How to Drop Shot, tips and techniques for big bass!

How to Drop Shot, tips and techniques for big bass!
In this video I go over some tips and techniques you can start to use to help improve your Drop Shotting game and put some big bass in the boat. I love to Drop Shot and it is one of my favorite ways to fish. Drop Shotting is so versatile and can be used in so many ways. From shallow bass fishing all the way out to 60 plus feet of water. I fish a drop shot often and I am always trying to find a way to incorporate that technique into a certain situation. The hook up ratio is great with a drop shot, you can use many different types of baits and soft plastics, you can mimic baitfish, gobys and crayfish easily with the drop shot. This video has some shots of the baits I use underwater so you can see what they look like when being drop shotted and I go over a few time tested soft plastics that I carry with me whenever I am going to be drop shotting.
Let me know what types of baits, rods, reels and line you like to use when you are drop shotting. I would love to hear about it in the comment section!
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Travis Manson's Guided Bass Fishing Trips
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__________________________________________________________________
Who is SmallmouthCrush?
Travis Manson was born and raised where the giant Smallmouth Bass of the north live...WISCONSIN. He started fishing from the bank as at a young age and spent most of his childhood with a rod in his hand. Travis is primarily a self-taught angler that is always learning and experiencing this amazing sport of fishing. He started out fishing for walleyes and fishing in local walleye tournaments, but then in his mid 20's, he caught the BASS BUG and has been hooked every since. He competed at the highest level in bass fishing on the Bassmaster Elite series for a number of years, until he ran out of $$ money $$. This led to a move across the country to the Northeast where he got things right again and is back on track, but now on his own terms. Perhaps he will make another run at the Elite Series if the opportunity allows. In the meantime, he is a fishing guide offering trips on the Chesapeake Bay for largemouth bass(year round), guided trips for smallmouth back in Wisconsin (during select times) and trophy smallmouth bass guided trips in Upstate New York (May-November) His KZbin Channel is named after his passion for the smallmouth bass and will be used as a platform for "how-to" videos, on the water instruction, crazy on and off the water topics and vlogs on the day in the life of a fishing addict! Hope you enjoy!

[@rowanlinderud1800]

The missile bomb shot is AWESOME. I recommend

[@kenq7404]

Amazing video! Thanks to you I started using drop shot and increase my catches. I'm using drop shot 75% of the time now.

[@cgberken8415]

Outstanding thorough presentation, love the attention to detail!

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Thanks!

[@iphone3gsdivine]

I learned so much from this video thanks.

[@garylukas3476]

noticed the deeper water looking glasses at the end. some Italian name. works awesome for finding deep, clear water spawners. sweet

[@pinhookfishingclub]

Great info! Learning how this all works, so this is terrific! I’m also enjoying the podcasts!

[@davebishop9954]

Where do you find your bulk bags of soft baits? Keep up the good work. Great channel. Thanks

[@razorback1171]

Great video. I’ve always used 20lb power pro braid with a 12lb fluorocarbon liter. I recently caught a 7lb large mouth using a roboworm.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

That is a great set up for lagies and drop shotting!

[@gustavomaciel8340]

Mr. Crush Thank you for tips.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

You are welcomed! Glad you like them!

[@mattnash5159]

Love the video. However I've been searching through KZbin for about an hour and a half watching drop shot videos looking for technique but I'm getting everything else but that. Obviously I know the basic technique is to drag/shake very subtly. If you ever get time down the road it would be awesome if you could dedicate maybe like a 5 to 10 minute video toward drop shotting techniques that would be rad Love all the video's Travis keep em coming!💪

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Certainly, Thanks!

[@fff194]

Thanks for your videos and the info you provide. I did find a Retailer for the Bass Magic lures in this video--TNO Fishing.

[@dant8213]

Great video! I'm a new subscriber. Just a tip I've found for the knots sticking in the micro guides-tie a blood knot for the leader with a small dab of super glue on the knot to smooth it out. Since the blood knot is so small it works great for me with micro guides thanx

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Thanks Dan and thanks for the tip!

[@thomasrobey9851]

love the owner hooks. hands down. tried trokar for a while but came back to the owner brand.

