I saw a video recently where a guy discussed, among other tips, how to re-work a drop shot rig for more flexibility in adjusting the distance of the weight from the bait and freeing the hook and lure to move unhampered as opposed to a fixed hook.
You may already be aware of this variation. I had never seen it before so figured many more might have not seen this unique way to rig a drop shot. “Modified Drop Shot” is just a name I came up with to loosely refer to the new way to set the lure up.
Using bobber stoppers with the hook in-between allows you to quickly change the distance your lure is above the bottom. The hook is allowed to move freely up and down the line between the stoppers as well as spin with no line twist. Vertical movement of the hook and lure is controlled by simply moving the top bobber stopper closer to or farther away from the bottom stopper. Moving the bottom stopper adjusts the distance your lure is from the bottom.
Another advantage of using the “modified drop shot” is the quick re-rigging after losing a weight. Simply attach a new weight and slide the bobber stoppers up your line to your desired distance from the bottom. You don’t have to tie a new hook and lure.
Let’s get into setting up the rigging.
The items needed are just two bobber stoppers, a drop shot weight, and of course a hook and lure.
Regarding the weight. I chose a cylinder-styled weight since I feel a weight of that shape is less prone to hanging up than the round style. My experience is the cylinder-shaped weight is much easier to recover from snags, etc. How you attach the drop shot weight is a personal choice. Either slide the line into the weight’s attachment wire or tie it to the weight using a knot. I personally like using the line wire attachment so if my weight does get hung up I stand a better chance of just losing the weight instead of more. The weight you use depends on the depth of the water you are going to fish.
Building this rig is very simple. Attach a bobber stopper to your line and slide it up. This will obviously be your top stopper that your hook and lure will not travel past going up the line. Next, thread your line through the eye of the hook you will be using. The size is up to you. With the line threaded through the eye of the hook your hook and the lure are free to travel up and down the line between the two stoppers. Attaching the hook in this manner also allows it to not only move up and down but spin as well with no line twist.
The next step is to attach the next bobber stopper (OK, this is the bottom stopper) which will control how far down the line your hook and lure can travel and is used primarily to set the distance above the bottom you want your hook and lure to ride.
With all of this done you are ready to attach the drop shot weight. As mentioned before, the size weight is up to you. After attaching the weight, move the bottom stopper up or down your line to set the general distance the lure moves above the bottom (which might be a little variable depending on the distance the lure moves between the two bobber stoppers).
Using a spinning reel with a 1/4 oz. drop shot weight and 6 lb. line you can cast this rig an easy 20 yards.
Give this alternative setup a try. I enjoy drop shot fishing and rigging a lot more with the “Modified Drop Shot”.
