to him, he created the "floating fly" rig in @ 1985!

[DrewFlu33]

I've been doing a wacky rigged trout worm under a slip bobber for years for crappies after catching the fire out of some lake run steelhead in tribs to lake Erie on it many years ago. It works so well on the crappies that I've stopped buying live minnows for them when fishing them in open water. I've caught a lot of bass on that rig while crappie fishing, and have tried it both with a "fly" (marabou or bucktail jig) and wacky senko for smallies a couple different times with varying degrees of success. This has been almost entirely while fishing current in the river, though in that case it's to maintain contact with my bait much more than to suspend at a given depth; this stops a lot of missed fish who grab the bait and spit it before you know it and stops others from swallowing the bait.

I've not tried it much in still water for a couple reasons. The first is that the rapid freeze up in the fall and dumb seasons we have prevent me fishing for bass a lot of times when they tend to suspend and where I think this would be the most valuable. Past that, I think it's much easier to maintain the depth you want with bass-sized presentations than with smaller panfish-sized presentations, at least when the fish are moderately aggressive (and this goes back to when I'm able to bass fish most times).

Jeff: Given that you can't get the pork anymore (though I did see that a guy has started making/selling it again...maybe...lots of reports of people buying it and never receiving it), you might try a trick that I used to use when fly fishing for trout that could give you a similar action to the rind if it's something you want to explore again: Cut a strip of chamois cloth to the desired size and shape and thread it onto a hook. The action it gives is incredible. We used to call it a "slurpie" when using it for trout fishing, a name it was given by the best fly fisherman I've ever met and the guy who single-handedly showed me the ropes to becoming a competent fly angler. We got pretty into it to the point that we even started dyeing the cloth (suede dye will do it) and tying it onto the hook (like a fly) to improve the presentation. Beat the pants off of a lot of the complicated streamer patterns we were all tying up to that point. Don't know why I've never tried it in a bigger size for bass. Another advantage I could see is that the chamois should readily accept any scent you'd want to add to it.

[Jeff Hahn]

I've been doing a wacky rigged trout worm under a slip bobber for years for crappies after catching the fire out of some lake run steelhead in tribs to lake Erie on it many years ago. It works so well on the crappies that I've stopped buying live minnows for them when fishing them in open water. I've caught a lot of bass on that rig while crappie fishing, and have tried it both with a "fly" (marabou or bucktail jig) and wacky senko for smallies a couple different times with varying degrees of success. This has been almost entirely while fishing current in the river, though in that case it's to maintain contact with my bait much more than to suspend at a given depth; this stops a lot of missed fish who grab the bait and spit it before you know it and stops others from swallowing the bait.

I've not tried it much in still water for a couple reasons. The first is that the rapid freeze up in the fall and dumb seasons we have prevent me fishing for bass a lot of times when they tend to suspend and where I think this would be the most valuable. Past that, I think it's much easier to maintain the depth you want with bass-sized presentations than with smaller panfish-sized presentations, at least when the fish are moderately aggressive (and this goes back to when I'm able to bass fish most times).

Jeff: Given that you can't get the pork anymore (though I did see that a guy has started making/selling it again...maybe...lots of reports of people buying it and never receiving it), you might try a trick that I used to use when fly fishing for trout that could give you a similar action to the rind if it's something you want to explore again: Cut a strip of chamois cloth to the desired size and shape and thread it onto a hook. The action it gives is incredible. We used to call it a "slurpie" when using it for trout fishing, a name it was given by the best fly fisherman I've ever met and the guy who single-handedly showed me the ropes to becoming a competent fly angler. We got pretty into it to the point that we even started dyeing the cloth (suede dye will do it) and tying it onto the hook (like a fly) to improve the presentation. Beat the pants off of a lot of the complicated streamer patterns we were all tying up to that point. Don't know why I've never tried it in a bigger size for bass. Another advantage I could see is that the chamois should readily accept any scent you'd want to add to it.

I sold all of my pork a month or so ago...except for the two cases of #210 Uncle Josh...one in white and one in black. I have tried the chamois and it does give a nice action.