 What's poppin', people? Welcome back to another video. Thank you guys so much for the support if you're new to the channel. Please hit that subscribe button, hit the notification bell, and also hit the like button if you guys have been enjoying the content. Today, we're gonna be talking about a topic that everyone's been asking in the comment section down below. It seems as if people are having a hard time catching fish this summer with the heat. It's been almost 100 degrees here every single day. Therefore, the fishing's been a little tough. The fish have been a lot slower. So we're gonna be talking about a few different baits and techniques today to help you guys catch a lot more fish in ponds. This video is focused towards bank fishing and pond fishing, but a lot of the stuff that we're gonna talk about today can pretty much be used anywhere, whether you're fishing lakes, rivers, ponds, smaller lakes, it can be used anywhere, basic bass fishing. So we're gonna hop right into this one. This one's gonna be in-depth, really cool, and you guys are gonna go out there and catch a lot more fish. So let's hop right into it. So the main bait that we're gonna be talking about today is the Drop Shot. I've made plenty of videos on it before. There's a lot on my channel, but today we're gonna be coming at it with a different approach, especially when you go out on the water and figuring out where those fish are positioned. We're gonna be talking about that today. But if you guys haven't thrown a Drop Shot, I'm gonna kind of run you guys through how to rig it, on what I use, when I would use it, and pretty much a rod and reel setup and everything I'm using. So to start that off, the rod that I have this on is actually a Moc Smash by Luz Awesome Combo. It's great for the price range. Bradley's actually behind the camera. He already knows this combo right here is dirty. It's one of my favorite combos ever. I've caught so many fish on it. So let's go ahead and hop into this and go through the rigging process of a Drop Shot. I actually have Bradley's tackle box right here. And this is his little tiny Drop Shot box. As you guys can tell when we open it. Got a bunch of weights right there. Sorry about that. All different sizes. What, about this? Fish head and spider. Some random stuff. But as you guys can tell right here, we got some smaller hooks. That's gonna be perfect to nose hook the bait. And then we have some hooks. Do you have any? Right here. Then you got some hooks like this that are gonna be weedless. So depending on where you're fishing, if you're fishing some open water, you can get away with this nose hook. And you can basically, we'll get into the baits later, but what I'm saying by nose hook is you get a bait, puncture the hook through, just like that. Let's nose hook in it. If you're fishing an area with a lot of grass, it's got a lot of cover in there and you're gonna be weaving it through a lot of stuff. I would recommend fishing it weedless. So you just rig it up like any other basic, you know, weedless bait, like a Texas riggy WG, anything like that. You just rig it up. This is not a beautiful job and doing it quick. But just like that, as you guys can tell. So you can pick your options between the hooks. You can either nose hook your bait or rig it weedless, depending on where you're fishing. This is a quarter. This is usually what I use is a quarter ounce about that size right there. He's got some heavier ones. Those are 3-8s. But for fishing ponds, that quarter right there is gonna be perfect. Like this right here, if you're drop shotting, like down on fish and you're fishing around 70, 80 foot of water, even 50 foot, that'd be killer. With ponds, that quarter right there is gonna be perfect. And then if you guys are fishing boulders, if you're fishing rocks, I like the round drop yet. Oh, you like the round drop? I like the round drop for that. This is a little better for, like if I'm vertically dropping on fish, this is good for like brush piles and stuff, like on the near, because that's gonna go through it a lot easier. If you get that little round one, it's a lot better for rock. So anyways, we got our stuff. Today we're actually gonna be nose hooking the bait. You know, we're fishing a pond, there's not too much cover in there. There's a little bit of slop, but this bait's gonna be hovering off the bottom. So this is the hook that I'm going with. Right there. It's a juicy looking hook. One fourth ounce weight, quarter ounce. That's all you need. And then some worms, but we'll talk about that in a moment. Let's talk about the rigging process on how you're gonna rig this up. Like I said, I got this on the Mock Smash, already have a drop shot rigged up. We're gonna go ahead and cut this off and show you guys how we tie it up. All right, so we're gonna cut our line right here. This is 10 pound four carbon. By the way, when I'm fishing ponds, I get away with 10. So I'm fishing lakes like Lake Lanier, very clear. Usually eight pound test is, I got