Entry 183-3
The Secrets of Mr. Flippin’ and Pitchin’
Part 3: The Wintertime Baits
Editor’s Note: Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri, one of the top professional bass fishermen in the nation, has been professional bass fishing for over 20 years. When we ask Denny, why he’s able to win so much and be so successful, he explains that, "I like to fish to win. I don’t fish for second place, and I don’t fish for the points required to make the Bassmasters Classic. I fish to win every tournament I enter." We’ll find out this week, how and why Brauer fishes to win.
Question: Denny, what other baits will you use in January to catch bass?
Brauer: The only two baits I really fish a lot in January are either the jigging spoon or the jig. Most people think that you have to fish a jig really deep to catch bass in January. However, in most lakes, you don’t have to fish it that deep. On the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, my home lake, I can catch bass in 10- to 20-foot-deep water in the dead of winter. I like to fish deep, rocky banks and steep, chunk-rocked banks with the jig. I usually like to fish the 1/2-ounce Strike King Premier Pro-Model jig in the brown colors. During the winter months, if we’re not getting very much run off in the lake, I like the chameleon crawfish color because I believe it’s the best wintertime jig color you can fish. I like to match this jig with the 3X Strike King trailer.
Question: What type of retrieve do you use when you’re fishing this bait?
Brauer: I’m crawling or dragging the lure on the bottom, using a slow-drag-stop type of retrieve. I’ll be fishing the retrieve on 10- to 12-pound-test line and really watching for a bite.
Question: When do you strike the fish?
Brauer: As soon as I feel it. Remember, fish don’t have hands. They don’t pick up lures in their hands and then put them in their mouths. When you feel the fish, it’s got the lure in its mouth, so whack the fish. You really have to be paying attention to your fishing when you’re using this tactic, but it can really produce some big bass for you in cold weather.
Question: If we take your bait and your jigging spoon away from you, what other lure will you use this month?
Brauer: The type of bass you fish for during the month of January determines the kind of lure you need to use. For instance, if I’m fishing for spotted bass that also like to hang on rocky bluffs, I’ll be burning or slow-rolling a spinner bait. For spotted bass, I like to fish a white spinner bait, and I’m not using a trailer because I’m trying to get the bait in slightly-deeper water than in the spring or the summer. For that reason, I’ll probably use the Strike King spinner bait with the Perfect Skirt, which is just a few more strands of skirt material that sticks out the back of the skirt and functions much like a trailer.
I like the 3/4-ounce Strike King spinner bait when I’m fishing in the wintertime. Remember, besides the type of bass you’re fishing for at this time of year, you have to consider the section of the country where you’re fishing. Since I’m fishing in the Midwest, I’ll be fishing a spinner bait slow and deep for largemouth, but speeding up my retrieve and fishing it a little higher in the water, if I’m fishing for spotted bass. But if you’re fishing in the South, your tactics have to change because the weather and the water aren’t nearly as cold as they are in the Midwest this time of year. 
If there’s vegetation in these southern lakes, and you can find mats of vegetation, then mat-fishing can be extremely-effective.
You have a lot of fronts moving through the South in January, and that’s when I’ll be fishing the Strike King Flip-N-Tube instead of the spinner bait. In the same month, but a different area of the country, I like to fish a 1-1/2-ounce Tru Tungsten weight so that I can use that weight to punch that jig through places most anglers think you can’t get a lure. I’ll be fishing the weight in the tube on 60-pound-test Mustad line. Once my lure punches through the cover, I’ll hop the tube up and down and wait for a big thump on the line. Most of the biggest stringers of bass I’ve caught during January have been caught in this type of cover.
Next: Fishing Tubes
Contents:
- Part 1: Why Flippin’ and Pitchin’
- Part 2: The Jigging Spoon
- Part 3: The Wintertime Baits
- Part 4: Fishing Tubes
- Part 5: Bet on the Diamonds
