Drop shot Nymphing

[Steelhead_JESUS]

To the guys that run these set ups.. I have found different formulas/rigs for this type of nymphing but my question is how do you fish it? Do you tight line it similar to czech nymphing or do you run an indicator with if you are using a float line? I began pursuing this rig since the river I fish has super deep and slower moving pools/runs and I looked to fish a rig that allows an indicator to be on the water. I have gotten away from indicator nymph fishing ever since I picked up a euro rod a summer ago but I think the indicator/float line/ drop shot rig is the way to go for certain parts..so if im running a drop shot rig- is this rig to be tight lined or can i manage it with an indicator and float line

 

[PennKev]

Drop shot is nothing more than rigging your flies on short dropper tags and having the weight on the "point" or very end of the leader, several inches below then bottom dropper.

There is no requirement to fish it on a tight line, under an indicator, or with a specific amount of weight. I've been seeing a lot of confusion online and I believe that it is due to folks who don't really see the bigger picture and try to associate this fly/weight configuration with a specific style of nymphing whether it be tight line or "bounce"/"pogo".

When fishing this configuration in a tight line method, you are essentially doing the same as you would if you ran a heavy "anchor" fly on the point. Since you aren't fishing a tournament, you have the luxury of replacing the weighted fly with split shot and are thus able to fine tune your weight without the need for a bazillion differently weighted flies. You also aren't snagging and losing flies, the shot snags less and often slips off the end of the line if it does.

You can fish it under and indicator like you would any other nymph rig. Place you indicator about 1 1/2 to 2 times the water depth in relation to the weight and have at 'er, adjusting indicator placement and weight as needed. This IS NOT necessarily the bounce rig that has gained popularity on very specific waterways. A bounce rig requires an extreme amount of weight, and a very large buoyant indicator as much as it requires a drop shot rigging. You can also do sort of a hybrid configuration adding a dropper above the weight on a conventional straight-through indicator rid. Personally, I find tight line and floating indicator methods to be complimentary. There are places where one is just a better, more practical choice than the other and vice versa. To many guys are falling into the trap of dogma in regard to methods. Be versatile and be a better angler.

Now with all that said, regardless of whether I am tight lining or fishing a bobber, I rig using a drop shot configuration over 3/4 of the time. I think that it is inherently better for detecting strikes and that goes for both tight line and indicator methods. Is it also inherently better at drawing strikes in the first place? Well, I dunno, but it works so well, so often that it is my go-to.

 

[Steelhead_JESUS]

Drop shot is nothing more than rigging your flies on short dropper tags and having the weight on the "point" or very end of the leader, several inches below then bottom dropper.

There is no requirement to fish it on a tight line, under an indicator, or with a specific amount of weight. I've been seeing a lot of confusion online and I believe that it is due to folks who don't really see the bigger picture and try to associate this fly/weight configuration with a specific style of nymphing whether it be tight line or "bounce"/"pogo".

When fishing this configuration in a tight line method, you are essentially doing the same as you would if you ran a heavy "anchor" fly on the point. Since you aren't fishing a tournament, you have the luxury of replacing the weighted fly with split shot and are thus able to fine tune your weight without the need for a bazillion differently weighted flies. You also aren't snagging and losing flies, the shot snags less and often slips off the end of the line if it does.

You can fish it under and indicator like you would any other nymph rig. Place you indicator about 1 1/2 to 2 times the water depth in relation to the weight and have at 'er, adjusting indicator placement and weight as needed. This IS NOT necessarily the bounce rig that has gained popularity on very specific waterways. A bounce rig requires an extreme amount of weight, and a very large buoyant indicator as much as it requires a drop shot rigging. You can also do sort of a hybrid configuration adding a dropper above the weight on a conventional straight-through indicator rid. Personally, I find tight line and floating indicator methods to be complimentary. There are places where one is just a better, more practical choice than the other and vice versa. To many guys are falling into the trap of dogma in regard to methods. Be versatile and be a better angler.