six on one. Yeah, you have six. I mean, go really light on a drop shot, especially on the spinning combos as long as you have your drag set correctly. But let's go ahead and get this started. So we got our line right here. This is very important. This is something that you guys are gonna need to pay attention to. Can they see this well? Yeah. It's a little good. All right, you got your hook, you got your line. And go through the eye of the hook. Okay. Just like this. The trick with this is you wanna leave a long tag in. To leave a long tag in, I'm gonna pull a good bit of line out. I'm gonna shift my hook all the way up my line. Look how much line I have right here. It's about two foot of line. You can always shorten your line, but you can't add line. So I always do a little extra. I'm gonna tie a basic uni knot. I'm gonna wrap it around three of my fingers, just like that. I'm gonna open the loop up. And then from there on out, I'm gonna put my line through there. Pull it through. Pull it through. Pull it through. Boom, five times. If you guys wanna see the full video on that, I have it on my channel. Type in, kick in their Bass TV fishing knot. We are going to wet our line, cinch it tight. Boom, all right. Now this is the most important part. Wind drop shot fishing. Me and Bradley have talked about it a ton of times with each other. All right, we have our tag in. As you guys can tell, it's a lot longer than I would like it. So we got our hook. As you guys can tell, we got our tag in. It's about two foot. We're gonna shorten it in a moment. But this is the most important part. When I pull my line, you see how that hook's positioned? It's no good. It's hooked sideways. Your goal on a drop shot is to have this hook shifted up. Because you're not over here jacking fish on a drop shot. You can just lift up and reel into them. But with that hook sideways, what's that gonna do? It's gonna miss the fish. It's gonna miss the fish. So this is what you do. The most important part when drop shot fishing. You're gonna take your tag in and you're gonna go back down. Make sure the point of your hook's facing up. You're gonna go back through the eyelid, okay? You're gonna pull all that tag in line back through the eyelid. Now watch what this is gonna do. This is awesome. So you're bait sideways. Now watch when I pull it. Beautiful. Perfect. Look at that. That is literally as good as it gets right there. You can't get that hook any straighter. So now as you guys can tell, that hook is positioned straight up. When a fish comes and eats that. You pull up, you got them in your mouth. That is the most important part. If you can take anything out of this video, is putting that tag in back through the eyelid. Because if you don't do that, you're gonna miss a lot of fish. You will catch 99%. So when fishing ponds, like I said, that's what this is based around. I like to have a shorter leader. Bradley might be a little different. I already see him grinning behind, but like I said, there's no rules to fishing. Bradley knows this like my big key saying. Bradley's just a little bit longer. Do you have one on? No. But what I'm gonna do is I say we're gonna have a foot leader, okay? So I'm gonna put my thumb right there, about a foot leader, and I cut that off. Cut the tag in, boom. If you're fishing extra clear water, if you're fishing for them smallmouth, fishing like Lakeland, it's super clear water. I suggest having a little longer leader. But depending on the day and depending on how the fish are positioned on the bottom, you're really gonna have to adjust with that. There's no rules to that. It's all gonna depend how the fish are that day and what fish are you fishing. You're gonna show them how to slide the cylinder? Yep, so all you gotta do right here, I do it basic. Some people have certain knots for it, but take my tag in, go through right here. What you gotta do is you pull the line and it locks it in, but that's not about it. What you wanna do is I do two little tiny overhand loop knots, very basic, just to make sure that that weight's secured. The good thing about this, I like to do two overhand knots, nothing too tight because the awesome thing about this, if you're fishing like trees and boulders, sometimes your weight will get stuck and you end up just breaking off your weight instead of your whole rig. So I don't like it too tight, but I do like to get it on there pretty good. Just like that, you got the weight, you got your drop shot hook, foot leader, your weight. It's perfect right there. Now me and Bradley is gonna tell, walking back into the forest, we're gonna come down here and show you guys what we do to catch these fish on the drop shot. I'm so excited to show you guys this video because like I said, I know it's tough. I understand sometimes when you go outside and sometimes you just feel like you don't even wanna fish anymore because you might not be able to get the fish to bite and you're sitting out there in the heat, you're sitting out there in the sun