[@raystickel-tackleid891]

I'm really enjoying all your videos Travis, keep them going. This one is a great how to. I'm a Potomac river man so drop shooting is a technique that I need to work on. Went to Erie for the first time last year, what a great fishery. I am looking forward to using your tips this coming spring on our next trip north. Thank, Ray

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Thanks Ray! Good luck up there!

[@joetefft8541]

Great video! Definitely going add some of these tips and tricks to my St Lawrence, Ontario ,Champlain drop shotting. Love the channel!

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Man you just named off some of the best waters in the country!

[@looking4lunker]

Awesome video I've only tried drop shoting once or twice didn't have much luck I learned something from your video good technique tip thanks

[@SmallmouthCrush]

thank you Sam!

[@Bigun_bassin]

I love the drop shop also! I will take a XL on the jersey, Thanks

[@bdaquatics7584]

My go to is alot like yours and I think you could go with "fish arrow j split tail shad" in the 3-4 inch since yours are hard to find at times. Tackle warehouse has them in stock and I think they're from Japan idk but they SLAYYYYY

[@garylukas3476]

I appreciate you going so in depth it will change the way i fish my favorite technique drop shottin . Thanks

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Thanks for the compliment Gary!

[@BuckRammerz]

Love st croix rods

[@Thebankfisher]

I use the drop shot now at all times....I never hook it weedless ...just nose hook #6 and #4 offset circle hooks. ....

[@fishbuster53821]

Travis could you give me a link where I can find dropshot Maribor jigs .Thank You Ken.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Noone is making these for the general public....best bet it to have someone hand tie the maribou.

[@decoyn-7782]

The Dobyns Extremes are amazing, I have a couple but for dropshotting I love my DX742 w/ a Stradic CI4+

[@SmallmouthCrush]

perfect set up!

[@decoyn-7782]

Ya the drag on the Stradic is what is game changing. You can confidently fish lower LB test lines all because of that reel. The only other spinning reel I've used that is just as good is the Daiwa Aegis 2506. I've got one on another Champion and it's drag is butter smooth too. I've played around with tons of reels in that 200-300 price point and those 2 definitely are the top tier ones.

[@markcasting3340]

Great video 👍🏻

[@davehansen8405]

got the same legend extreme medium light for a drop shot rod. bought it as a blank and had a local guy do the guides custom. also has a cool graphite tennessee grip to make it ultra sensitive. much cheaper to do a build and you can have the larger guides that are less likely to catch your knot. do you use albright knot or something else to join floro to braid? the rod building supply outfit is called "mudhole". they have just about everything for building an excellent drop shot rod for about half of retail. or any rod.

[@archiemelton9777]

Thank you for this video... I plan on adding dropshoting to my arsenal. I just learned so much.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Awesome Thanks!

[@timwilcox960]

Thanks for the video. There’s one aspect of fishing a drop shot rig that I don’t get and hope that either you - or one of your subscribers who have experience using it - can explain. I thought that the technique is for fishing vertically, either from a boat or a pier or breakwater etc. from dry land. However, many pro anglers suggest that it can be cast out and, not only that, but fished in fairly shallow water. This I don’t understand, because the main line is not going to be perpendicular to the water, it’s going to be at a minimum of 45 degrees - if not more. Consequently, the lure will not be ‘swimming’ anywhere near horizontally in the water column - but either pointing down at a steep angle towards the bottom or upwards at a steep angle towards the surface. This strikes me as being a most unnatural presentation and would not fool a bass or, indeed, any other predatory fish! So, what am I missing? Help please!

[@ronpoppe6517]

i am a beginer what is the best way to not lose hooks in the lake when you are fishing from shore the lakes are very rockie

[@MrAluislugo]

Great video Travis. Can you please explain how you work your drop shot? Tks.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

I will be doing some drop shotting video on the water coming up shortly!

[@smallmouthaddiction8263]

Another Great Video - Travis Really knows his Drop Shot Stuff

[@richardmontgomery6173]

Couldn’t find the missle bait craw. Any help?

[@logicalrationalfishing7481]

Have you tried the Owner downshot hooks for texas rigging? They are great, even better if you put a custom bait keeper on there from shrink wrap... I changed to using them from the G-locks.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

No I haven't tried them. I am always open to finding a better way! I'll have to do some looking into them. Thanks for the tip!

[@paddleandhook]

Man if there are 4-6 ft waves im not fishing it no matter the drop shot weight. Those conditions make for a long day 😬.

