Have you ever wondered why some people swear by Tungsten weights for bass fishing? How do they compare to the classic lead weights? Travis Manson aka SmallmouthCrush dives deep down the Tungsten rabbit hole and breaks it all down for you. Everything you need to know about Tungsten explained.

Restock your Tungsten supply.

Take your tackle selection to the next level with a MONSTERBASS Regional Pros Series subscription. The only fishing subscription that hand-selects the best baits for where you live and fish. 

Join today and save $10 off your first box. 
Use code SAVE10 at checkout.  JOIN NOW

Video transcript:

Speaker 1:
Yo it's small mouth crush up here on the St. Lawrence river going to be doing a little fishing in a little bit. It's like dead, calm out. Those monster bass will be biting for sure today. Speaking of monster bass, I wanted to talk about their tungsten weights. I actually just got an order in, all sorts of different sizes. Then we got some drop shot weights as well. So I made a video in the past about their actual tungsten weights that they sell. I think it's one of the best prices you can find out there, but in this video, I want to go into more detail on why I use specific size weights when I'm out fishing. So we're going to get into it. That's all coming up.

Speaker 1:
All right, it's just too beautiful of a day to sit here and make a video. I'm going to go fishing, I'm going to head back to the studio and we're going to break it all down. And just like that, I'm back in the studio, ready to talk tungsten weights with you. Of course, monster bass, the terminal tackle, this is the packaging that it comes in. Tungsten weights, the reason why I use them over lead and a lot of you are probably familiar with all the benefits of using tungsten. But for me, it's allowing that bait to look more compact in the water. It's a smaller footprint. I mean, this is the eighth ounce size right there. So that's an eighth ounce worm weight, which a lot of times when I'm using the smaller and we're going to get into it all. But when I'm using a lighter weight, I'm using a real finesse style bait and oftentimes I'll need a quiet presentation, quiet entrance into the water, whether it be working some type of structure wood, rock, docks, whatever the case may be.

Speaker 1:
I find it very beneficial to have just a smaller profile, smaller weight. Now, the other advantage of course, because tungsten is totally different from lead, lead is very soft, where tungsten is a lot harder. You're actually going to get a lot better bottom feel. You're going to know what's going on down in the bottom. And quite often it can be night or day using lead versus Tungsten and when it comes to that. But I'm going to start with the heavier flipping weights and then we're, we're going to work our way back through some of the smaller sizes and the reasons why I use them. So starting with the heavier weight. So the one ounce, the three quarter, so that's a one-ounce tungsten, which is great for punching and flipping. There's a three-quarter. Those are the two sizes that I'll use on heavier bait casting rods. So for instance, I'll have heavy braid, 50 65 pound braided line.

Speaker 1:
So for punching and flipping with these heavier tungsten weights, I like a bigger rod 7, 7, 4, 7 and a half foot, heavy, extra heavy, cause I'm flipping into heavy vegetation, whether it be matted up vegetation, lily pads, a lily pad roots. That's when I'm going to choose these bigger size weights in order to get that bait through. And quite oftentimes, I'm using some type of creature bait. I just grabbed a chigger crawl here, which is probably one of my most favorite baits to punch with in matted up vegetation. And I also don't want to forget. There's another reason why I use a one ounce tungsten weight a lot and I go through a bunch of these doing this, but I feel that it's that important to have and utilize for this technique and that's throwing a Carolina rig. So quite oftentimes I'm fishing deeper 20, 30, 40 feet of water for small mouth using a Carolina rig.

Speaker 1:
And the one ounce tungsten is going to allow me to get down there quickly and feel that bait. We have a lot of current where I fish this. There's a lot of different types of rock, whether it be flat rock, chunk rock, boulders. And this really allows me, sand, gravel, shell beds. So it allows me to detect exactly what my bait is going over underneath the water. And so I find that tungsten's really valuable when it comes to that, now on the downside, because I fish it around a lot of nasty stuff. Monster bass has the best prices out there when it comes to tungsten yet, even so they are somewhat pricey any given day when I'm fishing a Carolina rig in the areas that I normally fish it, I can lose five to six tungstens, especially if it's in a tournament throughout the day, weights.

