Best drop shot rod?

[NRXfever]

Megabass addermine or nrx 872 are my favorite drops hot rods of all time

[champy]

As far as I'm concerned the NRX 822S DSR is what every other dropshot rod wants to be. It's not really all that good for anything other than dropshot so it's an expensive one-trick pony but if you get one, you'll never have to wonder what you are missing.

At only $550 that's a great deal!

[Cbump]

Caught my personal best on a Berkley Cherrywood the other day. Seemed to work just fine.

[fluke1987]

Adding one more to the pile, but I picked up a Daiwa BLX 6' 8" ML spinning rod. Worked great at my last tournament catching smallmouth on a dropshot in 10-15 feet of water. Very sensitive too.

[Bronzefly]

Adding one more to the pile, but I picked up a Daiwa BLX 6' 8" ML spinning rod. Worked great at my last tournament catching smallmouth on a dropshot in 10-15 feet of water. Very sensitive too.

The entire BLX line is overlooked by a lot of guys. They are really impressive overall, and that 68ML is a great finesse and DS rod...

Megabass P5 Landsat is really impressive

Definitely... good option.

Steez AGS 76MML, Steez AGS 7'ML, and Steez AGS 7'MLXF (vertical only) are all extremely impressive rods as well. As far as the best, everyone will have an opinion... There are several excellent rods mentioned in this thread.

[TheBarBack]

Gonna have a million opinions... but I really enjoy my phenix feather 7'1" M for drop shots... not perfect by any means, but fast tip... stupid light... sensitive. And top it off won't break the bank

[PolarKraft195]

Best bang for the buck!......St Croix Avid X, AXS69MLXF

[goose pit]

I love my Tatula Elite AGS drop shot rod

[DubyaDee]

I love my alpha angler DSR. It's got the perfect action for keeping fish pinned all the way to the boat. I think most drop shot rods are way too fast. I've never fished the 822 nrx, and I assume it's one of the most sensitive rods out there. But why would you want an extra fast action rod for smallmouth and light wire hooks?

[BoatBuggy]

I love my alpha angler DSR. It's got the perfect action for keeping fish pinned all the way to the boat. I think most drop shot rods are way too fast. I've never fished the 822 nrx, and I assume it's one of the most sensitive rods out there. But why would you want an extra fast action rod for smallmouth and light wire hooks?

Fast, extra-fast, medium, slow, blah blah blah. It's how the rod responds to the movements that matters. I suspect one sees the "extra-fast" on the NRX 822s DSR and thinks it responds like a "extra-fast" NRX 852s JWR. Nothing could be further from reality. The rod as a whole is a noodle that's not much good for anything else but dropshots. The extra-fast gets the hook set quickly and then the rest of the blank is pretty much a 6 ft shock absorber.

[Real L]

Fast, extra-fast, medium, slow, blah blah blah. It's how the rod responds to the movements that matters. I suspect one sees the "extra-fast" on the NRX 822s DSR and thinks it responds like a "extra-fast" NRX 852s JWR. Nothing could be further from reality. The rod as a whole is a noodle that's not much good for anything else but dropshots. The extra-fast gets the hook set quickly and then the rest of the blank is pretty much a 6 ft shock absorber.

I'm with BoatBuggy. A Drop Shot rod is just that. If somebody tells you that this so and so rod is good for Drop Shot and also for throwing a shakey worms, it might be a good drop shot rod but not the best drop shot rod. If you do enough Drop Shotting, get a rod for it.

[lisa1117]

NRX dsr 822, NRX 852 (would like slightly deeper bend but works), Steeze 7" med fast, but the sleeper is a ABU Fantisita 7' med great rod for the money and loads great .

[DubyaDee]

Fast, extra-fast, medium, slow, blah blah blah. It's how the rod responds to the movements that matters. I suspect one sees the "extra-fast" on the NRX 822s DSR and thinks it responds like a "extra-fast" NRX 852s JWR. Nothing could be further from reality. The rod as a whole is a noodle that's not much good for anything else but dropshots. The extra-fast gets the hook set quickly and then the rest of the blank is pretty much a 6 ft shock absorber.

