getting bites with this efficient finesse rig By now, most bass anglers are familiar with the drop-shot rig. Two decades have passed since the tactic first hit the fishing scene. The drop-shot’s origins are in Japan, where finesse-fishing gurus perfected the technique and later shared it with West Coast anglers facing tough fishing conditions in the clear waters of California. The drop-shot quickly answered the prayers of bass anglers struggling to get a bite. Then the drop-shot moved east, proving its effectiveness through the country’s midsection and into the Great Lakes. It was here that the drop-shot, which allows bottom contact even in the roughest waters, gained steam among smallmouth bass anglers. Personally, I fished the drop-shot rig to over a quarter-million dollars in tournament earnings during my tenure as a competitive angler on Lake Erie in the early 2000s. Then, nothing came close to the rig’s effectiveness for big-water bronzebacks.