Fish-N-Fool Loc: N. Idaho

It was late Oct, 9 years ago. The weather was fair, but a cold front had moved in and the water temps were dropping down into the low 50's. I was fishing a tournament with a buddy in one of the prettiest spots in all of N. Idaho, the Pend Oreille River. The smallies were banging craw colored crank baits pretty good and we had caught a few nice size fish in the 1 ½ to 3 pounds range when the bite just stopped. I knew the fish were still there, just not biting. So we switched it up and tried a few other things like spinner baits, different cranks and tubes, but got no more fish.
As we were getting ready to leave to try another area, we went over one of the many big truck size boulders that are in this stretch of the river. The fish finder lit up and showed a ton of fish all around it, so I told my partner why don’t we try dropshotting them. We had pre-fished this stretch the week before and done o.k. here with cranks, catching just enough fish to figure this was a good starting point.

The water along this mile long bank had a flat that was only about 10 to 14 feet deep with a fairly slow current, but full of cobble and some large boulders ranging from about 2 feet to 10 feet across. It had just enough color that you could just see most of the bigger boulders and make out some of the bottom. So we cast out and let the boat drift with the current like we had been when throwing cranks here earlier in the day and we both nailed a fish within the first minute of that drag! Well we loaded the boat with some 3 and 4 lb.ers this way and I quickly perfected the technique.

All you need a slow current with a rocky, gravel or sand bottom. Just drop the bait over the edge of the boat, don’t try to cast, as that will only get you hung-up if you’re in the rocks. I learned right away that you need to put on a large enough weight so the bait will stay almost right under the boat and not drag back to much, then put out just enough line to reach the bottom. Let the boat drift in the current and watch your rod as the weight bounces along the rocks. If you keep the line right under the boat the hang-ups are very few and the fishing can be fantastic. Bites can be very light though, so you have to lift on the rod tip a bit to feel for weight if the rod tip does something odd. An egg sinker or pencil lead pinched on a wire, (similar to a Walleye bottom bouncer without the extra arm) works great as this setup works amazingly well through the rocks without hanging up.

We ended up finishing 3rd and 4th in that tourney. So it was a good day. Since then I have used my “Drag the Drop Shot” method with great success, even on different sections of the river. This even worked in the main lake where there is no current, just a breeze to move the boat along. As long as you can drag the bait slowly with the boat and not with the rod it seems to work just as well.

I tie this rig up a little differently for this method and it has proven to be a fish killer. Here’s how I do it. I tie on a 1/0 Gammy finesse hook using the Fish-N-Fool knot. Tie it on so the hook eye points up and you have about a 20? tag end. Then run the tag end back down through the hook eye. That will keep the hook pointing straight out. Then I run a hollow pencil lead about 2” long up the line and pinch it lightly in place with a pair of pliers. That does two things, it makes it easy to adjust the height of the bait off the bottom. I like mine about 8" to 16" off a hard bottom and if, or should I say when you get hung up, most of the time the weight will just slide off and you won’t lose the whole rig. Just slide on a new weight, pinch it in place and you’re good to go. If you’re fishing the rocks the weighted bent wire rig works very well and is virtually snag proof. To make these up I used some old 10” spinner bait wires and the ¼” hollow pencil lead. Just run the wire through it and crimp in place, You could also buy Walleye bottom walker rigs and just cut the extra arm off the top if you didn’t want to make them up. Just don’t get to heavy of ones, about a 1 oz. weight works good.

This live well hatch cover was 20”, so the bass was well over 20” and over 5 lbs. That’s a toad for up here in N. Idaho. I got her dropshotting a Pearl White 5” stick bait. The rod is a 6’6” med. action spinning rod, mated to a Quantum Array 40 and spooled a with 6lb test Trilene mono.

Here is how I tie up my Drag the dropshot rig:

I’ve been using the tails off baits that have gotten to torn up after being fished Texas rigged and it has been a real killer. I just cut off about 3 ” off the tail of one of the used baits and nose hook it, by going in the bottom of the bait about 3/8 of a inch back and bringing the hook point right to the nose of the bait like it shows in the drawing above. If I don’t have any used baits I just use the whole 5” bait and they work just about the same. The hot colors around here have been Chartreuse Pepper, Rainbow Trout, Bubble Gum, Green Shad, as well as Pearl White. This has turned out to be one of the best dropshot methods I’ve ever fished.

So the next time you’re out on a good stretch of river give the “Drag a Dropshot” rig a try.

Bassthird Loc: Private Idaho

I never get tired of your posts.
I hope you don’t get tired of me saying thanks!
Sincerely
Idaho’s biggest bassthird

audigger53 Loc: Severn, MD

Nice work! How long did it take you to figure that one out, or did some one show it to you? I like the wire idea to keep you from hanging the rocks.

Fish-N-Fool Loc: N. Idaho

I almost never use ideas that I don't come up with. If you read the article closely you would know I came up with this concept in a few hours fishing a tournament 9 years ago

Fish-N-Fool Loc: N. Idaho

I no longer use a double Palomar for my drop shoe knot. I now use this knot
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qUpvxQrUNos?app=desktop

PaulFish Loc: Southern California

You need to write for one of the fishing magazines.
I'm serious they will buy this kind of article.
I love the area that you are in , l lived in Spokane for 13 yrs and loved the smallie and sturgeon fishing.
We need more from you and more photos!
Thanks again.

Fish-N-Fool Loc: N. Idaho

I have been a paid outdoors journalist for many years and have articles published in Bassin magazine, BassNMan and NW Fishing Reports print magazine as well as many online E-magazines, but I have now retired from that and my fishing lure company I created and made lures of my own designs. Now I just fish and post a bit. These are some of my lures I designed. These are a super heavy salt bait designed to fish weightless on the fall like a sinko, but they have a ton more action as they fall.

The Outcast Loc: NE Michigan

Great info FNF!
I love getting new takes on techniques.. keep ‘em coming….!

Gunnerj Loc: Pa

Thanks for your knowledge, can't wait to try it out

Tim Carlisle Loc: AL

This is a great post. I am going to try it out the next time I go to West Point Lake. It is real cobble rocky on the bottom in lots of areas and would probably work better than the Carolina rig I use most often there, and would probably get hung up way less often.
Thanks for sharing.