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Drop
Shotting with Charles Sim
By Lawrence Euteneier, Captain,
Blind
Fishing Boat .Com
You would think that as a fisher without sight I
would have already mastered drop shotting, a
finesse technique that relies on the sense of
touch. However, my love for the technique just
doubled thanks to sage advice passed on from
Charles Sim, holder of the Canadian record for
heaviest one-day limit of Bass, 30.35lbs.
Charles and I set off for Muskrat Lake to pursue
late-season Smallies. Charles positioned the
boat about 30-feet out from the cliffs with
depths below the boat of 40 feet plus. We hopped
our baits down the submerged rocks each time
slack line was picked up to feel for the
tell-tale pressure of a Bass. When detected,
ample time was taken to reel in slack line prior
to setting the hook.
When drop shotting, there most often is no
actual bite – it’s more of a pressure. Having a
rod with a very soft tip is important for
sensing pressure on the end of the line without
imparting a tug sensation to the fish. The fish
needs to engulf the entire bait and hook, and
they are generally in no particular hurry.
The dual action of drop-shot rods serves
multiple purposes. The soft tip assists in both
detecting fish on the end of the line without
their being spooked, and in preventing the fine
wire hooks from being spat during the fight. The
rod’s stiff backbone allows the fisher to set
the hook with a sweeping movement, and to
control the fish boat side.
Charles
uses a size 2/0 fine wire worm hook in most
cases, tied to the line using a Palomar knot. He
has witnessed far too often fellow fishers using
stand-out hooks experiencing spat hooks at boat
side. Having brought stand-out hooks myself, I
ignored this wisdom and ultimately lost the
largest fish of the day, yup, right next to the
boat. I did manage to partially redeem myself by
boating a 3lb, 14oz Smallie, and in total, lost
only the one fish and boated nine.
The distance between hook and weight preferred
by Charles is around 18 inches. Less than 12
inches and fish are more likely to sense
pressure from the weight. When fish are
suspended above the bottom or to get your bait
above the weeds, increase the distance.
Due to the cast-and-wait nature of drop-shotting,
I often found my line behind the boat. Charles
suggested that any more than 45 degrees behind
the boat is too much, and that fishers on the
rear deck should always cast about 33 degrees
towards the bow.
Charles uses 8lb fluorocarbon line when drop shotting.
Fluorocarbon is invisible under water and has minimal
stretch allowing for greater sensitivity to the
fisher. It also eliminates the need to tie on
leaders, but the line itself is stiffer than
both mono and braid and can lead to line
management issues if not reeled in under
pressure. I used 20lb braid, which is easier to
manage on the spool, but is more visible to fish
making fluorocarbon or mono leaders a must.
No matter how hard I pinched on my split-shot
weights, they were no match for the craggy rock
cover we were fishing. I became a convert to
Charles’s drop-shot weights. These weights
differ in that they possess a special
swivel/line gripper that holds to the line
without crimping or tying. Use the least amount
of weight possible to efficiently lower the bait
to the bottom. The smaller the weight the less
likely fish will be spooked. Charles uses a
heavier (1/2oz) weight for fishing post-spawn
Bass to allow action to be imparted to the bait
without pulling it away from the target. Drop
shot weights range from 1/8 to 1oz, but more
common sizes are ¼, 3/8 and ½ oz.
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Charles Sim is no doubt a great fisher,
something I had the pleasure of witnessing first
hand. Thankfully, he’s also a very patient
fishing coach.
(Lawrence Euteneier is the founder of the
Blind
Fishing Boat, an initiative to open the sport of
fishing to the over 11 million Canadians and
Americans with vision loss.)
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