Does anybody do "Bubba Shotting"?

[Walkabout7781]

I'll be trying it Tuesday. Last week caught a nice 4 lb 8 oz LM by pitching my Dropshot to a dock piling. It was a dodgey deal, she almost got under the dock. If it had been a 3 lb SM, I wouldn't have had any chance. So, I'm tipping the odds in my favor, with a new Denali Attax 7'0" MH trigger stick with new Daiwa Tatula CT 8:1 LH loaded with 12 lb test Sunline "Super Natural" copolymer/monofil. No leader, 1/0 EWG (subject to change) and clip-on DS weight (also subject to change). I think this will work well for our milfoil choked waters. Total for the combo is under $300, paid for with my Visa card 1.5% rebate...from remodelling our bathroom mostly on the card...all of which was paid in full when billed, FYI.

[Walkabout7781]

Well, I was pretty much shocked about how nicely the above setup worked. Pitched well, could cast a long distance, quite weedless with plenty of power to pull out of the weeds and handle some hard pulling Smallmouth. Used two different baits, the 4" SK Menace Grub and a 6" Yum lizard. Got a thump on the first cast of the day (Menace Grub) but no fish. I've got some other baits planned, but everything else worked very nicely. Perhaps there's another name already in existance for a HD DS rig, but up here, anything that isn't light line is always referred to as "Bubba", such as "Bubba Baits". This rod and line are identical to what I use for Shakyhead duty, so it'll be nice to have backup.

Also, I'd given up on 10 lb. FC and changed to 12 lb P-Line CXX last year. l was pretty happy with that, but am really pleased with the Sunline. I think it's a lot smaller.

[DaveBrabec]

I use a 8 foot light weight cranking rod with a Curado for a little heavier duty drop shot rod .

[dragon1]

FWIW, I feel as if a Tokyo Rig with a longer shank is very akin to a short-leader depth "Bubba Shot". I like 7'0" Med/MH fast rods for this tech with the listed weights and plastics.

[Walkabout7781]

Have looked at the "Tokyo Rig" but don't see there's any difference to a short DS rig, except more hardware and more $$$. If you use the TR, please 'splain what it does better!

[wmitch2]

Loomis 843, Shimano 200 DHSV, 30# PowerPro, 6 foot 15# Yo-Zuri Top Knot 100% Floro leader, Gammy EWG 2.0, 6" Robo Worm MMII. Biggest Bass 9#14oz pulled thru the Tules on Clear Lake Ca. Unknown number of 5#+ on this rig !!!

[dragon1]

Have looked at the "Tokyo Rig" but don't see there's any difference to a short DS rig, except more hardware and more $$$. If you use the TR, please 'splain what it does better!

Here ya go...much cheaper to build it yourself. Also, Tokyo Rigs push through grass/weeds/scum much better than a Bubba Shot. The other great benefit is excellent hook-up ratio.

[Walkabout7781]

Here ya go...much cheaper to build it yourself. Also, Tokyo Rigs push through grass/weeds/scum much better than a Bubba Shot. The other great benefit is excellent hook-up ratio.

Thanks for the video. I was able to watch it from start to finish, which is fairly rare!

I still don't see the reason why the TR would do anything better. What I did yesterday worked fine, but perhaps the 5" Zoom or 6" Berkley Max Scent lizard would have been better. I ran out of the Max Scent lizards and well, you know...hard to find.

[dragon1]

Thanks for the video. I was able to watch it from start to finish, which is fairly rare!

I still don't see the reason why the TR would do anything better. What I did yesterday worked fine, but perhaps the 5" Zoom or 6" Berkley Max Scent lizard would have been better. I ran out of the Max Scent lizards and well, you know...hard to find.

To each their own...for me, the Tokyo Rig is much easier to use, doesn't require retying aside the main knot to the swivel, and pitches/penetrates through light/moderate weeds/grass better and lets me input a better twitching presentation of the bait in this type of vegetation. I really don't "drop-shot" unless it's bait for smaller fish like trout or crappie (where the technique is actually from that bait fisherman applied with salmon eggs/worms/minnows even way back in the early 1980s). Also, I can cast a Tokyo rig into wind and rain much more effectively for distance than a drop shot and I feel I stay more connected during the hopping/retrieving back than with a drop-shot or Bubba-shot. I rarely fish plastics the last 20 + years as I don't like the possibility of deep hooking a bass, thus neither of these techs gets my attention much at all. If I were to fish clearer, deeper waters, than I would opt for the traditional drop-shot or Bubba-shot, especially if the fish were suspended higher up off the (cleaner/hard/sandy) bottom. If I wanted a more aggressive hopping/stroking motion and wanted to stay connected to my plastic bait better, while being able to keep it off the bottom a couple/few inches (for better visibility to the fish) and had to cast distance to cover flats or grass lines, especially when there is wind/chop/rain; then I would strongly choose the Tokyo Rig over the drop/Bubba-shot.

