Lures vs Plastics

[SuperFly]

I am thinking of getting into this whole drop shot thing but I am worried about some of the flexability of the approach. I was just wondering if it would be possible to use the drop shot outfit, which as I understand it is set up for casting jigheads and worm / mullet soft baits - for casting small spoons and plugs.  

I am a bit concerned about some of the people that have commented that they cannot get a good distance cast with their tackle. Is that just poor technique on their part or is it a reality of the technique? That it is more about finesse than power?

 

I understand that you don't have to cast a mile to get the best fish, but I would like to have the option of doing it.

 

[Nepptune]

Superfly

Do yourself a favour mate, remove any preconcieved ideas of what "dropshotting" is... that term, and this whole load of bollocks that you can "only fish berkely camo worm with berkley jighead blah blah blah" is a marketing scam of the highest order!
Rather think of your approach as being light tackle artlure angling.... Many of us have been slinging soft plastics, and spoons, and plugs, and jigs and leadheads for years in the salt on bass tackle, and light inshore spinning tackle... basically what is now referred to as dropshot tackle....

Get yourself a 7 to 7'6" rod with a good fast action, a solid spinning reel, and some braid testing 8 to 15 lbs and fish with whatever the hell you want on the end. You'll have more fun, and catch more fish... Don't let anyone every tell you otherwise.... Hell I fish live baits on my "dropshot" set up sometimes... why not... no rules here mate...
Most "dropshot" set ups are perfect for casting small spoons and plugs...

 

[lerouxjaco]

Hi Nepptune
You are on the dot with your comment, what's the diffs if you fish with a worm etc as we fished them for how many years now, they just gave it a fancy name dropshot that's all, isn't something new only the name. I am using my bass tackle for how many years in the salt, my first baitcaster was a shimano Bantam fighting star (wasn’t I proud on this little reel) and a worm rod with a nice thick sharp tapered butt section got this kit in the 80's and accounted for many shad etc at scottborough of the rocks and elsewhere and they were caught on softies or whatever one thought might work. My bass rod is rated for 10 to 20lb line thus is more than up to it for salt fishing and I'm either using my baitcaster or when targeting bigger species I'll use my Shimano coffee grinder. For the type of fishing you doing 20m is more than enough distance with this tackle and if you target rocky areas than even 10m will be enough to get fish. I'm getting 15 m plus throwing a minnows or shad softies without a weight and I believe that is more than enough distance to get into fish, what one must keep in mind is that you will be doing a lot of casts and in a lot of different spots maybe before you get into fish if you look at your retrieve rate used for softies then a shorter cast will be better to cover more ground, maybe I'm wrong on this but that's how I do it and it works for me. Distance isn’t the main factor here but rather the action you apply to your lure.

 

[SuperFly]

Sold!

Time to get my finances in order for december because it looks like I am going to be getting a new hobby.

Thanks guys for the straight from the hip answers.

 

[lerouxjaco]

Hi Superfly
You're welcome to take this up, like mentioned earlier a good bass rod and spinning reel is more than adequate for dropshot as it is actually the same thing, for salt water I'll just get myself a higher rated rod 10 to 20lb is more than good enough and as Nepptune mentioned between 7 to 8ft is okay. A 2500 to 4000 series reel such as the Sustain or Stradic FI (8000 series: Line capacity 20lb/185yrds, 29lb drag) with braid will also give you enough line capacity with a good drag. I'm using Whiplash pro 30lb, diameter .10 and 275 or 300yards I think, on a 10000 Shimano reel. This reel is actually too big for dropshot but I'm using it for offshore as well, most of the time the baitcaster is more then adequate for fish in the 1to 2kg region. One can always upgrade to better rods if you get a liking in the sport and still use the old rods for other purposes, if you buy one of the above reels or whatever equal make there won’t be a need to upgrade the reels

 

[DropNut]

Hey Superfly,
What I found to make a big difference to me was to purchase the Fireline and put it on. Only 125yards is enough and just put some backing on the spool. I used normal nylon because I was unsure what actually to use. This fireline gives me at least 10-15m more. The nice thing about the fireline that I have experienced so far is that if it gets caught in the rocks then you only break off the leader and none of the line.

Happy shopping

 

[Chris1]

Neptune
I have to reply on what you said. Yes I went out and rig up with all the Berkely products for my Shimano combo. All of this put me back R 1000 +. Upto date I have cought 1 Cape Stumpnose and 1 Baby shad the last6 months. Don't beleive everything you see on TV or get told. Take your advice from guys that know's what they talking about, like they guys on Sealine.
So yes put what ever you want on the other side as long as you enjoy fishing.

Chris1

 

[lerouxjaco]

Chris1

Berkley got an excellent product range but what about culprit, sensation and storm etc. The Berkley product in my opinion just gets better promoted than most other brands, I personally don't have many Berkley products in my tackle box as I buy what I think will work best not what I get convinced off. When buying new stuff I will buy two maybe three softies of a kind, luckily our local tackle shop sell them loose. Once I've tried them I'll buy the packs of the stuff that worked the best. It’s not the most expensive lures that always works the best that I have realised

 

[Avesh]

Nepptune wrote:

Superfly

Do yourself a favour mate, remove any preconcieved ideas of what "dropshotting" is... that term, and this whole load of bollocks that you can "only fish berkely camo worm with berkley jighead blah blah blah" is a marketing scam of the highest order!
Rather think of your approach as being light tackle artlure angling.... Many of us have been slinging soft plastics, and spoons, and plugs, and jigs and leadheads for years in the salt on bass tackle, and light inshore spinning tackle... basically what is now referred to as dropshot tackle....

