Drop Shot

Just a quick one

What size split shot should I use for the shot that goes closest to the hook (drop shot I think its called).

The smallest one I have is a size six. I seem to be catching fish like this but will a smaller one be better. I see alot of setups on the net with size 10's? is this better?

I fish a canal with a rod and reel with a waggler or my whip with a float I can remember the name of. Bloddy newbies eh?

Cheers

I usually use size 10, 11 or 12 shot for droppers on a canal mate. Canal fish are sometimes shy biters so a smaller dropper shot is less obvious to the fish.

My standard canal float set up would be a canal dart (sometimes called canal grey) holding something like 2,3 or 4 No4 shot, with the vast majority of the shot pressed either side of the eye of the float until it is very nearly cocked correctly.

Then down the line I will space out 2 or 3 droppers so that the float is a mere pimple on the surface.

Dependant on the depth, I would normally go with Eddies advice(for upto 5 foot) any deeper you might be better with a 2/3bb insert waggler, and use the same principle. The whole idea is to get the bait falling through the water as naturally as possible, experment with No 10 shot, using three spaced out at 6 inch intervals, with the first being 6 inch from the hook, if the bites do not come then space them differently, or use larger/smaller shot.

Hope this makes some sort of sense, if you can get someone who has experience to show you,it will become obvious.

Thanks for the replies guys

I agree with what Ed & Ian have said Adam, but you also have to think about what you are wanting the droppers to achieve.


I think sometimes people over complicate this sort of thing or just copy rigs they have seen in mags etc without really thinking about how they want a rig to behave.

what I'm trying to get at is as well as bait presentation, you may also want the droppers to help indicate bites on the drop or lift bites, if this is the case then the droppers need to be geared to the size/type of float tip. You must be able to see each shot registering on the float for them to serve this purpose.