By
Mark
Romanack
The drop shot rig may be the best thing
to happen to bass fishing since the spinnerbait. For anglers who love to fish
light line, the drop shot set up is deadly.
Recently on a trip to Waterfalls Lodge
near Spanish, Ontario the Fishing 411 crew got the opportunity to fish drop
shot rigs for both shallow and deep water smallmouth. We learned a trick or two
from Bryan Darland, the store manager of Jay’s Sporting Goods in Clare. Bryan
also happens to be a very talented fisherman and smallmouth are his favorite
species.
 |
| Bryan Darland of Jay’s Sporting Goods is a smallmouth bass fishing expert. His expertise helped the Fishing 411 crew get onto and catch some world class smallmouth in Ontario. |
DAY ONE
The first day on the water the folks at
Waterfalls Lodge treated us to fishing one of their remote lakes only
accessible by ATV. After about an hour long ride on a side by side and two
quads, our crew pulled up to one of Ontario’s hidden gems. We loaded our
portable sonar and fishing tackle into three small boats and set out to find
some smallmouth.
The first thing we noticed was the
surface water temperature was 80 degrees! For northern Ontario water this warm
is unheard of. Immediately Bryan started thinking we would have to look deep to
find active smallmouth. We rigged up with 1/2 ounce drop shot rigs and tipped
them with an assortment of split-tail minnows and three inch do-nothing style
worms.
The first place we tried was a small
rocky island. Within casting distance the water depth ranged from about six
feet to 25 feet. We simply motored slowly around the island keeping the boat in
deep water and watching the sonar for fish. When we spotted fish it was a
simple task to drop down on individual fish and catch them. This strategy
worked so well we started calling it “see fish -- catch fish” because almost
every smallmouth we marked was in a biting mood.
The deep water theme held up all day
and we boated countless smallmouth in the 1.5 to 2.5 pound range on drop shot
rigs.
DAY TWO
The next day we loaded our bass gear
into the Fishing 411 film boats, a pair of identically rigged Starcraft STX
2050 multi-species aluminum boats. Our destination was a place called the
Whaleback Region of Lake Huron. We launched at the Spanish, Ontario public
access and motored about 20 minutes west to a cluster of islands not far from
where the Whaleback Channel empties into Lake Huron.
The Lake Huron influence kept the water
temperatures here a little cooler, but the surface temperatures were still in
the upper 70’s. It took several hours to develop a pattern, but late in the day
we came to the conclusion that most of the bass were holding in small patches
of cabbage weed adjacent to good rock structure.
Not only do cabbage weeds provide bass
cover and shade, they also release oxygen into the water a bonus when fishing
in warm water conditions.
Again the drop shot rig shined as the
best way to penetrate the weeds. We casted into openings in the weed growth,
reeled up the slack line and simply vibrated the rod tip to give the plastic a
little action.
 |
| The author holding a nice Whaleback smallmouth caught near Spanish, Ontario during the filming of an episode of Fishing 411 TV. |
The drop shot rig is versatile enough
that it can be fished in both shallow and deep water situations. By simply
switching out the plastics used an angler can give bass a lot of options to
consider. Some of the most popular plastics include split tail minnows,
do-nothing worms, small flukes, three inch worms, tubes, beavertail grubs and
hula grubs all work well on a drop shot rig.
THE RIG
We spooled up using 10 pound test
Maxima Braid 8 as our main line and tied our drop shot rigs to 10 pound test
Maxima Ultra Green Leader Material. A No. 2 drop shot hook is tied to the Ultra
Green leader using a palomar knot. Remember to run the tag end back through the
hook eye so the hook is positioned at a 90 degree angle to the leader. Also
it’s important to leave about 12 inches of tag line when tying the palomar to
attach to the drop shot weight. The other (longer) end of the leader is double
uni knotted to the braid.
This set up allows the drop shot leader
to be reeled right up into the rod guides for safer and better casting
accuracy. Anglers have a number of options when it comes to drop shot sinkers.
We opted for pencil style weights because they don’t hang up in rocks as much
as the ball or bell shaped weights. The other advantage of the pencil style
drop shot weight is they can easily be trimmed to lighten the weight if
necessary.
 |
| Jake recently enjoyed his first visit to the Whaleback region of Lake Huron. This Great Lakes fishery is protected by a ribbon of islands that allow anglers access to world class fishing all summer long. |
Smaller sizes of the pencil weights are
available, but I generally buy 1/2 ounce size weights and trim them as
necessary for fishing shallow water.
Anglers who don’t want to tie up their
own drop shot rigs using the palomar knot can purchase drop shot hooks
pre-rigged with a swivel above and below the hook. This makes it easy to tie on
the necessary leader and dropper lines.
IF YOU
GO
 |
| Waterfalls Lodge |
The Spanish, Ontario region is part of
the Algoma Country Tourist Bureau and is located about two hours east of Sault
Ste Marie, Ontario along Highway 17. We stayed at Waterfalls Lodge (www.waterfallslodge.com)
a full service fishing camp right in the middle of Ontario’s top smallmouth
waters.
Waterfalls Lodge is located on a chain
of four lakes rich in smallmouth bass and walleye fishing opportunities. Each
cabin is provided a 16 foot Starcraft boat complete with sonar, electric motor,
electric start outboard and aerated livewell.
Anglers who want to fish the Whaleback region of Lake Huron will need to
bring their own boat.
