Hi Guys, Did a lot of reading before

[Little Green Fish]

[color=#006600]Marshie[/color] wrote:

Little Green Fish - I agree with your definition of dropshotting!  This "new" sport is simply a marketing gimmic and excuse to charge monstrous prices.  In reality, it has been around decades and is simply fishing soft plastics with a jig head.  Shall we start a petition to change the name?   


 

@Marshie, it won't help, i've tried, but failed several times, so I conformed to calling it Dropshotting Fresh water style or Dropshotting Salt water style....

@Figjam, the mono line directly onto the spool attached to the braid, Uni knots are fine there (note that the uni knots give about 85% of the line strength) when tying your leader to the front end of the braid/fireline you could use the 100% line strength knots like the Reefer advises Two bemini's tied together with a cat's paw knot, alternatively the uni's are also very good.....

Oh and perhaps (I'm convinced he is) Marshie is way more experienced in this field, what I know is what i've read in articles and pro's that gave me some tips (Reefman a pro?), no seriously now, I've seen it (saltwater) freshwater is a different thing all together, and that I've tried and caught plenty of fish with, so..... take my advise with a sense that I'm no pro, seriously.

:f1shy

 

[Little Green Fish]

[color=#006600]Lucky Luke[/color] wrote:

hi marshie

yes helpsa lot.also has a bigger outfit but will try my luck with the smaller species first,as my nick name says,im lucky if i catch a fish....lol

Lucky Luke

It's like with all things in life, the more you practise the "Luckier You Get".  The main thing is to allow this passion to become an obsession, but, and this is improtant, you have to enjoy the obsession.......

:f1shy

 

[Lucky Luke]

Agreed even if i dont catch fish it surely is relaxing,beats work every time.Is Richards Bay harbour any good for ds.Im planning to go down threre in November with my boat?

 

[FigJam]

LGF  & Marshie

 

Thanks for the great advice, been invaluable - would of lost a lunker if went straight and see my braid dissapear into the blue!!:woohoo

 

Cheers:.

 

[Little Green Fish]

Figjam u'r welcome bud, anytime!

Lucky Luke, bud I unfortunately don't know Richsards bay at all, in fact I don't know the saltwater pond  all that well.... hope some of our resident pro's comes to your rescue though?

:f1shy

 

[Baardman]

Can you maybe give your opinion on my gear as well: bought a shimano 7ft clarus with a spheros 4000. People at the tackle shop said it will work, but I am no pro! And I am still not certain about which line and lures to buy!

 

[FigJam]

[color=#006600]Baardman[/color] wrote:

Can you maybe give your opinion on my gear as well: bought a shimano 7ft clarus with a spheros 4000. People at the tackle shop said it will work, but I am no pro! And I am still not certain about which line and lures to buy!

Baardman

I watched the DVD - Dropshotting for Kingies in Mozies, One of guys on the DVD was equiped with a spheros 4000 and he managed to land about +/- 10 decent sized kingies in two days, it held up well and it has a good drag system. :bflip

 

Oh by the way, I bought 20lb Berkley Fireline, seems pretty decent. Viper braid - double the cost

 

See if LGF could assist you in this regard

 

I love Shimano, so in my book you bought a great setup!!

 

 

 

[Reefman]

Baardman, your setup sounds fine, although the Spheros 4000 might be a little bit big/overkill for that rod. On the good side... it will fit nicely with a spinning rod 8-10ft, so it is quite versatile.

Line - if you can afford it, go for some 12lb Fireline, 30lb Fluorocarbon.  Mozambique, fishing for Kingies.....

To start with, the top three baits for Kingies would be the 5 inch pearl watermelon jerk shad used together with a half ounce jig head on a 2/0 hook, the 4 inch chartreuse shad together with a quarter ounce jig head on a 2/0 hook and the 3 inch pearl watermelon shad together with a one eighth ounce jig head on a 1/0 hook.  The lesser the light the darker the minnow rule works pretty well, along with the brighter the sun the brighter the minnow.  Again, there are no rules in this game so try different things when the fish are suffering from a case of lockjaw.

There are three basic retrieves - the fast jerk retrieve, the slow long jerk retrieve and the finger-above-the bail arm retrieve.

The fast jerk retrieve
This retrieve, as its name implies, is a faster retrieve. Holding the rod tip down, begin winding while jerking the rod tip.  Here you can vary the winding speed.  Also, one can vary jerks giving the rod one jerk followed by two or three while winding.  Vary this until you find what works.

