Entry 47-1

Chad Brauer on How to Fish with the Best Lures Available

Fishing the Tri-Wing Pro-Buzz

Editor's Note: Thirty-year-old Chad Brauer of Osage Beach, Missouri, doesn't know what life without bass fishing would be like. He grew up in the shadow of his father, professional bass-fisherman Denny Brauer. But Chad has begun to cast his own shadow in the world of bass fishing. He is one of the most-respected young fishermen on the tournament circuit trail and is definitely part of the future of bass fishing.

Brauer: I tend to use buzzbaits quite a bit during the fall. That is the time when the bass move to the backs of the creeks and chase shad. Any top-water bait seems to work well then, but I prefer to utilize buzzbaits for two reasons. First, you can cover plenty of water with them and that seems to be an important key to catching a lot of bass this time of year. The bass seem to be less concentrated in one area during the fall then they are at other times of the year. Two, buzzbaits tend to catch larger fish than other top-water baits do.

I also prefer buzzbaits because they’re what I learned to fish with when I was young. A buzzbait is a very easy lure to use. You just cast it out and reel it back. It's easy to detect strikes because the lure is right on top of the water. The buzzbait is my eight-year-old son's favorite lure. Youngsters enjoy learning how to fish using something like a top-water lure, where they can see the fish strike, and they know when they have a bass on the line. The buzzbait is my confidence bait because I had a lot of luck on that bait when I guided in college and in high school. The buzzbait is easy for clients to use because they can see their strikes, but the buzzbait doesn’t take a lot of skill to use.

As far as working the bait, you only have to vary your retrieve speed. When you get near cover, stop the bait and let it fall because there may be a fish following closely behind it. Stopping will cause the fish to grab it. Another way to vary your retrieve is to jerk your rod tip to make the bait splash. I do a little bit of tuning on the buzzbait to try and make it run as straight as possible. I tune them by bending a little bit of the wire to one side and using needle-nose pliers to bend the part behind the blade that tends to scrape the blade a little, making more of a squeaky sound. Rub all the paint off because metal on metal makes more of a squeaky sound than paint. Anytime you throw any buzzbait, it's a good idea to put on a trailer, because bass will often short strike it. The fish will strike instinctively and often miss the lure. So, you want to use a trailer hook to have a better chance of hooking the bass.

 

Next: Fishing the Midnight Premier Pro Model

Contents:

• Part 1: Fishing the Tri-Wing Pro-Buzz
• Part 2: Fishing the Midnight Premier Pro Model
• Part 3: Fishing With the Strike King Tube Rattle
• Part 4: Fishing the In-Spin ELITE
• Part 5: Why Wear Sunglasses While Fishing