Entry 253-2
Denny Brauer Bass Fishing on Clarks Hill Lake
Editor’s Note: Dealing with problems at tournaments, suffering with illnesses and winning even when you lose is a part of the tournament fisherman’s world. In the Bassmaster Elite Series at Clarks Hill Lake, near Augusta, Georgia, on May 1 – May 4, 2008, Denny Brauer had to overcome many obstacles to finish 10th. But in doing, Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri, earned as much money as 3rd place. Now how do you finish 10th in a tournament and win as much as the person who finished 3rd? This week you’ll learn that and plenty more from this Strike King veteran.
Part 2: First Day of the Clarks Hill Lake Tournament
Question: Denny, what was your plan for the first day of the competition?
Brauer: I planned to run to the upper end of the lake and fish the areas where I’d those jig bites during practice. The real key to making this pattern work was to have water being turned loose and current coming through the lake. I found that they weren’t going to run that water that day, so I was a little bit concerned about my ability to catch bass when the water wasn’t moving. When I started fishing, I caught a couple of keepers, and then I caught a 6 pounder. After that I lost a big fish and wasn’t able to put it into the boat. Three or 4 casts later, I caught a 2-1/2-pounder, and by 8:30 am I had a limit.
I feel like when I get a limit that early in the morning during a tournament, I can move around a little bit. I had some good bites in a couple of other places, and then I caught another 6 pounder. After that, I was going down the lake toward the weigh-in site and hit another spot to catch a 5 pounder. So I had three really-big bass. My plan for that first day of competition was to run the water that I’d fished in practice, and make sure I’d fished every spot where I had gotten a bite in practice. By using that tactic, I had a lot of confidence in each site I fished, because I had already caught a fish there, or at least gotten a good bite. 
So reason dictated that there should have been bass there, especially at the places where I had a bite that had gotten away.
Question: What baits were you using, and how were you catching your fish?
Brauer: The water was clear, and the lake was 8-foot low, so there weren’t that many targets to cast to in the water. I committed to fish the same bait I had luck with at Lake Amistad – the Strike King 3/4-ounce Football Head Jig. I like the brown-and-green-pumpkin color with a Rage Tail Craw trailer. I was fishing this on the 15-pound test Seaguar Fluorocarbon line on a bait-casting rod, and I wasn’t doing any flipping or pitching. I was casting the bait out and either dragging it or hopping it across the bottom. I was staying away from the points, the banks, and the rocky ledges, and then casting to them and dragging or hopping the bait along the bottom.
Question: Denny, how were you working the jig?
Brauer: I was letting the jig free fall to the bottom, and about 50% of my bites were coming as the bait would fall. The other fish were taking it within 5 or 10 feet of the place where the bait hit on the bottom. 
I’d cast the bait out, let it fall to the bottom, work it 5 or 10 feet across the bottom, reel it in and then make another cast. Once you develop and determine where the strikes are coming, there’s no point in fishing the dead water. Get your bait back in quickly, and go right back to the productive water with your lure.
Question: Denny, when you’re working the bait on the bottom, what does working the bait mean? How are you moving the bait across the bottom?
Brauer: If I were fishing a really-rough, rocky bottom, I’d make small hops across the bottom. If I had a clean bottom, I’d drag the jig on the bottom. I was moving the bait really slowly through those 5 to 10 feet of bottom where I was getting the most strikes. Once I’d cover that distance, I’d reel the jig in really fast and make another cast.
Question: At the end of the first day, how many pounds of bass did you weigh-in?
Brauer: I had 22-pounds even, which was the biggest limit of fish for the day, and wound up being the biggest limit for the tournament. Those two facts are really important, and I’ll tell you why on the last day.
Question: So at the end of the first day, you were in the lead for the tournament. Is that right?
Brauer: Yes, I was, and I was feeling pretty confident in that I thought my pattern would hold up. 
But I wasn’t sure I could get those big bites that I got on the first day for every day of the tournament. I knew that big bites were hard to come by, and I felt that I was really fortunate to get three big bass on the first day of the tournament.
Question: After the first day was over, what game plan did you make for the second day when you were in your room just before you went to sleep that night?
Brauer: I planned to go back and rerun those same waters with the same bait. I also had a couple of little places I had saved that I thought I might have to fish. I had caught a good number of bass, and some big bass on Strike King’s Series 5 crankbait in the sexy-shad color. So I had that bait as a backup, since I didn’t fish it on the first day of the tournament.