and I understand that. Like I understand that that can be stressful. It's kinda aggravating at times and if you guys do what we're talking about in this video, I promise you, you're gonna go out there and catch fish and that's really why we wanted to post this one is to get more of you guys out there catching those fish and this rig right here and the way that we're gonna show you to fish it, you're gonna go wack. All right, so we just made it back to this pond, little small pond. Like I said, this is gonna work anywhere guys. Like today we're at just a little tiny smaller area. I've never been here before, this is with Bradley. Now I'm gonna talk about what color baits that we're gonna use. So the first step is actually to walk over by the pond. Come over with me, this is how I determine what color you throw. It's tannic water. So with this tannic water, if you guys don't know anything about tannic water, it's almost like it's coffee, like light coffee water. It's a little bit clear, but it's like a brownish tone to it. That's tannic water. If you guys are fishing like very muddy water, very dirty, just dark, nasty chocolate milk, I would stick to your black and blues. I would stick to your Junebugs. I would stick to your black and reds. And that is one of the colors that we have today. So dirty water, black and blue Junebug, black and reds, any of your darker colors is gonna be perfect. If you're fishing clean water, and maybe even moderate water, maybe it's not super clean, but it still has a good bit of visibility. Like even this pond right here, knowing that it's tannic water, yes it's brown, yes it's a little darker, you're still gonna get away with this natural colors. So in clear water, cleaner water, visibility. What was that? That's what I'm talking about. That was weird. Is that a fish? Hot water blow up. Okay. But in the clean water, you want your green pumpkins, your watermelon reds, your green pumpkin greens, any of your natural colors are gonna work. That is all good for clean water. So just a note when you're fishing, muddy water, dirty water, black and blue darker colors, clear water, lighter colors. All right, knowing that this place is the tannic water, it's not super dirty, it's not super clear. I think we can get away with either one of these colors. We have a black and red today. Basic little trick worm. I mean, this is as basic as it comes. And then the other one that we have is the green pumpkin. Honestly, I think you have the green pumpkin on. I'm gonna put it on the black and red, just to kind of switch it up. I think we can get away with both of them in here. So now let's talk about how we're rigging this bait up. I rig it very basic. So you got your hook right here. This is all I do. Get the head of your worm, okay. You got the nose of your bait. All you do is I'm gonna hook it about half an inch down the worm, just like that. That's all I do, very basic. So when that fish bites it, all you have to do is just lift up and reel and it's gonna penetrate that hook right in the top of the fish's mouth. That's the way that I like to rig it. Bradley actually has his on differently and I'll let him talk about that real quick. So I rig mine a lot different than Noah's. I actually rig mine through the bait instead of nose hooking it because I feel like the bait stays on better because I get a lot of short strikes usually. And same thing, you just pull up and you get them. So that, like I said, that's very basic. You can nose hook it how I do it or you can rig it weedless if you're fishing a bunch of places with a ton of grass. So pretty basic there. But we're gonna go ahead and start fishing out here. I'm gonna talk about the areas that you need to be fishing to with this bait, especially this time of year, super hot. You know, these fish are gonna be tucked away in certain holes, certain little drop offs on certain lay downs, but that's very important. So we'll go over that top. All right, so we came out through this pond. Now there's a couple of things in my mind. One, most of the ponds that you fish are gonna be largemouth bass. One thing I learned about largemouth is that the temperature doesn't affect them as much as it would a smallmouth or a spotted bass. Therefore, the fish can be shallow anytime of year. Largemouth love being shallow. That's just how they are. One thing I would look for in the summertime is if there's any drop offs on a pond, any holes, any little ditches, this fish are gonna get in those little crevices this time of year, especially in the heat of the summer. Another thing I look for when I'm coming to ponds, especially for largemouth, if I look along the bank, there's a lot of vegetation, a lot of grass. What those fish would do in the heat of the day when the sun's beaten down right now is they'll go tuck up under that grass and they'll hide up in that vegetation. That's another good little sign. Another thing that largemouth love, absolutely love is wood. Largemouth love lay-downs. They love trees. They love