Entry 111-3
Chad Brauer On Getting A Berth In The Classic
How To Be Good, When The Fishing's Bad
Editor's Note: All bass fishermen want an overcast day with a cool breeze, relatively-clear water and bass that want to bite. However, as a tournament pro and Classic contender, Chad Brauer doesn't get to pick the days he fishes, and he admits, "I hate fishing in bad weather."
Question: What was the worst part of being a tournament fisherman this past season?
Brauer: Last year we had quite a few cold, rainy, dismal days in which we had to fish. During the first three tournaments, we had terrible weather conditions. The weather was cold, and the rain was so bad that even a frog would crawl in a hole to get out of the weather. However, I guess I felt less miserable than I should have felt, because in all three of those tournaments I was catching quite a few bass. I have learned that if you have the courage and stamina to fish through the bad weather, many times the bass fishing can be excellent when the weather conditions are horrible.
Bass don't mind a rainy day; they are wet already. Rain brings in nutrients and makes bait more available for the bass. So, often when the weather is miserable for us, that same miserable day is a great day for the bass. As I've mentioned earlier, when you're having a bad day of bass fishing, you have the opportunity to learn more than when you're having a good day. When you're having a good day, the bass are just confirming what you already know. When you're having a bad day, you have to go out and learn techniques that you may not have used to catch bass that may not want to bite.
The same is true of weather. When you go out and fish in weather that you prefer not to fish in, you'll learn more about how bass react and what you need to do to catch them in bad weather than you'll learn if you stay at home. One of the biggest reasons that tournament bass fishermen often find and catch more bass than weekend fishermen do is because tournaments usually aren't canceled because of weather. Therefore, a tournament angler has to learn how to fish in a wide variety of weather conditions and builds a larger database of how, where and when bass feed and what lures they will hit.