[@gamernewbieed7832]

The man sting rays kinda look like tadpoles. Maybe that's why they are effective? Just a thought.

[@douglasderrick6040]

Legit thank you!

[@williamhollman3744]

7’11 extra heavy. 7/0 EWG 3/8oz sinker and Mann’s worm. Idk what he’s talking about 😂😂😂

[@BenoitFarcy]

Hi, Where do you get 10-12$ for those 100pack senko ?? I am digging that kind of deal for a while now !!

[@SmallmouthCrush]

They are generac ones though....Wackyworms.com

[@keithbrown234]

You have got to check out the spot sticker 4.5 in finesse worm the action is even better than the robo

[@josecota9603]

Where do you buy the Maribou jigs?

[@yakangler419]

Could anyone help.... I fish a river that is average 5-7’ deep, highly traveled by speed boats and has literally 2-3’ of silt for a bottom. Does the weight for the drop shot just sink into the silt to be pointless, or will it stop when it hits silt? I’m aware to obviously not use heavy weight, but still not confident the whole rig isn’t sinking into the silt. Thanks

[@jtarryohpengyew8173]

Thank for sharing, very well explained. May I know what is the best distance/lenght from sinker to hook for pond fishing.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

I would experiment anywhere from 6 inches to 18 inches probably....Try around 8-12 inches to start.

[@erikcable1755]

i am looking around for the knot to tie for drop shot lines...see you next

[@robertsvoboda9208]

Have you ever thought of trying a #1 or#2 VMC Neeko hook for drop shotting?

[@frankjessee9331]

Thanks my man, great video & pretty in depth. I was hoping for more about how you work the drop shots. Not much out there on that, thanks!

[@dredding]

Hey, Travis can you do a video on split shot rig versus Carolina and when and where to use ?

[@isaacsuxx1]

Any chance you can give out a link to those bulk senko packs? haha

[@SmallmouthCrush]

www.wackyworm.com/

[@jenniferkambar3874]

What company makes the little grubs in the middle of your drop shot soft plastic box? It has a flat spot mid body and another flat spot on the tail. Thanks.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

It is called the Mann's Sting Ray Grub.. .hard to find but they are out there.

[@jenniferkambar3874]

SmallmouthCrush I appreciate. Hop across our big pond and maybe just maybe we'll catch a couple. Your outta WI right?

[@michaeldob2153]

Great Video Which colors of the Bass Magic Shakey Tail worm would you recommend?

[@SmallmouthCrush]

True Toad is my favorite and the Chat color.

[@michaeldob2153]

@@SmallmouthCrush Thank you very much! I found the true toad color but what is the Chat color?

[@peterdixon1763]

hey bro , pleases keep me informed , great tips , love watching !!

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Thank you!

[@crawdadsfishingtackle1500]

Awesome Video!!!

[@darrellbowen1582]

Great informative video ! Thank you for the info . Heading to st. Clair on the 6th

[@TheSireverard]

Can we work on the transition edits so you don't trail off?

[@shpuply]

Another great video man. Keep making em,the subscribers will come!

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Thank you!

[@glynnplantz1159]

Great video! Did I see drop craws in your go to box? What are your thoughts on them?

[@SmallmouthCrush]

Yes for sure....they are great when nothing else seems to work or when the fish are real finicky

[@octaviofuentes7781]

very good video thanks man

[@dalegraham7331]

Very helpful

[@bronzebackbrownies]

What brand/color of goby do you like for Lake Ontario . Awsome channel bud

[@lancejordan7473]

Dope video man! I really like the layout of your videos.

[@um8kthecall]

Great video! What knot are using to connect to the braid and what dictates how much distance you are putting between the weight and the hook?

[@SmallmouthCrush]

I honestly do not know the name of the knot. Aaron Martens showed me it back in the day and I have just been tying it without every knowing what it is actually called. I know it is a dead solid knot that I have complete confidence in. The length of the weight to the hook varies on what I think the fish are doing and the presentation I am trying to achieve. Meaning if the fish are a bit off the bottom I will use a longer leader and I have thrown a 6 foot plus leader plenty of times. If I am imitating a goby I will be closer to the bottom and some of the baits work better with about a foot or so leader then a shorter 4 or 5 inch leader. You just have to experiment and don't be afraid to try something crazy.

