Entry 274-5

Chad Brauer Fishes the Wake Shad, the Burner and the Bottom Dweller

Part 5: I’m a Lobster Man

Question: Chad, why do we need a crawfish bait as big as the Strike King Lobster?

Brauer: I like that big Lobster because it can be extremely deadly as a backup bait for my jig fishing. If I’m fishing an area with a jig, and I want to go back through that same region because maybe I’ve caught a fish or two there, I can return to that same place fishing the Lobster and catch bass I won’t have caught if I’ve just fished the jig. During the post spawn, often the Lobster will get me more bites than the jig will.

During the summer months, when the bass want more action out of a bait than the jig produces, I’ll fish that Lobster. It has a big, bulky profile that moves a lot of water, and those pincers really kick the water. I usually like to fish the Lobster Texas-rigged. I also like the Lobster because it’s a bigger profile than other soft-plastic, crawfish-imitating baits. Therefore, I expect to catch bigger bass on the Lobster than I do on other crawfish baits. The Lobster is also productive when the bass are keying-in on bigger baits, like during the hot summer months. My favorite colors are green-pumpkin in clear water and black with blue-flake when I’m fishing in more-stained water.

Question: What kinds of places will you be fishing the Lobster?

Brauer: Any place where I’ll normally fish a jig or a tub, I’ll like fishing the Lobster in shallow, heavy cover and brush piles, and I can Texas-rig it with a light bullet weight and swim it over the top of grass or around docks for suspended fish.

Question: On what pound-test line are you fishing it?

Brauer: If I’m flipping or pitching, I’ll be using 20-pound-test fluorocarbon; if I’m fishing in vegetation, I’ll use 50-pound-test braided line; and, if I’m casting it and dragging it along the bottom, I may be fishing 15- to 20-pound-test line.

Question: Chad, since you have the Academy Outdoors TV show that runs for 26 weeks, are you still fishing in bass tournaments?

Brauer: Yes, I fish the Eastern Division of the FLW Series, and I fish the Professional Anglers Association (PFA) events.

Question: Why did you decide to concentrate more of our time on television and less of your time on tournament fishing?

Brauer: The number-one reason is that TV provides a steady paycheck for me and my family every month. I’m hired as the host of the Academy Outdoors show, and the show belongs to Academy, not to me. But still I know for certain that I’ll have a regular income every month. Too, I still get to hunt and fish, which is where my love is, and I still have the opportunity to tournament fish.

Another factor is I have three children at home who will all be going to college in a few years. And a steady paycheck allows me to plan for their needs as well mine, because a tournament paycheck is never guaranteed. As a tournament pro, you never know how much you’ll make week-to-week, month-to-month or year-to-year, until you reach the upper echelons of the sport like Dad (Denny Brauer), Kevin VanDam and Greg Hackney. They have a steady stable of sponsors that allows them to know how much they’ll have coming in every month.

To be a successful pro-bass fisherman, you have to know what your expenses are, what your income will be, and whether you’ll have enough income to at least offset your expenses. Without that, you can’t stay on the tournament trail very long. So I opted for what I thought was best for me and my family, while still allowing me to do what I really enjoy doing – fishing, hunting, tournament bass fishing and hosting a TV show. Life can’t get much better than this.

Contents:

• Part 1: Here Comes the Wake
• Part 2: Why the New Spinner Baits are Better
• Part 3: Bet on the Big Snake
• Part 4: Bet on the Monkey for Flippin’ and Pitchin’
• Part 5: I’m a Lobster Manq