The slow jerk retrieve
For this retrieve cast the minnow, holding the rod upright, use long jerks as we slowly wind the minnow back.  The length of the jerk can be varied from short jerks to very long jerks, even dropping the rod tip to water level and lifting it almost upright above your head.  Again the winding speed and jerk speed can be varied until you find what's working.

The finger-above-the bail arm retrieve
As its name implies this retrieve is performed by holding your index finger out above the bail arm so that, with each revolution of the reel, the line jumps against your fingers.  As you wind the minnow back this imparts an awesome action on the bait making it swim very irregularly - just as a wounded baitfish would.  Again, vary your speed until you find out what the fish wants.

If that doesn't work, put on a 10oz sinker and try knock them out!


 

 

[Baardman]

Reefman what reel would you suggest for the Shimano clarus 7ft/shimano crucial 7ft?

 

[Reefman]

A smaller reel like the Daiwa Exceler 2500

 

[Dingleberry]

Figjam and co

All of these kits are adequate. I also fish a 4000 size Daiwa on a 6.6 rod - only cause then I can use it on all three dropshot rods I own. Because the rods are so light and short, balance does not seem to be an issue. I wouldn't recommend using an entire 300m spool on a 4000 size reel. It is a bit of a waste. Realistically, one can only achieve casts of up to 80m (if you have a tailwind) and the major benefits of braid are castibility, feel and efficient hooksets. Once a fish is hooked any benefit is lost. I understand the urge to pack more line of stronger breaking strain on one's setup but it is truelly not necessary with good quality reels with excellent, smooth drags such as yours. Remember, if the fish is big enough to pull of 200m of line in the environment (ie shore fishing) us dropshotters fish, it is almost inevitable the line will get snagged on reef and the fish lost. 

I also rectum that one should seriously consider exceeding the use of 10lb braid for this (shorebased) purpose as these lures are light and even braid becomes difficult to cast any distance above this weight. Your rods and reels are well designed and balanced for the task and with an appropriate drag setting you will have absolutely no problem landing Kingfish in the 5kg range from the shore on 8lb braid.

Consider a backing of nylon with a topshot of 80m - 125m braid and a 3m leader of higher breaking strain. Wrap insulation tape around the spool, followed by the backing and then the braid - joined with a uni-knot. The leader is attached to the braid using a surgeon's knot. A bimini to bimini with a cat's paw is great, but becomes impractical to tie on the go after a breakup.

Purchase a 125m spool of 8lb / 10lb. Fireline for your spare spool - as you have already acquired the heavy stuff, just in case you find it difficult to cast the heavier stuff.

I have a 1500 Sedona with 4lb Fireline and have landed a 1.5 kg Grunter and a      2.5 kg Yellowfish with ease. It has an exceptional drag system! I believe you have purchased fine equipment and you are going to a fantastic spot. A colleague showed me pictures recently of two 12kg Ignoblis that he and a friend caught on the 5" charteuse and white minnows with 1/2 ounce, 2/0 jigs at the mouth at Bilene.

Best of luck!

 

[Land Locked]

[color="#006600"]Dingleberry[/color] wrote:

Figjam and co

I also rectum that one should seriously consider exceeding the use of 10lb braid for this (shorebased) purpose as these lures are light and even braid becomes difficult

Sorry mate, second time around ? We have to start wondering. The nick is also dubious.
Anyways apart from "typos" a very good post with lots of usefull info. A spot of manna for you.

 

[Dingleberry]

Thanks!

 

[Little Green Fish]

[color=#006600]Land Locked[/color] wrote:

[color=#006600]Dingleberry[/color] wrote:

Figjam and co

I also rectum that one should seriously consider exceeding the use of 10lb braid for this (shorebased) purpose as these lures are light and even braid becomes difficult

Sorry mate, second time around ? We have to start wondering. The nick is also dubious.
Anyways apart from "typos" a very good post with lots of usefull info. A spot of manna for you.

I was wondering here in silence about this tooo, hmmmm? there sumthin you aint tellin? 

Just joking bud, great info and thanks a mill for that, I bought the Shimano Symetre 4000 and had it spooled with 30lb braid (the correct way with the backing) and tied a 40lb fluro leader to that using the double Uni's but I'm also familiar with the surgeons knots.  Only thing is the double uni's apparently sustain 85% of line strength and like you rightfully said the bemini-catspaw-bemini might be a little difficult if not impossible (wind gusting) to tie....