brush piles. So, any lay-downs and trees, you can pitch this around the edge as well and catch a ton of fish. But those are the things that you're gonna be targeting this time of year with the heat. You're gonna be targeting those deep holes. You're gonna be targeting those drop-offs. You're gonna target the vegetation along the bank. And you're also gonna target the lay-downs on the cover that are falling into the water along the bank. Even brush piles out deeper. But in the ponds, mostly vegetation cover drop-offs. Very basic. And you guys are probably wondering, Noah, how do you find the drop-offs? I'll just talk about it right now. You know, you throw your bait out there and say over here it's a shallow flat. You know, it's two foot of water. I threw my bait, I just clicked my bell. It's not sinking at all. Then I'll throw out in the middle and then all of a sudden my bait starts to sink and my line's coming out and I actually count my weight down. This is a quarter-ounce weight and I'm gonna pretty much calculate the fall for the weight that I'm using. And that's how I'll determine how deep it is in the pond. So let's go ahead and start fishing. We're gonna cast around so we can catch a few out today out of this whole pond. We're gonna pitch around the edge of the grass. We're also gonna throw out in the middle on some of these little deep holes so we can snag a fish or two in that. And also see if there's some cover in this pond. I don't really see much yet, but there might be a few lay-downs around this pond that the fish are gonna hang on. So, me and Bradley are gonna get started, catch a few fish, let's make it happen. So how and what you're doing? So right now, fishing on the edge of some cover, as you guys can tell right there's a good bit of lay-downs in the water. There's also some vegetation, some grass along the shore. And I kind of wanted to talk about how we're working this thing too, because that's very important. I don't care what rig it is. The one I'm doing is I'm casting it out. As you guys can tell, on the edge of those lay-downs, on the edge of that cover. Letting the bait hit the bottom, that's very important on a drop shot, just like any other bottom bait. I'm reeling up the slack of my line and I'm barely hopping this thing. That's how I'm working it right now. Watch how my rod's barely moving. And the glorious thing about a drop shot is that when that weight's on the bottom and you're barely moving your line, like you have no slack in your line, you're tightening up your line, you're barely moving it. That weight on the bottom of that's gonna allow is that bait to almost stay in the same position. It's gonna hold it to the bottom, it's just gonna barely wiggle the worm. That's the good thing about a drop shot and that's what I was saying, like with the heat, being very slow, this is one of the most finesse rigs you can possibly throw. And a bunch of fish eat it. So that's one of the ways I really like to work it. Another way is I'll actually throw it out. Did you see that? Yeah. Watch this, watch this. There's a fish right here. You just followed me in. No, that is awesome right there. That was about a, I won't even say that's a quarter pounder. I think it's tiny, but it caught a fish. He actually followed me in from that cover out there. Might've been working it a little too fast. That kind of goes into our next thing. That's not what you want to catch for that as a fish. So pretty much what I'm talking about when working it this other way, as you guys can tell, the fish kind of mess up the worm a little bit, but all you got to do is slide that thing right back on. Boom, just like that, you're good to go. All right, so the second way that I love to work it, I'll throw it out there. This is when the fish are a little bit more finicky. Now I'll throw it out there on cover, throw it on those drop-offs. I'll let the bait hit the bottom and I would just leave it there. And the good thing about a drop shot, so that weights on the bottom, when you have slack in your line, that worm's going to float her down to the bottom. All you have to do is lift up and tighten the slack in your line and the bait's going to go right back to the position right here. This is a good example. So, you know, I have slack line, that bait floats to the bottom next to the weight. I pull up the slack, bait shoots up. It's about a foot above the bottom. Then I'll let it drop, float her back down, and I pull back up. That's a great way of catching those fish, especially when they're a lot more finicky and a lot more slower. That's probably a way that a lot of you guys are going to catch them on. Working that bait really slow, but there's a couple of ways I really like to work a drop shot. If you're on boats, like Lake Lanier, vertically dropping on fish, you know, there's a bunch of different ways to work a drop shot, but like I said, this is more for pond videos and to get you guys to throw in a drop shot on the pond. There's one more thing I wanted to talk