Speaker 1:
So you're going to go through some in a lot of different cases when you're Carolina rigging and throwing that. Now on the flip side, when you are flipping, pitching, you're rarely going to lose a weight. The only time I really lose a lot of my tungsten is going to be Carolina rigging as well as when I'm throwing, which we'll get to some of the smaller finesse baits and some of the nasty structure and cover that I fish too. So for this step, we're getting into some of the medium range weights. And so here's a flipping weight that I have rigged up. This is on a 50 pound braid. You can see, I use a little bobber stopper. So a lot of times when I'm flipping and pitching, especially in heavier vegetation, I want to have a bobber stopper or have it pegged, so that weight doesn't move.

Speaker 1:
So this specific way is a seven 16th, which is great. It's just right around just under half an ounce. And it's the perfect size weight for flipping and getting it around docks around wood, even some sparse vegetation. If you want to pitch it into some of the pockets, things like that. If you don't have the real thick stuff, you can certainly get away with a size like that. And that goes for even your three-quarter ounce. Sometimes I will put a little bit heavier weight, even though I'm not flipping it into really thick vegetation, but you got to remember if you're throwing a three quarters and you're going to use a bait, say this Berkley chigger craw, a three quarters is going to move that bait quicker to the bottom and it's actually going to give a lot more action to the tail of your soft plastics.

Speaker 1:
So sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes it's not, it really depends on the mood, the lake, the body of water that you're fishing, on how those fish react. Sometimes they'd rather have a half ounce or a three eighth ounce weight and have this bait fall a little bit slower through the water column. But I always like to start out a little bit heavier. So a three quarters even if I'm flipping sparse vegetation and that could mean two feet of water, or that could mean 15 feet of water, it really depends on the situation. There is no perfect weight for each situation that's out there. That's why you have to have a variety of these weights and sizes and then experiment with them. But this here set up is great. Like if I'm going to just head out and explore, look for some of these large mouth hanging out, and some of that cover, I'm just going to use a size four.

Speaker 1:
This is an extra wide gap hook, Texas rig like so, and I'm just going to go flip that to any visual cover, anything that I see on my graphs, anything that looks like it should be holding a fish. That's going to be my setup of choice more oftentimes than not. We could literally talk another hour about flipping hooks and different styles baits and whatnot. The purpose of this video is just to kind of cover all these different size weights that we have here and the uses for them. So here we have a half ounce worm weight. This is another standard size that I always carry with me. So one ounce, a three-quarters and then the half ounce would be would also work for flipping and pitching. But I also will drag a Texas rig worm with that weight quite a bit as well, any time I'm in 10 feet of water, 15 feet of water or more, and I'm around vegetation or wood, and I'm throwing a big Texas rig worm or a creature bait or a lizard.

Speaker 1:
That's going to be the way to choice in that size. And most of those situations. So getting into some of the smaller sizes now, so this one here is a three eighth ounce, which is again, another popular size weight that I always have with me as well as a quarter ounce. So a lot of times with those size weights, I'm actually Texas rigging say a worm or some type of a brush hog/creature bait. And so here's a quarter ounce weight unpegged when they get to these sizes, a lot of times I like to have an unpegged weight. I feel that it gives that bay a little bit more extra movement and I'm not really convinced that you have a better hook up ratio with a pegged or unpegged weight. I think it just allows that bay to act a little bit differently in the water column.

Speaker 1:
So when you make a cast and that weight falls down, hits the bottom, and then that bait kind of glides down until you pick up tension on your rod and work that bait through that cover. And so this is the typical setup here with a quarter ounce tungsten, just a standard, well, this is actually a Berkley power worm, which is one of my favorite worms out there. It's a fish catching machine all over the country. This particular color blue Fleck is deadly when it comes to large mouth at least in a lot of bodies of water that I fish. So moving along to some of the smaller sizes, we have a one eighth here, and I'm going to show you how I rig that.