Now with all that said, regardless of whether I am tight lining or fishing a bobber, I rig using a drop shot configuration over 3/4 of the time. I think that it is inherently better for detecting strikes and that goes for both tight line and indicator methods. Is it also inherently better at drawing strikes in the first place? Well, I dunno, but it works so well, so often that it is my go-to.

that makes sense thank you.. if you don’t mind me asking what would you suggest as a set up then that features an indicator? such as line type and length? i will have my Euro rod set up too but i will use that for tight lining and wouldn’t be throwing as big as flies as i would with the drop shot rod..what i did last time was took a piece of maxima chameleon connected to a stretch of 10lb fluoro where i put two small black rubber bobber stoppers on that segment of 10lb fluoro and had one of those bigger and rounded floats/bobbers and from that 10lb fluoro section i had a tippet ring which then i had my tippet. I had this set up with a bigger streamer that i wanted to get down that’s why i was curious about the drop shot set up.. a lot of these formulas i’m looking at don’t have what type of line their using for their butt. I understand maxima cham is stiffer / less memory but i use this to tie my dry fly leaders so i’m assuming this isn’t a good material to use for a leader that i want to be under the water? or am i wrong

 

[PennKev]

I usually cut up 7' 2x leaders to make a tapered butt, add a tippet ring, and build my rigs off that. I end up with like a 4 or 5' butt with a tippet ring on it and go from there depending on how I am fishing. You could use a level piece of 20 or 15lb material too, but with the tapered butt I can rebuild it into a decent dry fly leader if I need to. I don't see a reason why Maxima Chameleon wouldn't work for this purpose. See the attached diagram.

Yes, it's a heavy butt that drops down to a fine section of leader at the tippet ring. You want as much fine leader material below the indi as possible without actually placing the indi on the fine section. The long thin line sinks and fishes better while keeping the indi on the butt casts better.

I like using dropper loops but you don't have to and I only use tippet rings as and attachment point on a semi-permanent leader butt. I prefer air-lock indicators as they are easy to add and remove, float well, and do not damage or kink the leader. A leader butt will last me a very long time in most cases. I do, however, usually re-tie everything below the indicator on each outing.

FWIW, the leaders i use on my tight-line set ups are more elaborate and similar to some found in the Dynamic Nymphing book.

 

[silverfox]

I drop shot more often than not. I personally don't consider the indicator type (bobber vs no-bobber) as part of the drop-shot rig. It makes no difference in my opinion. I've run drop-shot with New Zealand wool, thingabobbers, air locks, and as part of a tight line rig. The point is to get the flies on the bottom and when you hang up, the shot slides off rather than having to break off a fly. In the boat, I just default to drop-shot under an air lock as it's the easiest for novices (lots of weight to haul around).

I tie blood knots exclusively because that's just what I've always tied. I just leave one tag long if I'm using the knot for a dropper. I've run the drop shot off the point or off the tag. I personally like running the shot on a dropper tag, but that's just me. I'll often add a fly off the bend of the hook of the point fly w/ the drop-shot on a dropper further up the leader.

The biggest draw to drop shot for me is being able to get the flies into the zone, tight to the bottom, get them there fast, and most importantly, when you hang up on a rock or log, the split shot just slides off. It's also super convenient to adjust weight as you add shot, and remove shot easily w/ out having to re-tie anything. I've had up to 6 BB shot on before to get deep in super deep pools, and then pulled 5 of them off the end of the line to move on to shallower water.

Honestly, just play around with it. As PennKev said, be versatile. That's got to be the absolute best advice with any of this stuff. Don't get hung up on one thing or another, or one person's style or "recipe" for things. Experiment and see what works/doesn't work.

 

[Skook]

You mentioned fishing deeper water in your original post. You may want to consider trying the 90-degree weighted indicator rig. I don't fish a lot of very deep water, so I don't have personal experience with this rig. However, after several years of looking into various rigs for steelhead fishing, I've come across many knowledgeable fly fishers who recommend it for certain situations.

Here is a link to one video describing the rig. If you do a web search, you'll find many other worthwhile videos and descriptions.

