Need any ideas when it comes to drop shot rods? Here are 15.
Drop shotting is a favorite technique for plenty of anglers, and the gear used can actually make a pretty big difference.
This list of the 15 best choices for drop shot rods will make it easier for you to fish out the right option that fits your needs.
15. Okuma Celilo Ultra Light
There is simply no better rod for the money when it comes to versatility than the Okuma Celilo Ultra Light. If you enjoy connecting with the fish, these rods are extremely sensitive, and will bend to the cork without hesitation.
Don’t underestimate their power though. The thru-blank design on a tapered cork handle makes for a comfortable grip. The aluminum oxide guides are smaller than most spinning rods, which keeps contact with the line and connects you with the smallest bites. Finally, it comes with a 1-year limited warranty from Okuma, so you feel safe biting off more than you can chew and laying the wood to lunkers.
14. Browning Medallion Spinning Rod
The perfect mixture of affordability and quality, Browning Medallion fishing rods are built from a HTSC10 high-tensile carbon blank with Fuji aluminum oxide guides. The minimalist reel seat increases hand-to-blank sensitivity, and the split grip handle combines cork and rubberized cork for durability and a stylish appearance. The design of this rod is versatile enough to be used for a variety of different presentations.
The extra backbone from this model spinning rod also provides the angler with the ability to pull fish from heavy cover or change presentations that most technique-specific drop shot rods may not be well suited for.
13. Fenwick HMG Spinning Rods
The Fenwick HMG Spinning Rod is a worthwhile consideration. Built for durability and comfort, the Fenwick trademark “TAC” handle creates a tacky grip in all conditions. The material is more durable than traditional cork grips. A step above aluminum guides, the deep pressed titanium guides will not pop out like metal guides or crack like ceramic.
The carbon bound blanks are spiraled with carbon thread, creating additional strength and precise action. The fast action tip will detect shy bites and there’s enough meat to drive the hooks home but give some bend back to the fish during a big fight. These rods are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
12. Abu Garcia Veritas
Abu Garcia makes an appearance with the Veritas. The Micro click reel hood design serves it’s function by ensuring a solid connection between the rod and reel. Titanium alloy guides with SiC inserts are durable and will handle all line types. The extreme exposure reel seat allows for blank contact and sensitivity along with the high density EVA grip. This rod is backed by a 3 year limited warranty.
11. St. Croix Mojo Bass Drop Shot/Finesse Rods
This technique-specific St. Croix Mojo Bass Drop Shot/Finesse bass series is designed for superior performance and features Kigan Master Hand 3D guides with slim, strong aluminum-oxide rings with black frames, Fuji DPS reel seat with black hoods, a split-grip/premium-grade cork handle, Kigan hook-keeper, two coats of Flex Coat slow-cure finish, and it’s backed by a 5-year warranty.
10. Okuma Citrix Travel Rods
With similar qualities as the tournament rods, the Okuma Citrix Travel Rod has a IM8 graphite blank constructed in multiple sections for easy travel. If you want to keep a tournament-quality rod that is easily stored and accessible when you’re ready to hit the water, this option is a great alternative to the one piece designs.
The Citrix line is popular with vertical jigging anglers, so it’s a perfect fit for drop shot presentations as well. Lightweight EVA split grips and zero fore grip, and minimalist reel seat design improve balance and reduce weight, functioning like higher end models, but at a modest price. Stainless steel guide frames and zirconium line guide inserts are ideal for using with braid or mono. These rods are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
9. Shimano Sellus Spinning Drop Shot Rod
An extraordinary buy for the price, the Shimano Sellus Spinning Drop Shot Rod is a one-piece rod that delivers quality above its competitors at this price point. These spinning rods are lightweight and sensitive.
The newly designed proprietary Shimano reel seats furnish a secure, comfortable base for your reel with direct access to the rod blank. Custom shaped EVA split grip handles also balance out each rod perfectly, and low-profile Aluminum Oxide Guides deliver increased casting distance. These rods are backed by a one year limited warranty.
8. Wright & McGill Skeet Honeycomb Spinning Rods
Wright & McGill Co. and top BASS Elite Series pro, Skeet Reese worked together to create the Wright & McGill Skeet Honeycomb Spinning Series. Extremely lightweight and incredibly sensitive, this model delivers the same bend characteristics of other W&M rods for maintaining tension and absorbing pressure in the rod during fights with bigger fish. Featuring W&M’s advanced Honeycomb blank technology, the rod blank is created through the combination of three separate layers of high-modulus graphite wrapped around a high-density graphite core, reinforced by woven fibers, and then bound together by W&M’s new, industry leading, micro honeycomb resin.
Micro Guides add to the high performance characteristics of the exclusive blank technology, increasing casting distance and accuracy, and reducing line management issues. The split grip handle with a larger butt helps balance out each rod. The Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Micro Honeycomb Spinning Rod is the same rod Skeet uses to consistently excel at the highest levels of competitive bass fishing. These rods are backed by a limited 1-2 year warranty (depending on the model) and rods that fail outside of the timeline of the limited warranty can be replaced by the company at half the retail price.