Has any of you's used the Storm minnow baits that the guys were using in the dropshot fo kingies dvd? and if so how do yo rate them?

:f1shy

 

[Baardman]

You guys talk about backing, but what strength, I am thinking of using 14lb braid, and what strength should the leader be and what knot do you guys use to connect them, I am still hopeless with the bemini-catspaw-bemini?

 

[Nepptune]

Marshie - Good to see you on here sharin the knowledge my boy!! Folks take this man's advice to heart, he REGULARLY sends me e-mails of fish caught on his brand of jigs, and they all make me green with envy... Great guy, great fisherman, glad you on here and joining me in the whole "Drop Shotting is NOT NEW!!" attitude! Hahahahah!

 

[bjornh]

the fireline is definately WAY too heavy. trust me been dropshottin for ages now and the 6 and 8 pound firelines are stong and enable you to throw the necessary distance (given distance is not an issue given the right spot). you will struggle to throw 1/8oz on 14lb i can promise you that much.

7 foot rod is just right, but 4000 size coffee grinder is bit big...perhaps 2000/2500 size wouldve been better.

hope this helps somewhat

 

[Little Green Fish]

[color=#006600]Baardman[/color] wrote:

You guys talk about backing, but what strength, I am thinking of using 14lb braid, and what strength should the leader be and what knot do you guys use to connect them, I am still hopeless with the bemini-catspaw-bemini?

Baardman

The backing strength isn't all that important as the most important feature of it is to keep the braid or firline from slipping on the spool when there's something on the other end pulliing on it, so a couple of winds of any mono or fluro line on the empty reel is all you want (I used 10lb mono, because that's what I had).  Now when it comes to the leader it's a little different as the general rule of thought is that the leader should be roughly about double the strength of the braid/fireline, but it's not necessary to go exactly double strength on the leader, i.e. 20lb braid and a 30 -35lb fluro leader will be just as acceptable as the exact double 40lb leader would be, however just make sure that your leader is fluro.   As to the knots like i mentioned earlier, I am using the double Uni knots as mentioned because they retain about 85% of your line strength and they're easy to tie even under difficult weather conditions....

Hope this helps.

:f1shy

 

[Little Green Fish]

[color=#006600]bjornh[/color] wrote:

the fireline is definately WAY too heavy. trust me been dropshottin for ages now and the 6 and 8 pound firelines are stong and enable you to throw the necessary distance (given distance is not an issue given the right spot). you will struggle to throw 1/8oz on 14lb i can promise you that much.

7 foot rod is just right, but 4000 size coffee grinder is bit big...perhaps 2000/2500 size wouldve been better.

hope this helps somewhat

Oy bjornh, now I'm slightly unsure whether my gear is right or not, I know that someone had advised me earlier that the 8" rod I've got is perhaps a litlle too long, but now you're saying that the 4000 reel is also a little too much, and now I'm thinking that I've gone to the tackle shop and on their advice had 30lb braid strpped to the reel, Also Too Much I Suppose?

Please help, perhaps let me just say this that I'm not the Ultra Light tackle kinda guy, I normally have to get the slightly heavier equipment as the ultra ligts normally don't last, Light tackle sometimes doesn't even last (I'm way too heavy on things) so bearing that in mind please advise?

:f1shy

 

[MAC]

Very interesting thread this one. I also thought that this drop shot fishing was something new until I read this post.

Here is Ireland we just call it jigging. It can be done with a lead head jig or an inline oval weight to swivel and then 6 foot of flurocarbon to the shad or lure.

I normally use a small coffee grinder with 150m of 20lb Power pro Here we would normally be casting off rocks and fishing above rock and kelp so I need the extra breaking strain to bully the fish on the first run.

I am not overly worried about the mono to braid knot as it never sees the light. I just use the mono to bulk out the spool and avoid braid slip.

I use the above on a 10 or 11ft light spinning rod with a stiff tip. A stiff tip is very important as you need to be able to move the tip of the rod to impart the required action on the shad. big rods are very arkward to use on a boat so I can see why 6-8ft rods are used in SA. Off the shore though you should be able a slightly longer rod, so I wouldn't worry there.

With the above setup I can put 1.5oz about 100 meters or so in nice conditions.

This is great light tackle fun and can be the only way to catch fish some days.

Tight Lines,

Kev