90 Degree Weighted Bobber Rig

This video provides basic step-by-step rigging instructions:

Right-Angle Nymphing

 

[bigjohn358]

How many flies do you normally nymph with? I almost say just use a heavy 3rd fly on lighter tipet as the dropper instead of the shot. Maybe a heavy fly on a samller jig hook to avoid snagging as much. Anymore unless on a very small stream I'm always nymphing with 3 flies. That heaviest nymph is uaually the one that catches the most fish for me. I'm sure there are rare occasions where a drop shot would be ok but for how I fish I just don't quite understand why someone would want to do it.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

I think PennKev covered it. The downside of dropshotting with a bobber is more tangles, but in wind on more open bigger water a bobber just might mean more tangles period. I like his suggestion for the tapered leader butt for that reason. I use the technique in the type of water you are talking about, or high water that is also snaggy, and mostly w/o a bobber but not exclusively w/o. Also, it's a nice way to use up some of those cheap flies most of us have sitting around. Or when you don't want to be feeding a winter river 40 bucks worth of tungsten golden stones....

 

[afishinado]

How many flies do you normally nymph with? I almost say just use a heavy 3rd fly on lighter tipet as the dropper instead of the shot. Maybe a heavy fly on a samller jig hook to avoid snagging as much. Anymore unless on a very small stream I'm always nymphing with 3 flies. That heaviest nymph is uaually the one that catches the most fish for me. I'm sure there are rare occasions where a drop shot would be ok but for how I fish I just don't quite understand why someone would want to do it.

I've been using that type of rig long before it had a name and became popular. The main advantage is you can easily add or subtract weight when needed to stay near the bottom as the flow and/or depth changes in the stream. In addition, the shot is more snag-free than any heavy anchor fly, plus the shot may pick up weeds or moss from the bottom instead of your point fly. Also it casts well using a tuck cast.

 

[goose54cdd]

How far from the lowest nymph do you place the shot?

 

[PennKev]

How far from the lowest nymph do you place the shot?

Anywhere from 8" to 15"+ depending on situation. I would say 8-12" or so is pretty typical. This is another aspect that does not have a right or wrong answer other than "do what works."

 

[ryansheehan]

Anywhere from 8" to 15"+ depending on situation. I would say 8-12" or so is pretty typical. This is another aspect that does not have a right or wrong answer other than "do what works."

That's very interesting, I'm normally no more than 4 or 5 inches from the fly when drop shotting. The drop shot rig is a gamechanger for me when nymphing rivers with Didymo. Ninety percent of my fishing is on tailwaters so I deal with that junk alot. Given the choice I would rather fish in line with weight above the fly but that's probably more habit than anything else.

 

[JeffK]

All good advice. One situation I find drop shot rigs really help is to get to the bottom of undercut trees. This is usually tough for me, but drop shot helps. But the bottom line is always experiment until you find what works.

 

[Prospector]

What is the prototypical rod for dropshotting?
Length: weight: action:

 

[ryansheehan]

What is the prototypical rod for dropshotting?
Length: weight: action:

I do most of my nymphing with a 10 foot 4 weight but you certainly don't have to have a longer rod to be effective.

 

[Prospector]

I do most of my nymphing with a 10 foot 4 weight but you certainly don't have to have a longer rod to be effective.

Ryan,

Would you categorize that rod as Med, Med/Fast or Fast?

 

[foxfire]

Ryan,

Would you categorize that rod as Med, Med/Fast or Fast?

Overcomplicating things. Drop shot rig is merely where to add your weight/shot. No special rods or techniques from normal nymph fishing required.

 

[ryansheehan]

Ryan,

Would you categorize that rod as Med, Med/Fast or Fast?

Tip flex so fast action.

 

[Prospector]

Overcomplicating things. Drop shot rig is merely where to add your weight/shot. No special rods or techniques from normal nymph fishing required.

I understand the technique can be used on any rod. I was curious about the rod action people have gravitated to when dealing with 24 feet or more of mono on a 4wt rod while drop shotting. To stay in contact with the rig it seemed to me a fast action would be preferred. Ryan confirmed that’s his preference.

Nymphing is my least favorite way to fish but historically my April outings are slow for that reason (since I tend to fish higher in the water column). I effectively use a modified drop shot technique for Lake Run fish in the fall which is a winner. I might keep an open mind and try drop shotting next spring to determine if I find it enjoyable.

 

[laszlo]

One of the cons for me with drop shot nymphing, is wasting a lot of tippet when changing flies