Drop Shot from the Bank | How to

Hey, guys, Cliff Perch here with bassresource.com. Today we're talking about bank fishing with a drop shot. So one of the things I noticed a lot of the folks do on the bank, they throw way out there. And then if you look at a guy bass fishing down in a boat, he's throwing at the bank. So you're missing a lot of targets if you're throwing out there.

Now, if you know where there's deep brush piles or deep dock poles, you can see a couple of docks over there with some dock poles, those are good casts out, but don't forget to look at some of the close targets. You got a bass fisherman, he's throwing at the bank. A lot of the time, those fish are shallow on some of that shallow cover. You know, right here, I might...as a bank fisherman, I like to walk along. I might be pitching just ahead of me, just off of this sea wall. You know, that's a good target. Fisher, a lot of times they'll get right in the shade of that sea wall, and they'll get right up against it. So those are good targets.

Another thing I've got, I've got a little grass line out here, and, you know, the shallow edge of it is about 4 or 5 feet out, and the deep edge of it is about 10 or 15 feet out. So fishing the deep edges and the shallow edges of that grass line, you know, and when I get the evidence of a bite, then I know to continue to do it. But those are all targets I can fish from the bank.

Now, if you know that there's a little ledge or if you're familiar with the area that you're bank fishing and casting out is productive, well then do it. You know, and you might be able to drag around and feel some of the rocks and stuff out there, and kind of know what you're fishing. But if I'm drop shop fishing, a lot of times I'm target fishing. So I like to pick the targets. You know, like I said, we can see dock poles, we got a seawall, we can see a rock occasionally through here. We got a shallow weed edge, a deep edge, you know, the grass here. So we've got all kinds of targets.

And again, just randomly casting out there is probably not as productive as throwing at all of these shallow visible targets we've got. And when you get a bite, then you just keep building on that evidence. You wanna keep working those same targets. As far as my technique goes, it's still a same drop shot. I'm still do some of the same things with it. I wanna throw at one of those targets. I wanna just kill that weight there, treat it like an anchor, and let that worm just suspend over the top of the weight.

You know, there's likely to be a bass holding on a dock pole, holding on the pocket or a point in the grass or on that. You know, if you see one big post that's a little bigger than all the others along the seawall, they're likely to pick that one specific spot. If you see an irregularity, there might be a place where the seawall has fallen into the water a little bit, or you might see a deep hole on it. Well, that's another good target. But picking those targets is a really good idea. And with a drop shot, I'm specifically target fishing. So I can throw there, kill it, fish it, you know, wind it in. If I don't get a bite, pick the next target. And this is a good way just to fish down the bank and, you know, just cover some country walking along.

But remember, I've still got the same drop shot worm that I like fishing offshore with, or suspended fish, or all kinds of things that I do from the boat. I really like just a four-inch or the little small finesse worm. This is a Big Bite Baits Cliffhanger. It's a new worm we've been working on specifically for drop shotting. It's a soft, soft, supple finesse-y type style and it's got really heavy scent. The new Scentsation soft plastics from Big Bite gives it that heavy scent for drawing power for fish holding onto the bait a little longer.

And I've got all those nice little natural colors. You wanna experiment with colors from your green pumpkins to your pinks to your black. You know, you might have some leeches along the bank. Black's another good color, one of my favorites, especially going up north. But experiment with those colors. But I really still like that same little subtle straight-tail drop shot worm. It's still gonna be one of my favorite baits for getting bites, and you can catch a big one on it.

So same stuff. It's fairly buoyant. So I'm gonna pitch it out there, make sure that weight's hitting the bottom, and I might just slack off a little bit of it. You know, you want that worm waving just a little bit. And when they take it in, just that little bit of slack in your line allows them to take it in. If your line is really tight all the time, you know, they might bite it and your hookup percentage might be just a little less.

So I'm not talking like a big bow in your line. Today, we've got a little wind out here, so you're gonna have a little bow, but I'm just talking about a short slackline where it gives that bait a little bit of motion where it can kind of...if you dead stick it, it can kind of slow sink a little bit or, you know, just waves a little bit with the shake of a rod. You don't have to impart a ton of action, but it's just a nice subtle technique to keep it in the strike zone and catch those fish.

And they might be pressured fish. If you're fishing somewhere where there's a lot of folks walking the bank, you know, they're throwing a lipless crankbait out there, a topwater or a spinner bait or a, you know, some kind of grub or swim bait, well, this might be a good technique to fish those targets that you see that they see those baits come by them all the time. But this one stays right in the strike zone.

So again, drop shot, it can work out offshore, from a boat, but you can also be using it when you're bank fishing. It's something that really great for fishing those targets that you see. So hopefully that works for you. Again, a year-round technique, drop shotting is just good year-round. Bass, they like cover. They like to ambush. The big ones especially, they're semi-lazy. So when you put something there that's nice and easy, you got a really good chance of them biting it.

So if you're fishing your local lake or your local pond, your town lake walking along your river, you can use those same techniques that you use out in the boat as you walk along the bank. And the drop shot, it's a great way to target those fish that use those targets. So hope you catch them this week and outfish those other guys that you're fishing around.