about. If you guys are fishing some ponds that are very grassy, I'm talking just way too grassy. This is what I would do. Put the drop shot aside. Get yourself a Sanko. This is actually a clout by six cents. If you want to get a discount, I'll pop it up on the screen. But this right here, you put it on a standard EWG hook, just like a three-out, maybe a four-out you can get away with as well. You throw that thing weightless. And if it's super grassy where you can't throw anything else, this bait right here is gonna be the bait to go. You could also wacky rig it, catch a lot of fish as well. But if you're fishing a ton of grass, Texas rig this weightless, throw it out there. That's gonna catch a fish. Now, some else I wanted to talk about in this video, just in case you guys are like, no, but there's too much grass. Try that. All right, Bradley, tell me what you're doing. All right, I'm out here flinging a drop shot around and throwing it right against the edge of this grass. And I just had a monster blow up and just reeling it in. It came out and jumped and missed the worm. Whoa, look something just swam off right there. Oh, there's something big swam off there. Maybe you guys can tell it's like a little bit of, a little bit of nasty stuff in the water. What does that tell you that you followed anything? You're working it a little too fast? I ain't gonna work it way too fast. And you slow it down. Did he? It's a pretty good one. Not bad. If you guys are wondering, I'm actually throwing this on the right-hand side. That's why it looks really awkward. Not really. That's a tiny one. They look awkward? No. I threw it on the left-hand side. So when I hooked it, I was just like, what? This is a small fish. Oh my gosh. That is the one thing about drop shots. People say you only catch small fish. I caught my PB on a drop shot. I won two tournaments on the drop shot and had massive fish. Don't ever let that fool you. Yes, that's a small one, but. It catches dongs. It catches bigs, trust me. Especially in the heat of the summer. This is like a go-to. They catch them. You know what I was talking about? Fishing out there on those drop offs, just threw that drop shot right out there. He grabbed it. Not a big one, yeah, he's not big. So small, but he's a fish. He's right out there on the drop off. And the thing about fishing on those deeper spots and on those drop offs is most of the time you can catch more than one fish there. All right guys, we're actually gonna head in right now. I'm gonna roll some drop shot clips. This is actually 6.30 right now and I'm uploading this video tonight. It's probably gonna be one of the quickest edits and uploads ever. So I'm actually gonna show you some other drop shot footage. I know me and Bradley could go out right now to some other places and honestly catch some really big fish. But like I said, on a time crunch today, I'll roll some other drop shot clips. But if you guys enjoyed this video, please hit that like button, hit the subscribe button. Let me know what other tip videos you wanna see in the comment section down below. And I'll catch you guys in the next one. And it's only about five by five. I don't know what it is, but it's, I mean, it's only yay big. And there's fish that are sitting all up on it. So I just casted by it. We should get bit in the matter of probably 10, 15 seconds. There should be one right here. Give me one second. I'm telling you, watch this. This cast should be a fish down there. Cause I know there's, they stack down there. You know, there's so many that sit on that. That's what you gotta find this time of year is there's certain spots that hold a lot of fish. Whether it's those little drop offs or those hard bottom pieces because this fish really patch up this time of year. There he is. That's a good one. That's a good one. That's actually a big one. Yep. No, I get it. I get it. That's four pounder. Oh man. That's a good one. Oh, that's a freaking football. Caught me a four pounder. I can't even grip his head. Oh my God. Come on guys. And they say drop shot only catch a small fish. Dalton. Dalton can speak for you. I'll put the camera on him in a minute. Yeah. One, they say drop shot catch a small fish. Most of the termists I've won have been on a drop shot. And that's almost four pound fish right there. It's probably three and a half to be safe. That is a beautiful bass. Just like what I said, I will not hard bottom. Now, if you guys think it's over, you're crazy. Remember where you caught that fish. Make the same cast on that spot and we're gonna catch another one. But that is a beautiful three and a half pound bass right there. That is a good one. There we go. Almost a four pounder. The pressure is so high today. Dalton? There he is. Next cast, first cast out there. You find this fish stacked up guys. This is how that winter stuff works. This fish are gonna be condensed in some of the best spots, some of the deepest holes, some of those hard bottoms. If you find it, you just keep catching a small one.