Get yourself a 7 to 7'6" rod with a good fast action, a solid spinning reel, and some braid testing 8 to 15 lbs and fish with whatever the hell you want on the end. You'll have more fun, and catch more fish... Don't let anyone every tell you otherwise.... Hell I fish live baits on my "dropshot" set up sometimes... why not... no rules here mate...
Most "dropshot" set ups are perfect for casting small spoons and plugs...

howsit Neptune ,how u doing

What is meant by fast action rod???

 

[Nepptune]

Avesh - By fast action usually means a stiff rod... Stiff is the easiest way to describe it I guess.... But when you pick a rod up and give it a flick, a fast actrion rod will have a "fast" crisp action... it will return to its original position quickly, with minimal wobble... This is also the sign of a good rod...
Fast action rods just feel fast, and crisp..

Slow action rods generally bend slower and further into the butt... when you give them a flick, they have a "slow" long flex....

Does this mak sense? Kinda tough to explain...

When in the market for a rod, a good way to find out if its a good stick, without looking at brands and prices, is to examine the damping of the rod... Damping is what I explained above, with the rods"return to centre" for lack of a better word... If you flick the rod, and it bends and then immediately retruns to centre and stops dead, with no wobble, thats good dampin, and the sign of good graphite... If the rod wobbles for a second or two, thats not good... It makes a big difference to perfromance, especially in casting...

 

[Chris1]

Lerouxjaco
Yes I know Berkley has good products, since I have almost all of it. It just doesn’t work for me very well. My 1st Chad I caught was on Sensation little red 2" plastic.
I don't know Culprit @ all, and Storm I haven’t tried it yet. Ja it looks like I get convinced easily. Does all shops keep the Culprit? I think I have to try them.

Thanks for infoChris1

 

[Avesh]

Neptune

I get what you are saying now.

Is it not true that the more sloppy the rod is ,,the better you feel the bite but also the sloppy rod will not be as strong as a stiffer rod and in turn the stiffer rod will be "harder to feel the bite"

 

[lerouxjaco]

Hi Chris1

The culprits is supplied by Basil manning www.basilmanning.co.za don’t know if any of the shops in your area is supplying them or not, try the storm and sensation as well there prices is very good. Will get the makes I’ve got tonight and post it tomorrow if you buy them and they don’t work just blame it on me. The storm flukes in dark top/silver bottoms works very well as will the other brands I believe it’s mostly personal taste “but how many fish in the sea got dark backs and silver bottoms” they work most of the time for me. Always start with something in that colour scheme and will only change if they don’t work. The storm lures with the leadhead moulded in the body is also a nice one and I do like there action including for bass, Can’t remember the excact name but will post it tomorrow for you it’s a storm product just check the fish mags it’s advertised a lot, I’ve got the mackerels think 9cm I’ve just removed the bottom trebles, also a big favourite of mine.

 Another product sold by STICK IT also sells some colourants and flavours which you can use on your lures I haven’t tried it yet so if anybody have used this product please let us know whether it is working or not

Neptune on rod action what you said is very true, just some additional info to add to what you said XF: +/- 20% upper flex, F: +/- 30% upper flex, M: mid flex, S: flex from tip to butt, basically your action is determined by the amount of flex in the rod a fast action as you said will have a very stiff feel as only 30% of the tip will have significant flex which will allow you to get more “direct” movement on the lure than a slow, for example as a slow will take a lot of your action and cushion it in the rod instead onto the line/lure while the same amount of movement with a fast will have significantly more movement on the lure. Hope this info will help to explain what you have already said which is on the dot.

 

[Nepptune]

Great points LJ, well said! Avesh, LJ's last paragraph is bang on the money.

As to bite detection - Genreally a stiffer, lighter rod will translate the bite to you better than a soft wippy rod... Soft rods will absorb the bite into the rod, where as a light stiff rod sends it straight through to you... But the material of the rod makes a big difference too... Graphite is much more sensitive, and more stiffer than fibreglass, hence a Graphite stick giving you far more sensitivity....

 

[Chris1]

Lerouxjaco

Thanks again.
I'll try and get hold of the Manning team, to get some of them.
I’ve got a pct. of Cull-em. Flounder 5” (Salt & pepper Shad) the salt water series.
Has anyone used it before? I’m going to use it, for anything that bites. Hope fully some Shad and Garrick.
 
Thanks again
Chris1

 

[lerouxjaco]

Hi Chris1

 

Have a look at the STORM product as well, like I said I have used the wild eye mackerel so far and is very satisfied with it, there price is a bit high and you only get two in a pack but I think it’s worth the price. Check out there site. http://www.stormlures.com/. I will definitely get a packet of there shrimp softies for December as we are going down to Kosibay and I know the live shrimps worked excellent in the lakes would like to see how the imitations gonna work compared to the real thing. Will probably fish 90% dropshot in the first lake as there is a few nice spots to target and it also allow the kids to get in the strike zone as we wade in about 200 and in 1.2m depth around the “kraals” got some nice fish on the last trip nothing big but a lot of fun, will try blackrock once but also dropshot and if the wind plays with will put the kite out. Will definitely write a report in Jan on the dropshot. I’m slowly but surely busy stocking up for this trip, buying some lures every weekend so that the wife don’t realise how much I’m really spending, but ja they know they always do, just feeling sorry for us being so stupid to think they don’t know ha ha.:madt

 

I haven’t tried the Cull-em product in saltwater yet only for bass with some good success, might get some for Dec.

 

What is the chances of getting a new topic started where we can record our fish caught type of lure, period and area, this will be a lot off info and will help all of us to see what lures is working the best and when, we all have our preferred lures but we don’t really have any statistics on what does work or not for most of us. This will allow us to evaluate the dropshot lure market. What’s the take on this?