Many fishing techniques that are popular today were long used by tournament anglers before everybody else found out about them. Carolina rigging is a good example. Professional anglers had been Carolina-rigging for a couple of years before the first article was written about it. Now everybody knows about Carolina-rigging

The same can be said about using the Slug-Go and the Gitzit. Tournament fishermen quietly used these lures for a long time. The pros find out about new techniques pretty quick, but they try not to talk about them for as long as they can.

One of the latest techniques pro anglers had been keeping to themselves is drop-shotting. It's a great way to catch bass in spring, whether they're shallow or deep. You can use this rig to catch shallow fish or bass that have moved off the beds and into deeper water after a cold front has blown through. In fact, drop-shotting is one of the most effective methods you can use on a bluebird day.

In drop-shotting, the lure is fished above the weight, typically about 2 feet. The weight is not something you can find just anywhere, however. The only place I know to get them is Bass Pro Shops. Ask for the XPS Drop Weight.

You'll also need a small, hook, something no larger than a No. 1 Mustad light-wire hook. You can even use a smaller hook, half that size if you want.

To rig the drop shot, tie the hook approximately 2 1/2 to 3 feet up the line with a Palomar knot. Bring the line through the bottom of the eye so the hook is sitting up. Then, after you get the knot tied, it's very important to take the line and bring it back through the eye of the hook one time, and pull it until it's tight. What this does is make the hook stand out; it makes it straight.

Then, with the remaining 1 to 2 feet of line, you stick the line through the drop-shot weight and pull it up. You don't have to tie the line to the weight; it holds it automatically. The weight comes in a lot of sizes, but you can use the 1/2-ounce weight about 90 percent of the time. I usually fish this rig on 8- or 10-pound Stren line.

Whichever bait you use, a Fluke, a worm, a grub, a tube, etc., you hook it through the nose with the hook exposed -- no Texas-rigging here.

The object of drop-shotting is to not move the weight. Say you're fishing for a bass on the bed. You cast your weight past the bed, then you pull the weight up to where you want it. The weight is past the bed, but the lure stays on the bed itself. Let the lure sink down to the bed, twitch it a little bit until you feel the weight, then stop. You can just hold it there if you want. Then just let it sink down and lay in the bed a little while.

This is what makes drop-shotting so effective -- you don't have to "leave the bass" like you do with a Texas rig. In other words, if you cast a Texas rig to a stump and a bass is there, when you raise that rod tip up, what have you done? You've moved your bait 8 inches away from the bass. When you move it again, you're now 16 inches away from him. You don't do that with this rig. It keeps the bait right where you want it -- in the strike zone.

I use a Zoom Finesse Worm in a smokin' blue color for drop-shotting. But a Zoom Lizard or a Salty Centipede can work well, too. Bedding bass can be very particular. Not every one of them is going to bite a Finesse worm, and not all of them are going to bite a lizard. You've got to try two or three different things and aggravate the fish until you get him to bite one of them. There will be days when they bite lizards, but day in and day out, that's not going to happen. You can throw a lizard in there 10 times and not get a bite, then you throw a worm in there and wham, you get a bite. Sometimes you have to show them something different. You can also put a tube jig on the drop shot. Just hook it through the nose.

Another thing you can do with the drop shot is flip it around and under boat docks. But instead of having to pull it out like you do with a Texas rig, you just leave it there.

You let it down, feel the weight and then just kind of shake it and let it float on down on that little hook until hit hits the bottom. Then twitch it back up until you feel the weight again. Do this three or four times. If you don't get a bite, move the whole rig 3 or 4 feet and repeat the process.

Buy the XPS Drop Weight

You want to use a finesse-type rod for drop-shotting. My favorite rod for this is the XPS Woo Daves medium-action spinning model.

A blind man could catch fish on this rig. There's no plastic to pull the hook through, and that little hook really grabs 'em. All you have to do is start winding, and you've got him. You can give it a short pop if you want, but it's not like a Texas rig where you really have to drive the hook home. When a fish grabs the lure, he's going to be swimming off, and you're going to feel him and set the hook.

The article is courtesy of Bass Pro Shops Outdoor Site. For great fishing gear, shop our co-branded store today