Because the drop shot technique is a finesse style of fishing, you benefit most by using a spinning reel and spinning rod with a sensitive tip(know to people that fish a lot as a soft tip), this will allow you to make very small quick and slow twitches of the bait, not really compromising the bait itself in a jerking motion.
A series of twitches results in your bait bouncing along at the selected depth, while the sinker bounces off the bottom. As long as you have little slack on the line the bait will stay at that depth, BUT you can let your rod tip down so it sinks slightly, again this will all be up to you to determine how you work this style and what actually produces fish for you that day.
You can also use live bait on this rig as well, why not if that is what you are comfortable with then try it out !
When the fishing is slow this is an easy rig to setup so give it a try !
The AMFisH guy…