Speaker 1:
Now from this point forward, these three-sixteenths, one-eights a lot of times I'm using a spinning rod to fish these baits. Now there's nothing wrong with using them on the bait casts or if you have the right setup and you feel like you maintain good feel of your bait and you know what's going on, and if you're more comfortable doing that, feel free. My style and the way I fish, once I get to these smaller sizes, I'm really now finesse fishing. I'm really working hard at getting bites due to pressure, due to their attitude really at this point here, when you need a bite, when fishing is tough, that's when I'm going to go down to these smaller weights, and I'm going to present that bait to these fish. So here's a Texas rig. This is a size one extra wide gap hook, and I use a lot of different plastics, but one of my favorites is just a zoom French fry. This bait has caught so many fish for me. And I don't know if a lot of people are using it because it's not that sexy, it's not that glamorous. It's kind of a, do nothing, little finesse bait that catches fish a lot. And that is a standard setup, eighth ounce.

Speaker 1:
And you can use a size two hook. This is just a one. Again. I like it, that it's streamlined and that it's compact. And I'm going to throw this on a spinning rod. And I'm going to throw this anywhere from two to 10 feet of water. If I can get away with it, heck even 15 feet, if it's calm and you have a good feel, and you're using the spinning rod and eighth ounce weight, it's going to take a little while to get down there, but it might allow you to give the most realistic presentation to those fish, with the plastics that you're using. And so that's why it's important to use these, have a bunch of these smaller sizes and experiment with it. I'm using these eighth ounce, three sixteenths, probably more than any other tungsten weight that I own. And that's because I do fish a lot of highly pressured bodies of water.

Speaker 1:
And I need the finesse fish to catch these bass with these techniques. So monster bass also carries drop shot weights in their tungsten lineup, which is awesome because it's one of my favorite techniques. That's something I use all the time. And I consider it kind of my high confidence technique for both large mouth and small mouth. And so they have a variety of different sizes and different shapes. So let's go through the different shapes and kind of the reason why I would choose one over the other. So there's a slender model and these are both half ounce. And then there's what we call a teardrop weight or bell weight. You could call it. This profile will actually go through vegetation. I feel a little bit better. And so if I'm fishing around vegetation, this is the weight of choice for me, the style.

Speaker 1:
I'll also use it when I'm fishing deep and I'm fishing say 20 to 40 feet of water, and I'm dropping a drop shot straight down. I just feel like this goes straight to the bottom a little bit more quicker than this teardrop sinker, but all a drop shot is, it allows you to present the bait. So we have a hook here and we can tie on a weight. It's really easy with these tungstens, you can just take your line and then pull it tight up against this line keeper on the weight. And there you go. It's perfect. It's not going to fall off too easily, but, and we'll just take this. So I'm actually going to use that French fry here for demonstration, although French fry and a drop shot certainly works, especially for large mouth, but there it is.

Speaker 1:
So I have my weight and I have my bait up top. And so that weight falls, it hits the bottom. And then this bait here, depending if you have a lot of slack line or not a lot, it'll kind of fall down to the bottom. You can bring it back up, shake it a little bit and work that bait through the water column where those fish are hanging out. So the reason why I would use the teardrop, which I do quite a bit is if you're fishing for me, it's more so, so I can have a little bit better feel and a better contact at the bottom. So for instance, if I'm in the springtime and I'm fishing around the spawn, a lot of times bass make beds or have their bed on hard structure. So a little bit harder bottom, if I'm drop shotting in these types of areas.

Speaker 1:
And I can't visually see underwater, let's say it's too dirty. I'm going to throw my drop shot on this teardrop. Cause it has a little bit more surface presence and I feel the bottom just a little bit better. And I'll actually be able to feel when my bait, when my drop shots coming over a little bit harder bottom. And a lot of times I'm thinking in my mind that could be a bed. Let's slow it down. Let's really work that bait effectively through this area. So that's when I would use a teardrop over one of these cylinder type weights. Now there's a lot of different sizes. The main difference for me is rate of fall on my drop shot. So if I'm fishing deep and I want to get that bait down to these fish in 20, 30, 40 feet of water quickly, and a lot of times that's what actually gets your bite is dropping on these fish and getting a reaction by over deep water with a drop shot. So I'm going to go with that half ounce, no less than a half ounce for that technique. So if I'm casting the drop shot or just working a bait out there, and I'm not specifically targeting fish right below my boat.

