Entry 98-2

Denny Brauer And His Jigs

Overlooked Places

Editor's Note: Denny Brauer is a legend in bass-fishing circles and has won so many fishing titles that people are in awe of him and his fishing ability. If you had to pick one bait that defined Denny Brauer, that lure would be the Denny Brauer Strike King Pro Model Jig that he helped to develop. When times are tough, Brauer relies heavily on the jig to catch bass and win tournaments. But what makes Brauer so deadly as a jig fisherman, and what can he teach us so that we can learn to fish the jig better? We'll try to answer these questions this week.

Question: What types of places do you like to fish a jig that maybe most other fishermen won't fish the jig?

Brauer: Well, I don't know where everyone is fishing the jig (grin), but I believe the jig is the most-versatile bait in the fisherman's tackle box. It can be fished very, very shallow, or it can be fished on the bottom of any lake or river. A top-water bait won't go all the way to the bottom of the deepest lake, and neither will a crankbait. But I believe that one of the reasons I catch bass with the jig is because I put the jig in places most bass fishermen won't put the jig because they're afraid of getting hung-up. I fish the jig in some really-nasty places. I'll fish it in the middle of a bush, way back under a boat dock, right in the middle of the biggest, nastiest logjam I can find, and right through the middle of thick grass. I think over the years, I've learned how to finesse the jig through really-thick, nasty cover without getting hung-up. I think one of the reasons that many bass fishermen get their jigs hung when they fish in these nasty places is that they try to force their jigs to come through some cover that it just won't go through.

Question: Denny, what do you mean when you say that you finesse the jig through those really-nasty spots?

Brauer: When a jig is getting snug up against a limb, a log or grass, instead of trying to pull that jig through that cover, I let the jig fall back. Then the jig will come over the log or the limb at a different angle. I also use the
bow-and-arrow technique to snap the line and pop the jig off the cover, if it gets hung, and then allow the jig to fall back and try to come through that same piece of cover at a different angle. I'll also swim the jig and drop it in holes, instead of just trying to drag the jig through the cover. I'll almost yo-yo the jig through really-thick brush, letting it swim almost on top as it comes over shallow limbs and then drop through the holes, fall to the bottom, bring the jig back to the surface, swim it over the top of the cover and let it fall through the next hole.

Question: Why are you fishing a jig on a clean bank that looks as if there's no cover on it?

Brauer: Although I prefer to target-fish with the jig, oftentimes you'll find bass holding on clean banks where most fishermen will choose to throw a crankbait, a spinner bait or a worm. However, instead, I'll throw the jig, because I believe the bass haven't seen the jig on that type bank and therefore may be more eager to attack it. Many times in stained water you'll locate bass on gravel banks or chunk rock banks that are basically clean with no cover on them. But crawfish live on these types of banks, and oftentimes the jig can look just like a crawfish. Therefore the jig is appropriate to fish on this kinds of banks.

Question: This past year you won the BASS Lake Eufaula Tournament fishing the Strike King Denny Brauer Pro Model Jig around isolated cover. Now most bass fishermen would have either fished a spinner bait or a crankbait past that cover. Why did you choose the jig to fish that isolated cover?

Brauer: The main reason I fished the jig was because the bass were biting it (grin). Seriously, the bass weren't chasing bait. The bites I was getting were reaction strikes. The bass were attacking the jig on that cover as it dropped right in front of their faces. With a spinner bait or a crankbait, the bass could look at the bait and decide whether or not it wanted to eat the lure. Often a bass might not want to eat those two baits. But when the jig drops right in front of a bass' nose, the fish will attack without thinking. The speed at which the jig falls also has a lot to do with whether or not the bass will bite. In the Eufaula tournament, I learned that the bass didn't want a fast-falling jig. So, I fished a 3/8-ounce jig that fell much slower than a 1/2-ounce jig, and the bass bit it.

Question: Most anglers like to fish a 1/2- or a 3/4-ounce jig instead of a 3/8-ounce. Why did you decide to fish the smaller jig?

Brauer: The 3/8-ounce jig isn't a little jig. It has almost the same profile as a 1/2- or a 3/4-ounce jig. But, because of the lighter head, it falls slower. One of the reasons I went to the lighter jig was I remembered that back in my early days of tournament fishing, I always caught more and bigger bass fishing lighter jigs than the anglers who fished heavier jigs. After a while, I'd forgotten about fishing the light jig. Like everyone else, I selected a heavier jig because I could cover more water and penetrate the cover better with heavy jigs than I could with light jigs.

Heavy jigs are very deadly when the bass want fast-falling baits. However, early in the spring when you're fishing for pre-spawn bass like I was at Eufaula, I'd learned that the bass tend to prefer the slower-falling jigs. Once I relearned that fact, I adjusted the size of my jig from a fast-falling jig to a slow-falling jig and started catching more bass. I won the tournament. That's the reason that fishermen need to understand that a jig isn't just a jig. There are different sizes and various colors of jigs that are appropriate for specific techniques and tactics for catching bass. If an angler spends enough time to learn what size jig and what color jig the bass prefer on the day he's fishing, often having a wide selection of jigs can be the difference between catching or not catching bass.
 

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