Entry 110-1
Guntersville's Big Boost For Chad Brauer
The 2004 Lake Guntersville Tournament
Editor's Note: To make the Bassmasters Classic field is a major accomplishment for any fisherman, and Strike King pro Chad Brauer is excited about his opportunities at the Classic at Lake Wylie. The tournament circuit is grueling. The anglers often fish in bad weather, which means they must read weather and water conditions correctly and pick up on the changes in both, sometimes even on an hourly basis. Some years, because of a quirk of fate, bad luck or just not being able to find fish, some of the best bass fishermen in the nation don't get a Classic berth. This past season has been an amazing year for Brauer, who was in the race for Angler of the Year the first part of the season. Strike King asks Brauer which five events during this past year's tournament circuit does he consider the most important for his making the 2004 Classic.
Brauer: The second practice day at Guntersville was a major stepping stone to my earning a berth at the 2004 Bassmasters Classic. The water temperature was really cold, averaging about 42 to 45 degrees. I was trying to fish some docks with a jig, but I just couldn't get the bass to bite. I decided to try a tactic that I used when at home on the Lake of the Ozarks. I would fish a suspending jerkbait on the same docks where I'd been unsuccessful fishing the Denny Brauer tube jig. I put my jig down and picked up the Strike King Wild Shiner, chrome with a blue back. I immediately started catching bass on the same docks that hadn't produced bass on the jig.
And herein lies the secret that many times fishermen forget. When you believe the fish are holding on a certain type of cover, and the bass aren't biting your bait, don't be afraid to change lures and continue to fish that same cover until you get the bass to bite.
Once I understood that the bass: didn't want a falling bait like the jig when it hit the water and fell to the bottom; wouldn't hit a jig when I hopped it or crawled it across the bottom; would hit a Wild Shiner when I cast it out, reeled it down, let it suspend and then jerked it, I fished that suspend-jerkbait pattern and boat-dock pattern for three days. I did well in the tournament. I caught every bass I weighed in, except one, on the Wild Shiner with this technique. Making the right decision, discovering the right bait and fishing the right type of structure and cover to place well in that tournament gave me a lot of confidence and made me feel that I had a chance to make the Classic, if I continued to perform in the next tournament as well as I did at Guntersville.
Confidence breeds confidence. When you're a tournament fisherman and have a good tournament, you want to try to carry that confidence feeling and that belief in your ability to choose the right lure at the correct time into the next tournament. So going into the next tournament at Table Rock, I felt I had a lot of confidence, a lot of luck going for me, and I felt I should perform well there.
