When fishing deep water like on Lake Erie in buffalo n.y, you can drop shot some big fish out of deep water. First you have to locate these fish .look for deep breaks, or subtle changes in depth. Smallmouths do not hang only on breaks .you can find them on deep water flats also. If you have a under water camera use the camera to see what kind of bottom you are fishing. Like chunk rock, boulders or just a flat sandy bottom. Rigging your drop shot is easy. Start buy tying a palamar knot leaving about a fifteen inches of line to tie on your sinker. You can adjust the length of your sinker depending on how the fish are biting. After you have found the area you want to fish, try vertical jigging .with an upsweeping motion lift your bait of the bottom let it fall back to the bottom, when back on the bottom just shake your bait. This will trigger a strike. Look for suspended fish .look at the depth the fish are at and just count down to the depth you are marking them. Also try casting your drop shot rig and slowly bring it back to the boat. If you are fishing current try dragging your bait and letting the current work for you. Some good baits to try are, culprits great lakes goby .goby,s are 75% of the smallmouth bass diet. Good colors are green olive, natural, leapord frog. Berkley also makes a great goby bait ,try a gulp sinking minnow that works very well .gulp leaches are a good bait when the water is about 69 degrees or higher. Try this method of fishing you will be glad you did.
Captain--Tim Braun
Braunsoutdoors.com