[@waterwolflures]

Excellent vid

[@toddbloxham6041]

Hi. Wondering what the most common leader length would be in the summer for deep water

[@SmallmouthCrush]

todd bloxham it really varies.... this year I have been using a 2 foot plus leader and it's been working good!

[@BD1JR]

Nice

[@brintlang2124]

Great video. I am a new subscriber. I live in Oklahoma and do both largemouth and smallmouth fishing. What colors do you recommend for the Bass Magic shakey tail worms?

[@SmallmouthCrush]

I really like the white colors.......I also use the chat ones alot....they are hard to find though

[@joelalinen]

Is the bass magic worm a seasonal bait for you...such as a bed fishing bait for you ...or do you fish them year round?

[@billymayes503]

Awesome video

[@timmeyer8708]

watching wide eyed..given out some top secret info.

[@marvincochran5121]

Have you tried owner SSW with Super Needle Point

[@SmallmouthCrush]

No I have not. In fact never even looked into it. I am going to be doing some investigating though! Thanks!

[@marvincochran5121]

Sorry I am a new be got the wrong hook

[@dannyhouck8517]

Great info. Where is the best place to buy soft baits in bulk online? Thx

[@SmallmouthCrush]

As far as name brand plastics there is very few deal for buying in bulk online. Some places I have looked for plastics online are wacky worm inc wackyworm.com/ and all my tubes I can get in bulk at Get Bit Baits out of Green Bay. There website is www.getbitbaits.com/

[@MrAluislugo]

Hi Travis I watched this again and you said that you use 5lb braid as your main line. Is there any advantage to using 5lb as opposed to 10lb or 8lb braid which I think is probably more common? Tks.

[@SmallmouthCrush]

I like 5lb I feel I can make further cast if I have to and I think it allows me to drop the bait down faster if needed

[@SmallmouthCrush]

8lb or 10lb will work just fine as well just that I prefer 5lb

[@marvincochran5121]

Have you tried owner SSW Straight Eye

[@tommytuomaala9087]

God dang are you a lure collector or do you actually get at least 5 fish with each lure?

[@Brian-gg6my]

Thx for the tips and technics but those setups you should us are all around $700 dollars so that ain't happening but great video either way

[@jimvalim1567]

A half hour of how to drop shot and the most crucial and critical thing was left out and not shown! What is it???? How to tie the drop shot!

[@bradkendall2638]

Drop shot or shaky head when and where ?

[@bhumbertson]

Travis what knots are you using for your leader and the hook itself?

[@SmallmouthCrush]

I wish I could answer that but I am really not sure. For the flouro to braid I use a knot that I have been using for about 5 or 6 years now and it seems to work real well. Just not sure what it is called and when I tie it in front of people they don't know what it is called either. The knot I use for the drop shot hook is also a bit unusual and I am not sure the name of it but again it is just something I been doing for years. Someone may know the name of it...it involves inserting the line twice around the eyelet of the hook and running it down turing all the way to the bottom of the loop and cinching. I then go back through the eyelet of the hook. Not sure if that helps or not.

[@bhumbertson]

Thanks, btw your videos are costing me a lot of money in bait... great content!

[@Clifford-wp4cq]

I like youTube viode

[@MRBRAINCANDYMUSIC]

5lb braid?

[@wilsonmuniz8891]

You never mentioned the 3th rod

[@ryanbernard6550]

Wilson Muniz probably a shorter, medium light

[@peterdixon1763]

Bro I love your show , I want to fish with you and Crush!!!!! Smallies call me !!

[@bdaquatics7584]

I don't care who you are, if an angler sees a guy with not one but FOUR stradics in a guys arsenal he knows the dude takes fishing serious lol I just got a curado 7ft 1in medium for my stradic and it's the most sensitive rod I've used man. I see a ton of guys using Lew's and they're ok but shimano sets the bar for sure

[@datdudenosense]

If you want a little advice on making better videos..... try not having 40 clips tied into one another. Just do one long take video, even if you need to lower your resolution a little bit to squeeze the time. Your video will seem more sincere and more people will want to pay attention to it without the 40 takes. Also, when you merged those clips together you were cutting off sentences which makes the video less sincere or important. Some people are worried about doing so many takes because they don't want to mess up, but trust me it'll be better.

[@nasaman23]

Nobody cares about the rods. Just show us how to drop shot already!