Entry 11-3

Fishing with Chad Brauer

Chad's Windy Fishing Tips

Chad Brauer and the Strike King Pro-Model JigEditor's Note: Twenty-nine-year old Chad Brauer, from Osage Beach, Missouri, has fished professionally for six years. He won the 1996 Tennessee Top-100, has had nine top-10 finishes, has competed in the BASS Master's Classic and enjoys fishing with Strike King lures.

Question: How do you navigate on windy and rainy days?

Answer: There are two different ways that I navigate. First, if it's really raining, I wear a helmet. But when the weather becomes too cold and rainy, wearing a helmet becomes difficult because there are problems with fogging. Strike King makes a pair of off-road goggles that I wear with a full-face stocking. Those replace the helmet, absorb the sting of raindrops and eliminate the fogging problem.

Question: If you had only one Strike King bait that you could fish with, what would it be?

Answer: A Pro-Model jig.

Question: Give me some wind, weather and water conditions for when you'll use that jig.

Strike King LuresAnswer: I like to fish a jig, especially if I'm pitching in heavy cover, on a bright, sunny, calm day when the fish tend to hide in the cover and shady areas. The Pro-Model jig is very compact and easy to get into small spaces. If the weather becomes cloudier or windier, the fish will move out of the cover a little bit and will give you a bigger strike zone.In that instance, I fish around the outside cover and probably work the jig somewhat faster.

In sunny and bright weather, I tend to get the jig in the cover where I think the fish are. Then work that jig a little bit more methodically through the cover, as opposed to when it is cloudy or windy or when the fish are a little bit more aggressive, and I concentrate a little bit more on the outside of the cover and work that jig a little bit quicker.