Drop Shot Fishing for Perch

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

The lure on a drop shot barely moves, yet it often outfishes spinners and jigs for perch, especially in cold, clear water. That is how drop shot fishing works: the weight sits on the bottom and a small soft lure hangs above it on the line, so you can hold a 1-3in lure in one spot beside a pontoon, lock wall or reed edge for as long as you like.

On Windermere it is the method I reach for when perch are tight to structure and not chasing.

This guide covers what works on UK canals, rivers and stillwaters, in the order you need it: kit, a legal non-lead weight, tying the dropshot rig, lures, where and when to fish, working the lure and fixing problems. Published advice disagrees on hook sizes and leader lengths, so you get ranges with the reasons behind them. For the wider picture, start with our perch fishing guide.

Step 1: Pick a Drop Shot Rod, Reel and Line

The whole outfit is a light rod, a small reel and a spool of thin braid. It carries in one hand, which suits drop shot fishing for an hour on the canal after work or a short winter session.

Two items matter more than the rest: the rod tip and the braid. Together they let you feel a perch pluck at a lure that is hardly moving.

Item	What to look for	Why
Rod	6-8ft, rated about 0-15g, light tip with a stiffer middle and butt	The tip shows bites and shakes the lure; the stiffer butt sets the hook
Reel	1000-2500 size fixed spool	Light enough to hold all session
Main line	Braid, 0.06-0.10mm	No stretch, so every touch reaches the rod
Leader	Fluorocarbon, 6lb to start	Low visibility next to the lure

Quoted breaking strains for the braid vary, from 6-8lb in one guide to about 10lb in another, so go by diameter instead. Use the thinner end on clear canals with little cover, and step up towards 0.10mm close to snags, moored boats or rough lock walls. Leader length is covered in Step 3.

A dedicated drop shot rod is a nice extra, not a requirement. If you already own a light lure rod rated to about 10-15g, start with that and spend the money on decent braid.

Step 2: Choose a Non-Lead Drop Shot Weight

Most drop shot advice tells you to use a 3-7g weight. Very little of it mentions that lead weights in that size range cannot be supplied in England.

Under the Environmental Protection (Anglers’ Lead Weights) (England) Regulations 2015, supplying lead weights for fishing lines is banned except for those of 0.06g or less and those over 28.35g. Nearly every drop shot weight sits inside that band. The rules restrict supply rather than use, and they apply in England only. GOV.UK’s tackle rules set out the same position, and our lead weights law explainer goes into the detail.

Buy tungsten, brass, steel or tin weights instead. Tungsten is densest, so it is smaller for its weight and gives more feel.

Shape matters too:

Ball weights give the most feel on clean, hard bottoms.
Pencil (cylinder) weights slide through weed and between stones, so they snag less in rough swims.

Use just enough weight to hold bottom. An Angling Times rule of thumb, best treated as a starting point, is about 1g per foot of depth on canals and stillwaters and 2-3g per foot on rivers.

Swim	Weight shape	Starting weight
Clear, clean canal	Ball or pear	1.5-3g
Weedy or stony canal, stillwater	Pencil	About 1g per foot of depth
River slack or eddy	Pencil or ball	About 2-3g per foot of depth

Carry a few non-lead weights from about 1.5g to 10g and you will cover most canals and slower rivers.

Step 3: Tie a Drop Shot Rig for Perch

A drop shot hook that hangs point-down drags the lure off level and costs you bites. The fix is in how you tie the dropshot rig, not in what you tie it with.

Join the leader to the braid. Angling Times uses a double four-turn water knot. Any braid-to-fluorocarbon knot you trust is fine.
Tie the hook with a Palomar knot, leaving a long tag end below it. That tag becomes the dropper for your weight.
Pass the tag back down through the hook eye from the point side. The hook should now stand out from the line at 90 degrees with the point facing up.
Attach the non-lead weight to the end of the tag. Most drop shot weights clip or pinch on, so you can slide them up or down (see Step 2 for sizes).
Set the distance from hook to weight, then hold the line tight and check the hook still sits out level.

Two measurements cause most of the confusion with a drop shot rig for perch.

Leader length. Published figures run from about 2ft of fluorocarbon to 1.5m with the hook tied in the middle. Go longer in very clear water or for shy fish, so more of the line near the lure is fluorocarbon. Go shorter for easier casting and better control under the rod tip.

Lure height above the weight. Figures run from 6-8in up to about 18in. Neither is wrong. Start low in cold water, when perch hug the bottom, and raise the hook in summer or when the lure needs to clear weed.

Best for: fishing tight to cover in one spot for as long as it takes. Skip if: you need to search open water quickly, where a moving lure or a jig covers ground faster.

Step 4: Choose and Hook Your Drop Shot Lure

Why do two experienced sources recommend a size 14 and a size 4 hook for the same method? Because they are hooking different lures.

Size and shape. Drop shot lures run up to 3in, but most are 1-2in. The tail decides how the lure vibrates when you shake the line, and pin, paddle and curly tails all behave differently. Worm-like pin or fork tails suit clear, cold water best.

Hooking. Nose-hook the lure through the very tip of the head so it sits level and moves freely. Wacky rigging, with the hook through the middle of a worm-style lure, is a variation worth trying.

Hook size. Drop shot hooks are fine-wired and usually larger than match hooks, although some anglers use match hooks down to a size 14 for tiny lures. Match the hook gap to the thickness of the lure so the point stays exposed: smaller for a 1in lure, bigger for a 3in one.

On live bait: in England and Wales you may not use a fish as bait unless it was caught in the same water (more in the FAQs below).