That's exactly why the AA DSR is perfect for me. Sensitivity and shock absorber when they're hooked. Why wouldn't Loomis just use the right action when they mark the rods?

[BoatBuggy]

That's exactly why the AA DSR is perfect for me. Sensitivity and shock absorber when they're hooked. Why wouldn't Loomis just use the right action when they mark the rods?

In the Loomis world action == tip and the rod has an extra-fast tip so it's marked correct. The power of the rod is "mag-Medium". There is no standard for "action" or "power" for rods so its hard to make a direct comparison without handling both. But the AA DSR has pretty much the same specs as the NRX DSR and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were very similar in hand.

[Big-Bass1]

I have a Megabass Orochi XX (Gen 1) Dropshot rod that is AMAZING!. I also have a (yet to be used) Daiwa Steez AGS 76MML that I look forward to using. And two others that are amazing: Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 69ML and a 13 Fishing Muse Gold (Walleye rod) 69ML. Granted, all (outside of the Steez) are discontinued but they serve as great dropshot rods.

[DC516]

So I’m going fully against the grain compared to everyone else says, I hate the 822dsr. I have dropped way too many fish on that rod, xf doesn’t allow for any play when a fish jumps and too easy to throw the rig. I like something more mod fast, best ds rod I’ve ever used is the megabass orochi dropshot rod due to being mod fast. Still haven’t found a better dropshot rod and regret selling it every day. The mod fast just keeps fish pinned much better when using braid to floro in my opinion, xf is just too quick to release when a fish jumps or makes sudden surges. That is my experience and knowing the general consensus it’s not a popular opinion but a lot of dropshot fishing for largies and smallies and I’ve come to that conclusion. Currently I use a 1 and 2 power dobyns, 1 for 1/4 and 3/8 nose hooked baits and 2 power for 1/2oz with a wacky bait.

I also hated my NRX 822 DSR. I find my Steez AGS 7’ ML and Megabass Orochi Whipsnake way better rods for it. Of course the whip snake is less sensitive than the other two. I feel my AGS is more sensitive than the NRX and the NRX tip is too stiff. After years of owning them, all my NRX are gone.

[MainelySmallmouth]

I suspect this exercise is super subjective, biased by personal brand preference and loyalties as much as anything. So I'll try to answer absent of brand. For me, and a do a ton of drop shotting, minimum rod length is 7 feet, with 7'2" my preferred length. I like a more parabolic action fast or moderate fast. Lastly, I've fished most of my life believing that DS was supposed to be done using a medium light power rod. And I always felt like ML were under powered and noodly feeling. This year I started fishing medium powered rods ( yes I know that all medium powered rods are not created equally) and what a difference.

So my favorite DS rod is a 7'2" Fast Action. Medium Powered Rod, fished braid to leader with a 15 to 20 foot leader.

[HellaBass]

It is all very subjective to the angler, Dobyns DX742SF is definitely my favorite smallie spinning rod and preferred choice for drop shotting

[Billydonwon]

Check out the ALX Enox Charmer rod.

[86 inches]

Fast, extra-fast, medium, slow, blah blah blah. It's how the rod responds to the movements that matters. I suspect one sees the "extra-fast" on the NRX 822s DSR and thinks it responds like a "extra-fast" NRX 852s JWR. Nothing could be further from reality. The rod as a whole is a noodle that's not much good for anything else but dropshots. The extra-fast gets the hook set quickly and then the rest of the blank is pretty much a 6 ft shock absorber.

I don't know about the rod being a "noodle" but agree that the 822 will keep your DS fish pinned... if the rest of your rig is right.

For those that are loosing fish on a 822 it might be the hook they are using. There are a lot of premium hooks that are labeled and marketed as DS hooks that in reality suck for DS. Owner Mosquito light or the Decoy Shot Rig for exposed nose hooking and the Owner Cover Shot or Robofrom Rebarb for texas rigged DS baits are made correctly for DS fishing and will get way more fish to the boat no matter what DS rod you choose.