Speaker 1:
And so I'm just making casts to cover the different structure, a quarter ounce, a three-sixteenths or a tungsten weight like this three-eighth ounce is going to kind of be my go-to in those situations. So if I had to choose between any other applications, so the deep application drops shot in deep, that half ounce is the way to go. I would not go too much lighter unless you have suspended fish that you know, are suspended in the water column. So they might be 20 feet down, over 30 feet of water. I may not want a half ounce weight to go that quick. I may want something like a three-sixteenths. And although it's going to take me a little while for that bait to get down there, it's going to fall slower. And those fish have time to react, to grab that bait as it's going past their face.

Speaker 1:
That's the only time I would switch things up if I'm fishing deep, when I'm up shallower, I would say 15 feet or less. This three sixteenth is probably my size of choice three sixteenths to a quarter somewhere in there and I'll go back and forth a lot of it depends on conditions. If there's a lot of wind, if you can't feel your bait as well with the smaller size, you always just go up one size bigger until you have the perfect feel for what's going on with your bait. And so the three sixteenths here... Besides I'm going to be throwing quite a bit when I'm drop shotting. All right. So here's an eighth ounce drop shot weight. Look how tiny that is. So it doesn't take up a whole lot. It's very compact. It's very small. You know what, another thing nice too, is definitely, these are high quality weights they're built right.

Speaker 1:
What's nice about it, is that all these weights, just like the tungsten weights have the sizes stamped right on them. So you always know what size, lot of times you throw your weights in the box and they get mixed together, and you have no idea if you're throwing a three-sixteenths or a quarter. Sometimes it's hard to tell, especially when you're out there in a hurry, trying to tie a bait on. So the fact that they're labeled, I also like the fact that it's very, well-built this swivels and turns freely on all these drop shot weights, which is important for line twist. They don't get stuck. So the eighth ounce weight on the drop shot super small when I want to get real finessy and real sneaky, and it's calm conditions. And I want to present that bait and have it fall really slow to my fish.

Speaker 1:
I will certainly use an eighth ounce. Now, other times, a lot of my fish will get up on vertical structure. And what I mean by that is just picture like a bridge piling. I might be a fishing near a bridge in 40 feet of water, but I notice that 20 feet down on this bridge piling, and there's a bunch of arcs on my graph. There's some fish right there. A very effective way to catch these fish is to use some type of small finesse plastic on your drop shot hook, and then use an eighth ounce weight and drop it straight on top of those fish that are suspended 20 feet down, over 40, that's going to fall super, super slow, right? And it's going to carry that bait down right in front of those fish. And a lot of times they grab that drop shot on the fall, before it even gets to the bottom as you're dropping it past those fish.

Speaker 1:
So that's just something to keep in mind. So there's always a reason to have some of these smaller drop shot weights as well. So real quick, I also want to just talk to you about rigging up a drop shot weight. You can see how easy it is. You just put that line through the line keeper on that weight and pull up and that weight's not going to go anywhere for the most part. Now, if you're fishing a little bit more areas that are known to snag up a little bit more, I'll often times do a loop, an underhand loop knot as well. Just one, time's fine. You can double it up. Actually, if you really want to, you can do it twice and then you can leave that tag in there. But I like to trim it down. I like things to look as natural as possible, whether or not it matters or not.

Speaker 1:
I don't know, but that's probably going to be a very secure weight there. You shouldn't lose that too often. And keep in mind, these are my own personal experiences. You might have a bunch of different applications and these are just tools. You could be doing things totally different or efficient things, totally different than how I'm comfortable with. And so you would have different size weights that you would gravitate more towards than I would. So it's all about experimentation and figuring out what works best for your style of fishing. All right, we covered a lot here. There's a lot that goes into it. Just to simple tungsten weights. Again, monster bass has great pricing on these tungsten weights. I recommend monster bass for all your tungsten needs. So I do put a lot of information on my YouTube channel, small mouth crush, dealing with stuff like this. We also have a lot of tournament videos. We do a live stream every week as well. So I encourage you. If you haven't checked it out, please do so. And please make sure you head on over to monster bass and grab some of their tungsten weights. It's going to be some of the best prices you're going to find out there. And the fact that there are well built, great quality. These are the weights that I recommend. And as always until next time, we'll see you guys on the water.