Entry 188-3

How I’ll Fish the 2007 Classic with Denny Brauer

Part 3: Bring Out the Suntan Lotion, T-Shirts and Shorts, Because Here Comes Summer

Question: You may arrive at the Classic, Denny, and the Birmingham area’s coming out of a deep freeze. A warm front can come up from the Gulf of Mexico and bring 50-, 60- or even 70-degree weather during the daytime with 40-degree-or-warmer nights. If that happens, how will you fish?

Brauer: The first thing I’ll do is take off one layer of clothes and hopefully thaw out and quit shaking. But I don’t really know if that warm weather on the tail end of extremely-cold weather will make a significant change in the water temperature. You’ll have some bass that will move up in the water column that can be caught on a shallow crankbait and a jerkbait like the Wild Shiner. There may even be a shallow jig bite that develops. But I don’t know what type of water temperature we’ll be dealing with when we first reach Lay Lake.

If we get to Lay Lake to fish the Classic, and the water temperatures are in the mid- to low-40s with warm days, the bass-catching patterns won’t change drastically. Really-warm weather sandwiched between very-cold weather won’t make a tremendous difference in where the bass will be holding. Sure, warm weather will be better for the fish and the fishermen than cold weather, but you won’t see a drastic movement of bass from deep water up to shallow water, just because the surface temperature slightly warms up. However, a warm front will give the fishermen better attitudes. Warm weather will certainly be a positive, but will that warm weather be enough to change the wintertime patterns that the bass have already established? I don’t really think so.

I’ve even noticed on the Lake of the Ozarks where I fish at home that when the lake gets those warm fronts that come onto the lake in February, we don’t really see a dramatic change in where we find bass. I think Lay Lake will fish pretty much like our lake here does in the wintertime. I’m not saying that we may not catch bass in shallow water, because we very well may. However, will we catch enough big bass in shallow water to win the Classic? That’s the question that all the competitors, including me will have to answer at this tournament, if we get warm weather during the Classic. I really think that catching enough big bass in shallow water during a warming front in February will be a very-tough way to win the 2007 Classic.

Question: Denny, what will you do if you get to Birmingham to fish the Lay Lake Classic, and the lake has 60-or-70 degree weather on the lake a day or two before you arrive? Then either during practice or during the tournament days, the Good Lord pulls the plug on that warm weather and dumps cold, bad weather on you?

Brauer: I’d really rather have that kind of weather than come in with cold weather and then a warm front hit, because when you’re fishing during a warm front and then a cold front hits, the fish aren’t affected nearly as much as when a region has have a cold front with a warm front coming behind it. If you find bass during a warm front, the fish don’t move that much, but the bite becomes a little harder to get. You have to slow down your fishing more, use a slower presentation and cast at the same target more times. For instance, if you have a stump sitting on the edge of a creek channel, you may cast three or four times to that stump during a warm front to get a bite. However, during a cold front, you may have to cast 10 or 15 times to that same stump to get that same bite. Warm or cold fronts don’t really move the bass great distances from where they’re holding, but they do affect the bite. If a warm front comes in, the bite will be a little-more aggressive than if the area has a cold front. But I don’t believe the bass will move drastically, regardless of what type of front we get during the Classic.

Question: If we have really severe weather with cold temperatures, cold water and/or rain, do you think that the young contestants at the Classic will be affected more by the weather than veteran anglers like you. You know how to slow down and fish slowly in bad weather, even during a big tournament like the Classic, whereas less-experienced anglers may get in the mode of, “I’ve gotta hurry up and catch a bass before weigh-in time.”

Brauer: No, I don’t think so. When a fisherman earns a spot in the Bassmaster Classic, he must be a seasoned angler. The big advantage that the veterans have is we’ll adapt to those conditions much easier than some of the younger fishermen will. But I think all the contestants will be really well-educated on what they need to do to win this Classic, regardless of the weather conditions. Many times the press overplays the advantage that veteran anglers have over young anglers. Just look at the Classic winners in the past. There have been an awful lot of young fishermen who’ve won the Classic. Then forget about the Classic, back up and look at Kevin VanDam. Kevin’s been a great fisherman since he first entered competitive fishing, and he was a tournament winner and a Classic winner at a very young age. So, you can’t always say that under bad weather conditions, older anglers will have an advantage over younger anglers.

Next: What Weather I’ll Pray For

Contents:

• Part 1: What About February Bassing in Bama?
• Part 2: What I’ll do in Bad Weather
• Part 3: Bring Out the Suntan Lotion
• Part 4: What Weather I’ll Pray For
• Part 5: Top Two Lures for the Classic