Entry 138-2

More on Bass Fishing with Chad Brauer

Fishing a Blow-Down

Editor's Note: How would you like to go fishing with one of the Strike King pros and have him coach you on how to fish different types of cover, which lures to use and which presentations to make to catch the most bass? This week as well as last week, we'll put you in the boat with Chad Brauer where he will operate the trolling motor as you stand right beside him. As we approach different types of cover, Brauer will tell you what type of lure to use and how to fish that specific kind of cover each day.

Situation: Yesterday, we fished around a point with the Strike King spinner bait and a Strike King crankbait. When we finished fishing the point, which was at the mouth of a creek, we went inside the creek and found a blown-down tree lying in the water. A portion of the tree is sticking outside the water, but the largest portion of the tree is under the water. How will you fish this blow-down?

Brauer: This type of cover in April is a definite situation for flipping and pitching a Strike King jig with a Denny Brauer chunk. The water's still cold, and the bass aren't going to be super-active and wanting to bite at that time. They still haven't moved up close to shore where they want to spawn, and they'll be holding in that tree, waiting on warmer water. The portion of the tree that's above the water will be attracting, catching, holding and transferring the heat from the sun into the water. Therefore, the water around that tree will be a little warmer than the water in the creek.

I'll start flipping to the outermost branches of the tree on the deepest side of the treetop. When you have a blown-down tree just inside the mouth of a creek during the pre-spawn, and you know that all the bass on the lake want to get to a place so that when the water temperature is right for the spawn, they can move into shallow water and spawn, then you have to assume that there's more than one bass in that blow-down.

Now the most-aggressive bass, which are the ones looking for something to eat at the time you're fishing, will be holding on the outermost branches of the tree. Therefore, if you start at the outermost branches of the tree first, you'll be able to catch those bass quickly. Too, you won't disturb the bass that aren't as hungry and that are holding tighter to and closer to the bigger limbs of the tree and the trunk of the tree.

Next: Even More Ideas on How to Fish a Point

Contents:

• Part 1: More on How to Fish a Point
• Part 2: Fishing a Blow-Down
• Part 3: Even More Ideas on How to Fish a Point
• Part 4: Fishing a Rock Slide
• Part 5: More on How to Fish a Rock Slide