Entry 184-5
Denny Brauer On What’s New
Part 5: Flat Ain’t Bad
Editor’s note: Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri, longtime, avid bass angler, has fished professional bass tournaments for over 20 years. This week, Brauer will tell us about the new lures at Strike King, and how he uses them to catch tournament-winning bass.
Question: Denny, what makes the Flat Shad such a good crankbait?
Brauer: This lure is my baby. I love to fish this size crankbait. I can throw it around any type cover, it has a really tight wiggle, and the little bill gives off a vibration I really like. Actually, Kevin VanDam got me started fishing this little bait a couple of years ago. He won a Lake Eufaula tournament fishing this bait. It seems like when bass are feeding on shallow shad, this bait will generate strikes when no other crankbait will. I started fishing this bait, and when I understood the value of this type lure, I really started fishing it a lot. When Strike King came out with its version of this lure, I knew we had a killer bait that was really going to be a winner for Strike King. Whenever you find bass feeding on those shallow shad, this bait is hard to beat.
Question: This is a balsa bait. Why are balsa baits in such demand?
Brauer: This lure is from our custom shop, making it run true every cast. It has many of the same qualities of the Pure Poison and a special vibration that many crankbaits don’t have, allowing this lure to separate itself from everybody else’s crankbait. The vibrations and the rhythms that it puts out in the water are a big part of the reasons it catches so many bass. I’m not sure if the vibrations of the Flat Shad aren’t closer to the same vibration a real shad puts out than any other lure in our line, but when bass are shallow, this bait will really catch them and cause them to bite. The Flat Shad will catch more bass than other bass baits in its category when those bass are feeding in the shallows.
In the 2006 BUSCH Bassmasters Shootout, Greg Hackney whipped everybody’s behind in the same creek I was fishing, using this bait. He caught 30 bass on this lure, and I couldn’t get a bite on a wide-wobbling crankbait. Strike King’s Series 1 and Series 4S didn’t produce nearly as many bass that day as the Flat Shad. 
Now, I don’t know why, but some days, some lures work better than others. On that day, Greg Hackney spanked us all with the Flat Shad. The bass wanted that tiny, wobbling, flat crankbait, and Hackney was using it and we weren’t.
Question: What are your three favorite colors of the Flat Shad?
Brauer: I like any of the Flat Shad colors.
Contents:
- Part 1: It’s Not Just the Jig
- Part 2: What Makes the Stealth Shad Special?
- Part 3: The King Shad
- Part 4: The Premier Plus 3/16-oz. Spinnerbait
- Part 5: Flat Ain’t Bad