My nickel's worth.

[Walkabout7781]

What's the idea of putting the bullet sinker on point down? It would seem to be snaggier to me.

When I rigged up the "Bubba Shot" deal, I tied two-ish knots, a Palomar at the hook, and a half hitch at the end of the line to make it a little more difficult to strip off the clip-on DS weight. I can even change the weight without any more knots, or changing Tokyo Rigs. I could see that you might straighten the end of the wire and change bullet sinkers, but even stainless will only put up with that for so long, and then break. Do you do that, Mr Dragon1?

Do you lose a lot of Tokyo Rigs? I doubt if I would on our usual lake, but maybe different in others around here. And then, it just seems like some extra stuff to drag around, extra time to make them up, or extra $ to buy them ready to use. It's Friyay(sic)!

[dragon1]

What's the idea of putting the bullet sinker on point down? It would seem to be snaggier to me.

When I rigged up the "Bubba Shot" deal, I tied two-ish knots, a Palomar at the hook, and a half hitch at the end of the line to make it a little more difficult to strip off the clip-on DS weight. I can even change the weight without any more knots, or changing Tokyo Rigs. I could see that you might straighten the end of the wire and change bullet sinkers, but even stainless will only put up with that for so long, and then break. Do you do that, Mr Dragon1?

Do you lose a lot of Tokyo Rigs? I doubt if I would on our usual lake, but maybe different in others around here. And then, it just seems like some extra stuff to drag around, extra time to make them up, or extra $ to buy them ready to use. It's Friyay(sic)!

I already noted that I don't use either much at all because I don't like to use plastics due to the prospect of deep hooking bass. Also, back to back bullet weights creates closed points on both ends and it is actually very resistant to snags on rocks and comes through weeds very clean (both punching downwards and ripping back up through) while controlling the plastic bait much more directly than the line/knot tie on a drop shot of any sort. I have already explained when and where and how I would apply it...whether it would work well on your bodies of water, I don't know. I do know that when I want to keep my T-Rig closer to the bottom, but want the bait to be a few inches up over weeds so it is more visible, and have a better hook-up ratio, the Tokyo Rig works better than the traditional T-Rig, AND, I don't have to peg the sinker.

Also, making Tokyo Rigs is a cinch and not costly at all really, the wires are available on Amazon, and the swivels are inexpensive as well, just add wire cutters, pliers, left over split rings from old lures, and your hook of choice. I keep three different weights and hooks sizes at hand and use mine mostly with a tube or Paca Craw in deeper water and have found it works very well in flowing waters here in Middle Tennessee when the water is higher, and is much more snag resistant than a jig or traditional T-Rig.

[dragon1]

What's the idea of putting the bullet sinker on point down? It would seem to be snaggier to me.

When I rigged up the "Bubba Shot" deal, I tied two-ish knots, a Palomar at the hook, and a half hitch at the end of the line to make it a little more difficult to strip off the clip-on DS weight. I can even change the weight without any more knots, or changing Tokyo Rigs. I could see that you might straighten the end of the wire and change bullet sinkers, but even stainless will only put up with that for so long, and then break. Do you do that, Mr Dragon1?

Do you lose a lot of Tokyo Rigs? I doubt if I would on our usual lake, but maybe different in others around here. And then, it just seems like some extra stuff to drag around, extra time to make them up, or extra $ to buy them ready to use. It's Friyay(sic)!

BTW, that is rather ingenious with the clip on the drop shot weight. Back in the day we just used a snap swivel and egg sinker with the brass loophole...and yes, we were using "drop shot knots and techs" back in the 80s bait fishing Pautzke's salmon eggs (long before the advent of PowerBait) for stocker rainbows in Colorado. The drop-shot applied in bass fishing is very much like the umbrella rigs used for stripers and salmon to run live bait/anchovies/shad, before it was adopted and rebranded as the A-Rig in bass fishing.