Quick comparison: the drop shot holds the lure above the bottom in one spot, while the Ned rig sits on the bottom and is worked along it. For heavy weed and snags, a weedless Texas rig is the better choice.

Step 5: Choose Your Water, Season and Spot (and Check You Can Fish It)

Turn up at a river with a drop shot rod in April and you have wasted the trip in England and Wales. The coarse close season on rivers, streams and drains runs from 15 March to 15 June.

Where perch hold

Water	Where to drop it	Weight starting point
Canals	Moored boats, reedbeds, lock cuttings, bridge holes, marinas	Light, 1.5-3g
Rivers	Slacks, eddies, around islands, anywhere out of the main flow	Heavier, about 2-3g per foot of depth
Stillwaters and large lakes	Drop-offs and overhanging trees	About 1g per foot of depth

On Windermere I find drop shot perch along the drop-offs and close to structure in the deeper water, rather than out in open lake.

When to go

Dawn and dusk are usually best. The method is at its strongest in cold water, because you can hold the lure still and low beside the cover where sluggish perch sit. In colder months, fish low and slow next to structure. In warmer months, raise the lure.

Check you can fish it

Nation	Licence	Permission
England	Environment Agency rod licence from age 13	Club, fishery or landowner permission
Wales	Rod licence from age 13, plus Natural Resources Wales byelaws	Club, fishery or landowner permission
Scotland	No rod licence (except the Border Esk)	Landowner or club permission
Northern Ireland	Rod licence required	Angling permit required

In England and Wales, under-13s need no licence and the 13-16 junior licence is free. Check the current adult price on GOV.UK, and see our fishing licence guide. Most stillwaters and canals have no coarse close season, though private waters can set their own (more in our fishing seasons guide). For canals, check with the Canal & River Trust and the local club holding the rights.

If you are starting in spring, begin on a canal or stillwater and save the rivers for after 15 June.

Step 6: Fish the Drop Shot Slowly and Strike Right

The best drop shot anglers barely move the rod. On clear canals, one Angling Times angler vibrates the lure by shaking slack braid with his wrist rather than working the rod tip. Less movement catches more because a perch gets a long look at a small lure quivering in one place.

Drop shotting for perch comes down to five things:

Cast or drop. Lower the rig under the rod tip beside cover, or make a short cast to a feature. Let the weight settle and feel it touch down.
Hold the weight still. Keep the line just tight to the weight, then let in a little slack and shake it so the lure quivers on the spot. Pause for several seconds between shakes.
Pick a retrieve. Deadsticking, with the lure held almost still, is best in cold water. A slow crawl or lift-and-drop searches a swim when fish are more active.
Keep moving. Give each feature a few minutes, then move to the next pontoon, boat or reedbed. From a boat, fish it straight down.
Read the bite and lift. Bites show as a tap, a rattle on the tip or the line falling slack. Lift steadily into the fish instead of making a big sweep, because the hook is already close and braid has no stretch. Set the drag light enough to protect a fine fluorocarbon leader.

In my experience on Windermere, the slower I fish near structure, the more takes I get, including from perch that have ignored faster lures.

The same slow, vertical approach is worth trying if you also fish for zander.

If you think you are fishing slowly enough, slow down again.

Step 7: Fix Missed Bites and Snags, and Handle Pike Safely

The tap-tap-nothing bite, the weight wedged in a lock wall, the leader cut clean by a pike. All three are fixable.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Missed bites	Lure too big for the hook, or the point is masked	Try a smaller lure or a larger hook gap (Step 4)
Missed bites	Striking too hard or too early	Wait for weight on the line, then lift steadily (Step 6)
Snagging	Ball weight wedging in stones or weed	Switch to a pencil weight (Step 2)
Losing whole rigs	Weight fixed firmly on the tag	Set it to pull off the tag when snagged
Line twist	Hook not standing out, or lure crooked	Re-tie with the Palomar pass-through (Step 3)
No bites at all	Lure at the wrong height	Move the hook up or down the 6-18in range (Step 3)

Pike are the bigger worry: they can bite through a light fluorocarbon leader and leave a hook in the fish. Where pike keep showing, add a wire trace or move swims.

Carry forceps or long-nosed pliers and a landing net. In England and Wales, landing nets must have no knotted or metal mesh, and gaffs and tailers are banned. Most anglers return their perch and pike. If you keep any, GOV.UK allows one pike a day from rivers up to 65cm, and perch fall within the 15 small fish a day limit for fish up to 20cm, with local byelaws on top.

Frequently asked questions

How deep should you fish a drop shot for perch?

The weight sits on the bottom, so the real question is lure height. Start with the hook 6-18in above the weight. Go lower in cold water, when perch hug the bottom, and higher over weed or in summer. Move it a few inches at a time if bites dry up. See Step 3 above for the full breakdown.

Is drop shot fishing good in winter?

Yes. It lets you hold a small lure almost still near the bottom beside structure, which suits cold, slow-moving perch. In England and Wales rivers are open through winter, because the coarse close season runs from 15 March to 15 June. Short sessions at dawn and dusk work well, and the light kit makes an hour on the canal easy.

Can you use live bait on a drop shot rig?

In England and Wales you cannot use a fish as bait unless you caught it in the same water, according to GOV.UK. Clubs and fisheries can set their own bait rules on top, so check before you fish. Most anglers stick to small soft lures of 1-2in on a drop shot, which also avoids the question.

Can you use lead drop shot weights in England?

Supplying lead weights between 0.06g and 28.35g for fishing is banned in England, and that covers typical drop shot sizes. The 2015 regulations restrict supply rather than use, and they apply in England only. Buy tungsten, brass, steel or tin weights instead. See Step 2 above for weight sizes and shapes.