A lot of bass are caught on the drop shot rig all year long. After a lot of experimenting with quite a few different baits, I’ve narrowed things down for you to my best 5 drop shot baits. In addition, I’ve included some of my favorite colors in these baits, and my favorite ways to hook them up on a drop shot. The mission here is to help keep you “Kraken” Bass!
The drop shot is always a good option anytime of year for “kraken” bass. I’ve tried a lot of different baits on this rig, and here are my top 5 ranked in order for catching bass. If you haven’t fished a drop shot rig, check out this post on how to do it: Drop Shot Rig. Then use any one of these baits below, and prepare to get your line stretched!
:The Jackall Crosstail Shad
always get’s bites on a drop shot. I like to nose hook it on a 1/0 Drop Shot Hook
with a 1/4 oz weight. I will nose hook the bait with the flat side of the bait facing up. The bait glides naturally in this position on the drop shot rig. My favorite colors in this bait are green pumpkin, ayu, purple winnie, and black winnie.
:The Strike King Dream Shot is a great drop shotting bait. You should use this bait with a 1/0 off set worm hook and texas rig the bait on the hook, or nose hook the dream shot on a 1/0 drop shot hook. My favorite color’s for this bait are green pumpkin, chartreuse blue glimmer back, and KVD magic. I’ll usually use this bait if I’m pulling the drop shot through cover. The texas rig will keep it nice and weedless, and still gives it great action.
:The Zoom Finesse Trick Worm is typically fished on a light texas rig, but it crushes bass on a drop shot. Wacky rig the bait on your drop shot hook, and use it with a 1/4 oz. drop shot weight. My favorite colors to use are green pumpkin, sprayed grass, and lemon pumpkin. Hold on to your rod with this bait tied on a drop shot. You will get some sweet strikes. Bass love to eat this thing.
:The Roboworm Straight Tail Worm is an amazing drop shot bait. There are so many colors and styles of roboworms to choose from, but a solid go to color and style is the 6 inch fat morning dawn. There is something about this pink color that will get the job done especially in clear water. I will use a small 1/0 drop shot hook, and I will use the traditional wacky rig putting the hook right through the middle of the bait. It’s just different enough it will get some extra bites.
The Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm is my super finesse go to bait. I use it in two colors green pumpkin and light green pumpkin with purple flake. You should use a small 1/0 drop shot hook, and nose hook the shad shape worm. This is a solid bait for catching both smallmouth bass and largemouth bass in clear water. The shad shape worm is a little bigger than some other shad imitation drop shot baits, so I feel like it draws the bigger bass out a little better.
Those are my best 5 drop shot baits! As you can tell by the pictures, small drop shot baits can catch big bass! I fish all of my drop shot style baits on a 7’2″ spinning rod, and a good spinning reel. I use 15 lbs. braided line and a 6 – 10 lbs. fluorocarbon leader. I will typically use about 12 feet of fluorocarbon leader, and tie it to the braided line with a double uni knot. This set up is super sensitive to detect those light drop shot rig bites.
Here’s is some footage of me “Kraken” bass on all 5 of these drop shot baits in one morning of bass fishing. Check it out to get more ideas of how to work each of these baits, and to see them in action.
Hope this helps get you “Kraken” bass the next time you decide to tie on a drop shot rig! Please feel free to leave any comments about some of your favorite drop shot baits.
As Always,
Stay Stoked!!!
To get you drop shotting, here are some links where you can pick up all the gear mentioned above.
Spinning Rod & Reel Set up:
Abu Garcia Spinning Reel
Shimano Convergence 7’2″ Medium Heavy Spinning Worm Rod 
6-Pound Test Fluorocarbon Fishing Line
Spiderwire Stealth Braid 300-Yard Spool Moss Green 15lbs. 
Baits:
Jackall Crosstail Shad
Strike King Dream Shot
Roboworm Straight Tail Worm Bait
Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm
Roboworm Straight Tail Worm
Terminal Tackle:
Drop Shot Weight 1/4 oz. 
Gamakatsu Drop Shot Hook-Pack Of 25 (Black, 2)
Gamakatsu 1/0 Worm Hook
You need a system to know where to go, what to use and how to work your lures to catch more bass in every situation.
Use this lure color selection chart and perfectly match the color of your lure to what bass are wired to eat without trial and error so you can catch the monsters!
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21 Responses
Dude,
I spent the morning at Jordanelle fishing for small mouth using a drop shot. You gotta help me. Bite after bite and I can’t set the hook. What am I doing wrong?
I’ve had that same problem before when I went to CJ Strike bass fishing. What I did is kept switching baits, and colors to find the one they would eat. Sometimes a bass will peck at one bait, but totally inhale the other. Another thing I do is if I’m getting a lot of bites and not getting them is let the line go completely slack when I feel the bite. Then I wait until my line starts swimming off from the fish moving the bait. Usually they have completely eaten it when the line starts swimming, then I let them have it!
Good luck Kraken Bass at Jordanelle!
Boated a 9 pounder at Quail 2 weeks ago using the robo morning dawn. Also catching big rainbows on the same bait. I love that lake.
You’ve got that place dialed! I can’t wait to get out there again and throw the roboworm! Send me some pictures! I’d love to see those hawgs your wrestling out of quail.
Did you get the pics?
Bummer I haven’t. I’m dying to see them. Try sending them to my email jb@krakenbass.com
I sent the pics to that address, hope you got them. My son is coming down this weekend for some serious fishing. I will let you know how we do.
Awesome.
Another great weekend at Quail. Roboworm 7″ morning dawn red flake did the job again. Fat bass and fat trout in 25′-35′. It’s dinks or toads for bass on this lake. Caught 4 fish between 4.5 and 5 lbs. Wish I could post pics here.
That’s a great idea! I will try and work on a good way for posting pictures on the site. Your the man! Keep Kraken!
I don’t know what your goals are for this site. An interactive site that lets fisherman post reports and share there catching technics would be awesome. The UTAH DNR fishing reports suck, copy and paste with rear first hand reports. I will be Kraken some bass this weekend.
I like that idea as well. I’ll look into it and see what I can come up with. Thanks for your support Todd!
Hey JB, I live in Boise and have been focusing my attention on smallmouth in the snake river with all of my fishing being from the bank. I am also looking to get the float tube out on Lowell Lake for some largemouth action. How do I fish the dropshot from the bank in a river?
Good question! Current can be really tricky, and pulling from the bank you tend to get hung up a bunch. Go with as light a weight as you can to prevent hang ups. 1/8 is a good place to start, then move up in weight if your bait starts drifting on you.
Thanks! I will keep you updated on my success.