Deep Water Dropshot - part 2

Dead-Stick the Dead Stick
Through all the experimentation the bait that came out the other end surprised me. Traditional (albeit larger) dropshot baits from local pour gurus and companies like Assalt were our starting point, and they were all successful, but as time went on baits got bigger and one shape took over as a dominant force - the Sluggo style stickbait. Unable to find colors and sizes that were suitable Steve Preslar and I conferred and began producing our own from molds bought online. it's a 6" slug/stick with almost no distinguishing features save for a slight taper from the center to the tail. It is a bait without glamour, flash or sex appeal, it's a pencil looking piece of plastic that crushes the competition. Colors from greens to black to red, clear, copper, rootbeer, chartreuse...anything worked. The great thing about pouring your own bait is that the options are endless and we're still creating new hot color patterns. Steve is the master at this and has found our favorites through his experimentation.

Git Er Done
Everything is lined up, kayak is in the water, leaders, bait and weights are tied on, now what? Generally you don't do much. Set up your normal drift, drop this to the bottom, place the rod in the rod holder and go about your business of fishing. When running this technique I work two swimbait rods at a time and dead-stick the dropshot. This requires a certain amount of intelligent deck design and the ability to clear your lines quickly, so develop a system in advance if possible as it will save you some heartache. What I've learned by fishing this in San Diego Bay is this: Sandbass love this presentation....they seem to love it more than the swimbaits by almost 4:1 some days. Rarely does this system get outfished by the active lines that I'm continually working manually. This summer I found two 4-5# sand bass doing this and three legal halibut. Those are fish I would probably have missed fishing other techniques. These are free fish! It doesn't stop there, either. This works for rockfish on deep ledges, switching away from a deadstick to a manual presentation can fill your freezer with some of the best meat in the ocean in no time. Spectra lets you feel every tick and bump even at 200+'. Bottom hugging calico bass climb on board without hesitation and mackerel...well mackerel will hit anything, won't they. When your kayak drifts with the wind or the current the amount of weight holding the bottom becomes important, too little weight will allow the bait to float off the bottom, too much will cause the load on the rod to spring back and whip the bait too quickly or just cause too much drag on the bottom. Use the right amount to keep your self on the bottom but allow drifting. What I've found with the setup I use is a good balance, the rod will load up some before it can lift the lead from the floor, when it does the rod tip will straighten out again. This causes the bait to "jump" from spot to spot and thump the floor every time it moves. I think the lead-thump is the reason for so many halibut on this rig, they hate kids knocking on their doors and running off.

Spectra shows it's worth again when a fish takes the bait - with no stretch in the line the hookset comes quickly from the backbone of the rod. An important note about spectra is that with out that stretch your drags will be different - adjust them accordingly and experiment to find your comfort zone there.

Get your rig ready and go try this out - you'll find fish and it can add serious numbers to your daily count!