Entry 156-1

Chad Brauer and How to Catch Bass at the End of December

Water Temperature Helps Your Jerkbait

Editor’s Note: Chad Brauer of Osage Beach, Missouri one of the hottest young fishermen on the bass-fishing circuit, has been fishing almost since he’s been walking and has been taught fishing by his father, Denny Brauer. Although Chad has had the good fortune of being under the tutelage of the one of the greatest bass fishermen in our day, he has developed his own style and techniques to compete against some of the other best bass anglers in the world. This week let’s learn how Brauer catches bass at the end of December.

Question: Chad, how do you catch bass now at the end of December?

Brauer: Fishing at the end of December is dependent on where you’re fishing geographically. If I’m fishing in the Deep South like southern Texas, Louisiana Mississippi, Alabama or Florida, I fish late-fall bass patterns, because the time hasn’t arrived to fish the deep-winter patterns yet. Since the bass are still barely active in chasing baitfish, I fish small crankbaits and small spinner baits in the backs of creeks. If I’m fishing further north, for instance on my home lake, the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, by the middle of December, we’ve usually had some snow and several big cold fronts. The water temperature may be down in the 50s or even the 40s; I fish the Denny Brauer jig or the Wild Shiner as my lures of choice. I concentrate my fishing on areas that have deep water nearby.

Question: When you fish the Wild Shiner jerkbait at this time of the year, how and where are you fishing it?

Brauer: Primarily, I fish the Wild Shiner when I find water temperatures 48 degrees or lower. I fish in water where I believe that bass will be suspending. For instance, I may be fishing water that’s 40-feet deep, but I’ll fish the Wild Shiner at 5-feet deep. Floating docks and standing timber are good places to target suspended bass using the Wild Shiner during December. The bass will suspend in mid-water around schools of bait at this time of year. I jerk the Wild Shiner down to its maximum depth, about 5 feet, and then I work it really slowly. I let the Wild Shiner sit dead in the water for 30 seconds, before I move it. The suspended bass see the Wild Shiner sitting still and come up to eat it.

One of the big problems that most people have with fishing a jerkbait is that they want to fish it too fast. Most fishermen like to chunk and wind, but when you’re jerkbait fishing during December, you have to chunk, wind the bait down, wait, wait, wait, wait and wait some more. Then, move the bait only slightly and wait, wait, wait and wait some more. The bass will tell you how long to let the jerkbait sit before you move it again. Let’s say you get the Wild Shiner down to 5 feet, the bait’s sitting for 7 seconds, and a bass takes it. Now you know that you only have to wait 7 seconds after you get the bait down to the right depth before you get the bite. But, if you’re not getting any bites, wait a full 30 seconds by the watch before you move the jerkbait. Using this system, you can accurately tell about how long you should wait on a strike when you’re fishing the Wild Shiner.

Generally, and we all know there really are no general rules in bass fishing, the colder the water, the longer you’ll have to wait before you move the bait. When the water temperature gets down to about 42 degrees, you’re going to have to let your bait sit about 30 seconds before there will be a strike. This bass fishing is really slow, and many fishermen don’t have the patience to wait that long on a strike. This reason is why many fishermen are unsuccessful when they fish jerkbaits. Jerkbait fishing, as with most wintertime fishing, requires more patience, less action and slower-moving baits because the bass’ biting metabolism has slowed down.

Usually a wintertime bass won’t feed as fast or as aggressively as he will in warmer water. By the same token, if the fishing water temperatures are around 48 degrees instead of 42 degrees, you may only have to let the Wild Shiner sit for 7 to 10 seconds before you get a strike. Many times, if I’m fishing 48-degree water, I let the Wild Shiner sit for seven to ten seconds, and then barely start turning the handle on my reel to make the Wild Shiner wobble really slowly. I may only move the bait 6 inches, instead of jerking it. Since bass are feeding on big dying gizzard shad at this time of year, oftentimes, I’ve found that when I slow swim that jerkbait instead of jerking it, I can better imitate a dying shad. After the bait stops for 7 to 10 seconds and then begins to slowly wobble away like a sick shad, the bass will attack.

Question: How did you learn to let the jerkbait sit still for 30 seconds?

Brauer: I listened to other fishermen who had been using this tactic and were catching more and bigger bass than me. This technique long has been used in the Ozarks, where I’m from and still live. People in our part of the country started fishing for bass this way long before the suspending jerkbait was invented. Some of our old timers would take top-water jerkbaits, drill holes in them and add lead to get the baits to suspend.

Finally, manufacturers like Strike King have created jerkbaits that suspend by themselves; therefore, we no longer need to add the lead to the bait. The Wild Shiner will usually suspend by itself. However, under certain water temperatures, the jerkbait may not totally suspend on its own and may tend to sink a little bit. As water temperatures decrease, the water becomes denser, causing the jerkbait to float up a little bit. As water temperatures warm up, your jerkbait may tend to sink a bit more. So, you may want to change your line size to keep it neutral. But as the water temperature gets colder, and you want the jerkbait to really, really be neutral in the water, sometimes you may have to add a little bit of lead to your bait to give it a more natural buoyancy.

Question: Where do you add the lead if you’re fishing a jerkbait in really-cold water?

Brauer: I usually put it between the first and second treble hooks to keep the jerkbait fairly level.

Question: What kind of lead do you use?

Brauer: I prefer the stick-on types of lead that you can buy at most tackle shops. However, if you can’t find the stick-on type, you can use lead wire or lead tape to wrap around the center of the bait.

Question: What’s your favorite color of bait to use at this time of the year?

Brauer: I like to use a white belly with a black back, a chrome with a blue back, and if the water’s a little stained, I use the clown color.

Chad Brauer and How to Catch Bass at the End of December

Water Temperature Helps Your Jerkbait

Next: Jigging for Wintertime Bass

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