Most drop shot advice assumes you are sitting over fish in twenty feet of water watching them on a screen. You are not. You are standing on a rip-rap bank with one rod and a limited number of casts before the light goes.
Why it works from shore
The good news is that the rig does not care. A weight on the bottom with a bait suspended above it is exactly what you want when fish are holding tight to structure you can reach from the bank. The weight anchors, the bait hovers, and you can work one spot for as long as you like without moving the bait out of the zone.
Leader length
Twelve to eighteen inches covers most bank situations. Shorter when fish are hugging the bottom, longer when they are suspended off it. Start short — a bait too high is invisible, a bait too low still gets found.
The retrieve, such as it is
Cast past your target, let the weight settle, then do almost nothing. Shake the rod tip in place, count to five, and move the weight six inches. The bait is working the entire time it sits still, which is the part that takes some believing.
