Entry 270-5
Fishing the New 2009 Strike King Lures with Denny Brauer
Editor’s Note: Lure manufacturers like Strike King continually bring new lure products, colors and designs to the market every year. Fisheries research indicates that a bass isn’t nearly as likely to strike a lure the third time it sees the lure as the bass is the first time it sees the lure. The more often the bass sees the same lure, the less likely it is to strike that lure. To continue to produce new lures that tantalize the bass’ taste buds, Strike King relies heavily on pro fishermen like Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri. Brauer has fished most of Strike King’s new 2009 products for more than a year on the BASS Elite Series. This week, he’ll tell us which lures he’s fished, and how and why to fish them to catch big bass.
Part 5: My Love-Hate Relationship with the Red Eye Shad
Question: Denny, have you tried the new 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad?
Brauer: This year, I’ll catch numbers of big bass with the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad. I’ve never been a big fan of lipless crankbaits. Vibrating baits aren’t bad, but I’ve always felt that I lose a lot of fish when I fish these baits. They seem too small to appeal to big fish, except during the pre-spawn, when the bass are first moving up from deep water. I have a love-hate relationship with this bait. But when Strike King released the 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad, I began getting a little-more excited about these lipless crankbaits because I could feel the bait as it worked through cover or ran straight.
The 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad has really excited me. 
It’s a bigger bait and I can feel it better, almost the same way I can feel a spinner bait. The 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad moves well through deep cover and puts out a vibration pattern different from any other type of lipless crankbait. Too, it has bigger hooks to keep you from losing bass. The bait runs true and doesn’t turn off to one side or the other. I fished this bait on Lake Amistad in Texas and caught limits of 3-pound bass so fast with it that it was scary. Then, I’ll use the new Football head jig to target really-big bass. Although the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad will catch big bass, I use it to get bigger limits quicker. Then I can fish other lures in thicker cover to improve my stringer weight.
Question: Denny, you mentioned the Football Head jig introduced by Strike King in 2007. Now, you’ve had another year on the tournament trail to fish it. 
What’s your opinion of it now?
Brauer: To me, the football head jig is the jig version of the Carolina rig because you can fish it really deep. It gets down quickly, and you can feel it even in really-deep water. I can get more casts when I’m fishing the Football Head jig than when I’m fishing a slow-sinking bait. The Football Head jig has made me a better deep-water fisherman. I prefer the 3/4-ounce Football Head jig and even the new 1-ounce size. At many tournaments this year, I’ve caught all my fish on the Football Head jig.
Question: Denny, this year, Strike King released the 1-ounce Football Jig, which is a really-big jig. Why do fishermen need such a large jig?
Brauer: Until the past couple of years, you rarely read anything about bass being caught in water deeper than 20 feet. 
Now, we’re fishing many deep, clear-water reservoirs during the middle of the summer and catching bass in 45 to 50 feet of water. So, we need a bait that will get down in deep water that you can feel as it walks across the bottom. The 1-ounce Football Head jig meets this need. Even if you’re fishing in 15 to 20 feet of rough water with high winds, you’ll be able to feel the 1-ounce jig more than a smaller jig.
Too, the 1-ounce jig is productive when the water’s warm, and you want a bait that will fall so fast the bass can’t see it. When that 1-ounce Football Head jig falls past the bass’s nose, they’ll often suck it in instinctively before they even realize they’ve taken the bait. This year, Strike Kinghas yet again given us another tool for more options to catch more and bigger bass.
