About the Author

Joe Rotter

Joe is the "blogger in chief" here at Red's in addition to being our guide service manager and partner here at Red's. He is a father of 3 spunky children his wife Kelly can only be found fishing when the temperature gets above 85 degrees and the fish are gobbling up dry flies.

In addition to being a fly fishing junkie, Joe is a hard core bowhunter, is a volunteer Hunter's Eductation Instructor, and loves riding horses with his kiddos. Joe still guides a small part of the time but spends most of his time working on web marketing, travel, and helping customers find the right tools and information for the job.

Drop Shot Nymph Setup // Super Simple Single Nymph

December 22, 2018

Fishing was really tough yesterday throughout much of the float. Water temps were in the high 30's and the trout just were not aggressive. I switched up the buddies that I was casually guiding to simple "drop shot" rig and we had immediate results. This setup works very well when trout refuse to come up in the water column for your nymphs.

We wade fished one spot and landed 12 fish (4 doubles) in 20 minutes with this setup. Not bad for December 21st!

Ingredients for this Drop Shot rig:

Loon Camo Shot (commonly used is .8g)

3X RIO Indicator Leader

Loon Tip Topper Indicator (large)

FLIES - Should NOT be Tungsten Beads!

Simple Drop Shot Nymph Setup

Larger Diagram of Drop Shot Nymph Rig

Hey Joe, thnx for another great post. I've always been curious about this technique. I've spent the last season committed to learning euro nymphing and ingame become pretty attached to it as my go to. So under what circumstances would you suggest drop shot over euro style?. Just the above mentioned situation? Thnx
That is a fantastic question. Euro Nymphing works well when you can get close to the fish and is favored on small water. I also much prefer it in pocket water to this setup. I think a video outlining all the pro's con's to various approaches would be a good idea. I do use my Euro rods with this rig as well for what its worth.
Thnx for the reply! Joe, that video would be an awesome Christmas present to your nymph fishing fans ???? I'm always curious if I'm employing the right tactic in the right spot when I'm out on the water. Most of the time I experiment, and use trial and error but any wisdom you can share on the subject would be greatly appreciated! I'm definitely gonna try this rig out on my next outing. Thanks again
I am a 76 year old nymph fisherman & have just started to use the drop shot method 2 years ago, we use to use a similar rig with wet flies in the 50s and 60s but had the shot between the flies with an unweighted trailing fly and an upper fly on a 4 inch leader of a loop. Problem was if the shot hung up between rocks you could lose your bottom fly. The drop shot method is great because I secure the shot section with a lighter tippet or a small knot that will break off without the loss of a fly. Would enjoy seeing a Video of comparing Euro and dropshot. Tight Loops, Gary
Hello Joe, I really enjoy your informative videos. Great job. So I see that you i use the euro rod for drop shoting. I have the ESN in a 3 wt so that will be my plan as well. But Im wondering what line your recommend? I have the SA Competition (mono core) Nymph line (super skinny) or just a regular WF 3 wt floating line? THanks in advance. Jeff
Great post Joe! I almost mistook your hand for a hungry trout!
Hey Joe: I was introduced to the drop shot method in 2003 on the Bow River in Canada. Our guide ran straight level 6LB tippet for the leader nail knotted to the fly line for a smooth connection, about 12 ft in length. The rig had 2 unweighted flies on droppers about 12 inches apart from the shot at the end of the leader. It was early September and the river was very weedy. The combination of the knotless leader and flies suspended above the weeds worked like a charm on the magnificent rainbows in that river and since the Bow is a prairie river, the substrate was very conducive to that method, which you mentioned in a recent podcast. To summarize, maybe a couple points not mentioned in the blog, use weightless flies, knotless leaders and target large rivers that are weedy with gravel substrate. Also, we ran pegged cork indicators that could be easily adjusted on the knotless leader. Thanks for all the good work that you do for the fly fishing community. I appreciate your delivery, honest & clean. No f bombs, you are a man of integrity!