FWIW, if I fished clearer waters with depth and hard/sandy/rocky bottoms and there were finicky walleyes, smallies, bass, perch, then I would probably drop-shot more...whether with a plastic, or as my friend does on Aurora Reservoir in Colorado, he "drop shots" a minnow.

[Alumicraft145]

Great question. We did this in really thick deep weeds. Since the weeds in N.Y. are gone I forgot about it. We used casting sinkers with the brass cut off. Used a small swivel to hold it on. 3/8 to 1\2 was enough. Bait used the most was a yamamoto cut tail worm. 6" I think. We also used senkos wacky rigged but this got pricey. I've had some luck with 2 0# braid and a kinami norie bug.(explains the huge supply of norie bugs in the bunker!! ) my partner used French fries and fish doctors. Had some luck with tubes also. Used a 1\0 owner riggin hook for all baits. I was drinking in the parking lot night before a federation tourney and I threw a rig together... An old 2\0 weedless shiner hook with a punch skirt squished on it, and a small chunk on the hook. Drop shot this with 1\2 sinker and 50# braid on a flipping rod. Next day I caught one bass on this and that 4+#er Got me second place and lost by .03 oz. Was my highest finish ever in a fed event and got me on the state team.
I did like Carolina rods for this but I used just about every sort of combo for it. I don't think over thinking this is gonna help. Just find some rod you don't use much, some sinkers and swivels we all got, baits we all all have too many of and go fishing. good luck!!

[Alumicraft145]

Just remembered, my partner used an open hook with his French try heavy dropshot rig. Was a barbed baitholder hook 1\0. Threaded the bait on. Went thru weeds good, great hookup rate.

[Walkabout7781]

Thank y'all for the feedback! I'm still pondering the TR. If I have to carry clip-on DS weights anyway, I'll probably just keep using them.

I commend Mr. Dragon1 for being concerned about deep hooking fish. I have also stopped doing some things that were highly effective for just that reason. I have found that a larger hook seems to make the fish slower to swallow the hook, but the trick is to find the size that's not too big. Unweighted plastics create a lot of those issues, but they are highly effective. I used various unweighted plastics for 10+ years before the first Senkos hit the market. Most didn't cast far enough.

I have also found that those cheap red plastic "hook disgorgers" you can find in almost anyplace with fishing tackle...those work really well IF you understand how to work them. Slide the correct sized end down the line and keep it on the line all the way to the hook, however deep that is. Push a bit while keeping the line tight and the hook comes up with the plastic gizmo, point protected from doing further damage. I am also an enthusiast of "circle hooks", but those can certainly end up sticking the fish in the gullet.

There are various ways to remove hooks by accessing under the gill covers with needle nose pliers or hemostats, but that's a last resort deal, IMO. The last time out, one of the fish came up with the DS weight fouled in the inner side of the gills. I couldn't figure out how the heck to get that out, but just clipped the line at the DS weight, dumped the weight out of the fish's mouth, liberated the fish, tied a new half-hitch and re-attached the same weight. Easy enough with 3 hands.

[detroit1]

If you are deep hooking fish on soft plastics then you are not paying enough attention.

[dragon1]

If you are deep hooking fish on soft plastics then you are not paying enough attention.

That is not always the case...although bad habits from old school teachings taught us to "wait a few seconds" after a pick up of a T-rigged worm which was likely due to the stretch in the lines and less responsive rods back in the 70s and 80s, fact of the matter is wacky rigged plastics and jigs fished all sorts of ways do get choked, just as any hard bait, hollow body, and especially the Dark Sleeper when bass are on an aggressive bite. The reason I fish Tokyo is that the bass tend to not want to swallow hardware (and that the hardware goes with the plastic so it is much harder to lose track of your bait on a Tokyo rig vs a T-rig that is not pegged), just like on spinnerbaits, the wire/blades/etc., really keep the bass from taking it too deep. When I fish a t-rig and the fish picks up the plastic on a fall, the bullet weight separates from the plastic and even as I reel up quickly to set the hook, there is always a chance of deep hooking that bass.

Deep hooking a bass (or other gamefish) can always occur if they aggressively choke the bait, it doesn't matter how much attention one pays to the bite/hit or how fast we set the hook, and as well - the hookset needs to be appropriate to the presentation and lure.

[Walkabout7781]

Any time the bait is unweighted, the odds go up for a swallowed bait. Not what I want, but it can happen.