The Game Plan with Denny Brauer for His Lake Champlain
Win in Mid-July
Honey Hole on the First Day
Editor’s
Note: Last week, Denny Brauer told us how he planned
to fish the 2006 CITGO Bass Elite Series’ tournament
on Lake Champlain. We talked with Brauer after the first
day of practice, and much like a pool shooter who calls
a shot, Brauer accurately predicted how he would fish,
where he would find the fish, and how he would catch
them to win this $100,000 tournament. Four days after
we talked to Brauer, he executed the plan he’d
laid out for us. Not only did he win the $100,000 first
prize, he also passed the $2 million mark in tournament
winnings, which moved him into first place as the No.
1 bass angler to win the most money on the Bassmaster
circuit. This week, Brauer will take us day-by-day through
the tournament and show us how he executed the plan
he’d laid out for the tournament won one of the
biggest events of his life. We’ll not only see
the strategy of a champion, but we’ll also witness
the mindset of a winner.
Question: Denny, what did you decide to do the first
day of the tournament?
Brauer: I explained yesterday that I felt my best chances
to win were on the northern end of the lake. When the
tournament began, I throttled down and headed north.
This area isn’t as well known for largemouth as
the middle of the southern part of the lake, but there
are pockets of largemouth in this region. If you go
either north or south of the takeout point, you can
find more-stained water than you’ll find in the
middle of the lake.
Question: What did you find in the area that made you
go to this spot the first day of the tournament?
Brauer: I’d fished the same general area many
years ago when the Bassmaster’s Circuit first
came to Lake Champlain. Roland Martin won that event.
For two days during that tournament, I caught big bags
of bass. So, I had plenty of confidence here. This place
is huge with several miles of bank. I felt that if I
went to this location, historically it had big bass.
I’d caught some good bass during practice. I knew
if I could find a good school of bass to fish during
the tournament, the possibility for winning the tournament
could very well be in this region.
Question: What was the key factor that you knew unequivocally
should have been your starting point because you caught
some good bass there during practice?
Brauer: Practice days are what give me the confidence
to go into any region. The success I had in this spot
on those two practice days fired me up to fish there.
I knew where I was going, and how I was going to fish
when I left the takeout point. When I arrived at my
spot, I had to make some adjustments. The wind direction
had changed the water clarity and moved the bass. The
first day I reached my key area, I had a north wind,
but couldn’t get a bite where I’d expected
to catch a good number of bass. I had to re-locate the
bass I’d originally found in practice. I discovered
that they moved about 100 yards from where they’d
been the previous day.
Question: What pattern were you running?
Brauer: Every bass I weighed-in, I caught on a Strike
King Premier Elite jig with a black-and-blue flake skirt
and a matching 3X Chunk Trailer. The only thing I alternated
between was the 1/2- and the 3/4-ounce jig. The first
couple of days of the tournament, when the bass were
on the outer edges of the cover and were easy pickings,
I was fishing the 1/2-ounce jig on 20-pound-test Mustad
Thor line, just like I told you I’d fish last
week. However, as the tournament got tougher in the
last couple of days, I switched to Strike King’s
new 3/4-ounce Premier Pro-Model jig because it would
penetrate cover easier than a lighter jig. I needed
that heavier jig to fish heavier grass. I changed lines
and started using 60-pound-test Mustad braided line.
With this lure and line combination, I could flip further
back and drag the big bass out of the weeds.
Question: Did you flip the whole time, Denny?
Brauer: Yes, 100% of the time, I was flipping. I had
a Strike King Frog tied on one of my rods because I’d
caught bass on that bait before, but I never picked
it up. I decided to fish the tactic I fished best, which
was flipping, throughout the entire tournament.
Question: Tell me what happened the first day.
Brauer: When I reached the place I planned to fish on
the first day, the wind was blowing pretty hard. My
key area was about a 50-yard circle of reeds. When I
couldn’t get a bite in that reed patch on that
first morning, I decided that the bass had moved.
I pulled out of the reeds and started fishing the creek
channel adjacent to the reeds. There was a 6-foot drop
at the bottom of this creek channel. As soon as I started
fishing that creek channel, my partner and I started
whacking bass. Two times in less than an hour, my partner
and I were both reeling in bass at the same time. Once
I got into the fish, I caught a limit in 10 minutes.
I’d already spent 15 minutes when I got to the
reeds but didn’t catch a bass. However, when I
moved to the ledge, found the fish and started catching
them quickly, I had a 15- to 16-pound limit within the
first hour of the tournament. Throughout the rest of
the day, I probably caught 30 bass and upgraded my stringer
to about 19 pounds. I didn’t burn my fish out
in my primary spot. I moved to several other places
that I found. I had enough little areas where I could
move around and catch bass, which would leave my primary
region alone. I didn’t feel like I’d hurt
that spot. When we made the decision to leave, the bass
were still biting.
Question: With a 19-pound stringer on the first day,
what did you place?
Brauer: I’m not sure, but I think I was in either
5th or 6th place.
Question: Were you feeling pretty good about your odds
of winning the tournament after that first day?
Brauer: Absolutely. I knew I could have stayed on my
primary spot, beat up my fish and had a bigger stringer.
I wanted to stay in contention in the first day. My
target weight on that first day was to catch 18 pounds
and each day thereafter. I decided that once I caught
18 pounds, or, if the last bass I caught put me over
18 pounds, I’d leave the area and fish my secondary
spot. Once I got to those 18 pounds on the first day,
I basically moved out of that place.
Tomorrow: How Brauer Fished
the Second Day of the Tournament
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