Entry 290-3

Denny Brauer - My Favorite Ways to Fish

Part 3: Learn from Your Successes

Question: Denny, you said flipping a Strike King Pro Model Jig was your number-one and number-two tactics and that fishing the Anaconda worm was your next-most-favorite tactic. If you were king of the world and could control the water, the sun, the moon, the wind and the stars, and you could pick any bait and tackle you wanted to fish other than flipping a bait, a jig or the Anaconda, how would you fish all day, every day?

Brauer: For fun exciting fishing, you just can’t beat a top-water lure. There’s nothing more exciting in the sport of bass fishing than watching a bass blow-up on the surface. For that reason, I like to fish the Spit-N-King over the top of grass during the post spawn. I also fish it around the ends of docks in the spring, the summer and the early fall. Not only am I going to get a lot of bites when I fish the Spit-N-King, I still believe I have the opportunity to catch big, good-quality bass. I’m totally convinced the Spit-N-King is the number-one chugger-type bait on the market today and is more productive than any chugger-popper-type lure that’s ever been invented.

Question: How do you fish the Spit-N-King?

Brauer: I experiment a lot with it and try to fish it a lot of different ways. Once the water hits the lure, I’ll pop it twice, let it sit, pop it twice again and let it sit. Now I don’t want to get into a robot mentality when I’m fishing any bait. Often with the Spit-N-King, an angler will fish it with that same cadence, and after an hour of not catching any bass, he’ll make the decision that the bass don’t want the lure on that day. But I’ve learned that the bass might have eaten the Spit-N-King if the fisherman had popped it really fast for 10 feet, let it sit and then popped it for another 10 feet really fast before he or she stopped it.

Many years ago when I really started fishing buzzbaits intensely, I learned that even though you buy two buzzbaits that are exactly alike – the same company, the same color and the same size – many times one of those two buzzbaits will catch a lot of fish, while the other buzzbait rarely ever catches a fish. So I began to wonder why. As I studied the buzzbaits, I soon figured out that the buzzbait the fish liked the most had a slightly-different squeak than the buzzbait the fish liked the least. Because of that unique squeak when the blades on the buzzbait turned, the bass would eat that buzzbait when they wouldn’t eat the other one. So I learned from that experience that it wasn’t always the lure’s fault that you didn’t catch fish. Many times the way you’re fishing that lure or the unique characteristics of that one lure can turn bass on when another lure just like it will turn bass off.

So, I take the attitude that the Spit-N-King will catch me bass. All I have to do is determine how fast, how often and with what cadence the bass want to see that bait move across the surface of the water to get them to strike it. I say this to suggest that if you’re not getting bites with the Spit-N-King, or any other type of lure for that matter, and you’re consistently using the same type of retrieve or action, begin to experiment by changing the speed of the retrieve, the distance of your retrieve and the force you apply to the line to make the lure pop.Continue to experiment until you figure-out which way the bass want to see the lure on that particular day to eat it.

Every day, different wind, water or fishing conditions can cause a bass to change its mind about the way its wants a lure presented before the fish eats it. However, once you know the type of retrieve you need to use to get a bass to bite on that day, you usually can continue to use that lure the same way and catch more bass.

Question: Denny, how do you decide on the length of time you let the Spit-N-King sit on the water before you decide to chug it again?

Brauer: You have to experiment, but here are some of the guidelines I use:

* The warmer the water is, the faster I move the bait.

* The clearer the water is, the faster I move the bait.

Next, I try and pay attention to every cast I make, such as how fast and how slowly I’m moving the lure, how hard and long I’m popping it, and how long I let the Spit-N-King sit. Most people don’t pay that much attention to their lures, and I can prove it. If you’re fishing with your buddy, and he catches a nice bass, ask him what his lure was doing to cause that bass to bite. He won’t even know anything about how fast the lure was moving, how slowly the lure was moving, how long he waited between the times he popped, or whether the fish were holding on or away the cover. He won’t know whether the bass was caught on the sunny side of the cover or the shady side, the windy side or the calm side, or the speed of the lure he was running. Therefore, he doesn’t know how to duplicate that cast or that action he’s put on the lure. Pay attention to things like this, and the fish you’ve just caught will tell you how to catch his buddies.

Pros do this every time they fish, which is why they can catch more and bigger bass in most tournaments than most local fishermen do. When a pro catches a bass, he asks himself, “What was the lure doing when the bass attacked it? How can I make the next cast just like the cast just like that one?”

To fish the Spit-N-King the most efficiently you can fish it, experiment with the types of retrieves that you use with the lure, the amount of time you let the lure sit before you pop it again, how hard or how softly you pop the lure, where the lure was in relation to the cover when the fish hit it and what you need to do to duplicate that cast. Whether you’re fishing the Spit-N-King or any other lure, learning these lessons will enable you to catch more bass anytime you fish.

Next: Denny Brauer Likes the 4S Crankbait

Contents:

• Part 1: Denny Brauer - The Flipping King
• Part 2: Flipping with a Strike King Jig
• Part 3: Learn from Your Successes
• Part 4: Denny Brauer Likes the 4S Crankbait
• Part 5: Something Different - The Sexy Spoon