KENNEY’S DROP-SHOT BED RIG
Kenney’s go-to sight-fishing setup these days is a specialized drop-shot that he fishes
with a flipping stick. The rig has several advantages over a traditional craw or tube-style
bait, with the primary advantage being the bait is up in the fish’s face. Kenney believes a
bedding bass is more likely to suck in the bait when it’s off the bottom.
It’s also easier to hold in the nest.
“A drop-shot allows me to use a heavier weight. I’ll use 1/2 ounce, and that allows me to
shake that bait pretty violently without moving it from that spot,” Kenney says. “With a
lighter weight, every time you shake it the bait moves a little bit.”
Finally, hookups and landing ratios improve over Texas-rigged plastics.
“You don’t have to jerk the weight through the mouth to get the hook set,” Kenney
explains. “It’s just line and hook. I don’t even jerk really hard. I just start reeling real hard.
“Your landing ratio is extremely exaggerated with a drop-shot, I think, because you don’t
have the weight on the hook,” he continues. “It’s basically like having a weightless bait.
When it comes up and jumps it doesn’t have that leverage with the weight to throw it.”
The Rig
Gambler Ace
4/0 Trokar straight-shank flipping hook
6-inch dropper
ANOTHER TOOL
20-pound-test
Sunline fluorocarbon
The drop-shot has become Kenney’s go-to option for catching and land-
ing bass on beds, but sometimes he relies on a Texas-rigged white lizard to
pester them to the point that they’re ready to bite.
“When they start to look like they are fixing to bite that, I pitch that drop-
shot back in there and they ‘whammy-tackle’ it,” he says. ■
1/2-ounce
Reins tungsten
drop-shot sinker
60
FLWFISHING.COM I APRIL 2017