Collection: Deep Drop Rigs/Weights

Deep drop rigs and the heavy lead that gets them down, for fishing well past the depth where normal bottom tackle stops working.

Deep dropping is a different sport from ordinary bottom fishing. At 400 to 800 feet you are dealing with real current through the whole water column, a bait that takes minutes to reach bottom, and a bite you can barely feel through that much line. Everything has to be overbuilt.

That means multi-pound lead, heavy mono or cable dropper loops, and hooks stout enough that a big grouper cannot straighten them at the end of a long fight where you have almost no leverage. Most anglers run electric reels for a reason.

The payoff is fish that almost nobody catches — snowy grouper, golden tilefish, barrelfish and blueline — off the Gulf shelf edge and the Atlantic drop from Florida up through the Carolinas.