Entry 38-2

Denny Brauer on Fishing for Bass

Brauer on Jigging

Editor's Note: Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri, has had 13 BASS career wins, and has won both the BASS Masters Classic and the FLW Angler-of-the-Year title.

Question: Can you give me another example how you fish baits differently than someone normally does?

Brauer: Well, when I pitch a bait in an area where I’m pretty sure fish are, I don’t move the bait at all. Often that works on the patience of the fish. This technique also gives them a totally different look than what they are accustomed to because in high-pressured areas, where you get a lot of other fishermen fishing through the same cover, everybody’s pitching a lure in there, shaking it twice and bringing it out.

They do what I call “robot fishing.” I try to do something different, such as leaving a bait there for a long time and not moving it. Or, if I've got the bait in the cover, I will sit there and jig it up and down to work on the patience of some of these bigger fish.

I change up the presentation of the bait that way. I don't just retrieve spinner baits. I do different things in the retrieve as far as hesitation, retrieves, speeding it up, slowing it down, jerking it, twitching it, making those blades do erratic type things to trigger strikes, etc.

I am not really into the gimmick type of fishing. I prefer the traditional baits, but I also try to give the fish different looks and various presentations with traditional baits. It’s similar to how I handle crankbaits. I am trying to do a little different retrieve besides just throwing it out there and reeling it into the boat.

Question: Do you fish the crankbait as erratically?

Brauer: These examples are in cold water. I'll do probably a half-dozen stops on each retrieve, which is totally different than what most anglers do. Most anglers just slow their retrieve speed down. I totally stop it, let it back up and start it again. Often I suspend the lure in one place by doing that, which will trigger a lot of strikes especially fish that are just following the baits.

In warmer weather, I try to get twice the retrieve speed out of the bait to trigger the reaction strikes. Water temperature plays a big key in what I do, especially the Strike King 4S. It's absolutely fabulous with that. It is a square-bait and very stable. I fish a lot of shallow water. You can ricochet it through the cover very easy. Plus, it's very buoyant bait so you can do a lot of different things with it. It's definitely the most-versatile bait in my tackle box as far as shallow water fishing.




 

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