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A Must-Do When Fishing A Dropshot

Here it is... keep a little bit of slack in your line when working your lure.


This crucial piece of dropshot fishing will skyrocket your bite count.


A dropshot rig by design is used for finesse fishing applications with the goal of subtly presenting your lure to the fish.


For a dropshot, a subtle presentation doesn't necessarily involve moving your lure from point A to point B.


Instead, the beauty of a dropshot is that you can work the lure in one place to entice bass into biting - making it great for isolated cover and other high percentage areas that may require a slower presentation.


All you need is a little bit of slack in your line.


CONTROLLED SLACK


We're not talking about the amount of slack that someone who feel asleep in a lawn chair would have in their line.


When fishing a dropshot, you want just enough slack in your line that you can work your lure without actually moving the overall position of the lure and sinker.


This is called controlled slack.


It can be easily achieved by making a cast, letting your lure hit the bottom, reeling until there is tension on the line, then tilting your rod down just slightly to create a small bow in your line.


For a visual, think back to a time when you created a snake-like wave that traveled the length of a garden hose?


To explain the purpose of controlled slack when dropshot fishing picture yourself holding the opposite end of a garden hose hooked up to a water spigot.


If you have a lot of tension on the garden hose and try to create a wave that travels throughout the hose you risk the chance of ripping the spigot out of the ground or wall.


On the flip side, if there is too much slack in the garden hose your created wave won't even make it to the water spigot.


But with just enough slack, you can create a nice wave that travels to the other end of the garden hose without putting too much stress on the spigot.


The same concept applies to the dynamics of your line and lure when fishing with controlled slack in your line.


The wave you create represents the transfer of energy, the garden hose represents your line, and the connection of the garden hose to the spigot represents your dropshot rig.


When working your lure on too tight of a line you end up moving your sinker and risk unintentionally moving your lure out of a fishes strike zone.


On the other end of the argument, with too much slack in your line you never actually end up working the lure at all.


But with just a little bit of controlled slack in your line a slight flicker of your wrist is all that is needed to impart action on the lure without actually moving your dropshot rig as a whole.


This ability to work a lure without moving the lures overall position is something a dropshot and only a few other lures can do which makes it such a special fishing catching rig.


Also, there's no need to be concerned about whether or not you will be able to detect a bite because of the slack in your line - you will still know when a fish takes your lure.


Even if you don't feel the fish take your lure, your line can act as a strike indicator.


If you notice a subtle twitch in your line and see your line start swimming in a random direction then you can rest assured in knowing you have a bite!


Time to go catch 'em!

 

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