Learning How to Fish Lake George: Drop Shotting
Probably one of my favorite techniques on Lake George is using a drop shot to present a plastic to fish. I’m going to give you my top 5 ideas as it relates to fishing a drop shot:
Match the hatch. We discovered something huge last year - a drop shot plastic with a white belly out fished lots of other plastics. When you are using a drop shot, you are presenting baits up off the bottom - and the fish are most often seeing the underbelly of the bait. Lots of smallies on Lake George are eating perch - which have a white underbelly! Another pattern we tried to key in on last year was a sculpin pattern.
Size matters. We have found time and time again that bigger baits don’t out fish smaller offerings. One of our favorite drop shot plastics is the Z-Man TRD. These are 2.75” plastics - and often that is the size of the forage that the fish are keying in on.
Fluoro leaders are essential. When fishing ultra clear water (like Lake George), we like to fish braid connected to a fluorocarbon leader. The braid gives you awesome discerning power as to bottom composition and strike detection; the fluoro gives you the camouflage you have to have to catch fish. We like a Gamma Edge 8lb fluoro leader of about 10’ tied with a FG knot to Gamma Torque 8 lb braid.
Dial in the bite with your terminal tackle. I like to use a VMC spin shot hook in a 1/0 or 2/0 size. I lean heavy into 1/4oz tungsten or slightly heavier (3/8oz). But I like tungsten because I want to be as low key as possible with my weight. Tungsten is denser so the same size weight is actually smaller. This summer I hope to experiment with color too. Last, the style of the tungsten weight is a big deal because certain styles snag up a lot. I favor VMC cylinder weight.
Presenting the bait. When it comes to presenting a drop shot, I get a lot of clients who overwork the bait. I typically encourage a cast and slowly working the bait back to the boat. I want the weight pinned to the bottom and just enough action on the tip of the rod to make that bait quiver. Now that doesn’t mean that a more aggressive approach won’t work, nor does it mean that at times the dead stick is the ticket. Try all three options and let the fish tell you what they want!
I just gave you 5 quick tips to hopefully help you as you try and become a better drop shot fisherman or woman. One of my mantras is that fishing is just like other sports - the more experience you get, the better you become! Love to know if there are other topics/techniques that I could help you learn…if so, drop them in the comments and we’ll customize this blog to your desires! Thanks for reading!