7. Phenix Maxim Spinning Rods
The advanced multi-axis carbon fiber blanks on the Phenix Maxim Spinning Rods are lightweight and enhance sensitivity. Phenix also uses a cross-wrapped carbon tape for increased strength and the proper flex. The ergonomic shape in the handle and slender EVA split grip design reduce fatigue. The Phenix Maxim spinning rods deliver premium performance in detecting strikes far beyond their price range and are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
6. Enigma Aaron’s Edge Spinning Rods
Endorsed by two-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Aaron Martens, the Enigma Aaron’s Edge Spinning Rod is designed for its casting abilities, featuring unique “micro-wave” guides that eliminate heat buildup associated with line friction. The result is a much smoother casting rod that improves distance. The unique foregrip makes for an ergonomic fit as well as the split grip design that together properly balance the rod in hand and reduce fatigue. These rods are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
5. G.Loomis E6X Drop Shot Rod
If you’re looking for a quality name brand with a good reputation within a reasonable price range, the E6X from G.Loomis is a model that you’ll get what you paid for and then some. While the construction is not quite as light as the G.Loomis IMX models, the E6X is durable, tournament-grade quality, with an extra fast action tip not only sensitive enough to detect strikes at deep depths, but allows you to wiggle baits in place without moving them off the bottom.
The light tip weight allows you to fish with the rod tip up and reduce fatigue. The sensitivity is matched through the power of the backbone from this magnum tapered rod, loading up and driving the point home with every bite. You can rest easy putting the wood to fish with the limited lifetime warranty that G.Loomis is known for.
4. Shimano Crucial Spinning Rods
These new and improved Shimano Crucial Spinning Rods are lighter, stronger, and more sensitive than ever before. New C4S-HM graphite blanks utilize vertical and horizontal layers of graphite sandwiched between two layers of carbon tape. Stronger and more sensitive than previous models, these are also 28% lighter than their predecessors.
Premium Fuji Alconite Guides at Concept Spacing maximize the performance, while also providing the durability to stand up to braided line. Custom Shimano reel seats and minimal split grip cork handles provide the most lightweight possible ergonomic base for your reel. The taper provides the necessary sensitivity for a wide range of light line and finesse applications, with the backbone to get the job done. These rods are backed by a one year limited warranty.
3. Daiwa Generation Black Drop Shot Feeling
It’s difficult to find the proper balance in drop shot rods, as having a fast action tip usually means sacrificing some backbone. The Daiwa Generation Black Drop Shot Feeling has an ideal balance between backbone and sensitivity, a great option for finesse fishing and feeling light strikes in deep water, while still having the power to pull pigs from the deep. The rod itself is very lightweight and includes 8 fuji guides and a comfortable premium EVA split grip handle.
2. Carrot Stix Gen X Elite
This company prides itself on catering to its consumers with a state of the art technology of rod construction with the use of organic components and materials. Bio-Fibers add to the bonding matrix to create a Super Strong bond called “bio-polymer,” used in the creation of the graphite blanks on the Carrot Stix Gen X Elite. These Bio Fibres actually come from real carrots, giving the product its name.
The Nano Silica technology combines micro-spheres of silica added to the special resin that improves compression strength up to 75% making the blank even more durable while also making it lighter.
The Carrot Stix rod walked away with three best of show categories at it’s introduction at the 2007 ICAST show. Offices in Canada and the United States cater to countries all over the world. Since 2007 Carrot Stix Rods have won more than 47 Awards including Best Product of the Year several years in a row and Most Innovative Product.
The “Micro-Wave” guides and fast action tip are key elements to the performance of this rod. Superior casting ability, a minimal reel seat, removed fore grip, raised reel seat and a tip fast enough to see every bite before you can feel it make this rod a top shelf option. This company also prides itself in its limited lifetime warranty and customer service.
1. G.Loomis NRX Dropshot Rod
Providing a soft tip that allows you to see the bite before the fish feels it is one thing, but feeling that almost inaudible tick as it happens, is almost like an unfair advantage. This model is made for deep-water and heavier cover, but it’s made with the same concepts to differentiate the subtle clues going on beneath the water’s surface. The G.Loomis NRX Dropshot Rod was voted Overall Best of Show, as well as Best of Show in the Freshwater Rod category at the 2010 ICAST Show.
Most drop shot rods built for this technique feature extra-fast actions, but these tips are so light that anglers can present a subtle wiggle to a bait with minimal motion. The soft tip also allows fish to eat the bait without a lot of resistance, while the magnum taper loads the rod up so fish are hooked with a slight pull of the rod rather than a stiff “hookset.”
The unique construction of this series makes it at least 15% lighter than similar GLX rods, up to 20% stronger, and more impact resistant. Utilizing stiffer, lighter, and higher density carbon combined with Nano Silica resin systems, the NRX rods are lighter, durable, and extremely sensitive without sacrificing strength. Light “ticks” turn into thumps, and anglers can easily feel the difference between their lure dragging across silt, gravel and ridges, even at 60 feet. Offering the best at every level in terms of graphite, resins, and components, this rod takes on a personality of it’ own.
When targeting spotted bass suspended in fisheries like Georgia’s Lake Lanier and California’s Lake Shasta, this is the tool for the bass contractor. The technology makes it so sensitive that you’ll know everything that happens at the end of your line, but it still has enough power to pull big fish out of cover.
The unique Hybrid Guide System combines both Fuji Titanium-Framed SIC guides and REC Recoil Black Ion-coated, Nickel-Titanium guides. The stiffer Fuji guides, closest to the reel seat, create a more sensitive feel, along with moving weight back to butt section and helping to balance out the rod. The trademark skeletonized Reel Seat keeps the angler’s finger truly in contact with the blank. G.Loomis rods are manufactured in the USA, and backed by the company’s limited lifetime guarantee.
Now that you’ve got plenty of choices when it comes to your next drop shot rod, it’s time to make a decision and get out there and catch something.
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