Denny Brauer on How to Choose a Big Worm

Question: Denny, last year Strike King came out with two big worms including the Rage Anaconda, which is a big fat worm with a lot of action. Strike King announced the Anaconda as the big worm to catch big bass. This year, they introduced another big plastic worm, the Rage Thumper Worm. Again, this is a big worm with a lot of action. So, why and how should I pick one of these worms over the other, and why does Strike King need two big worms in its product line?

Brauer: These two worms each give-off a different vibration pattern in the water. For instance, the Rage Anaconda is what I call a slither worm. It offers a big profile in the water, but it more or less slides through the water without giving off a lot of pressure waves. This makes the Rage Anaconda a great clear-water worm and a deadly summertime worm. I live in Missouri, an area of the country that’s ideal for fishing big worms. So, a 10-inch worm, like the Rage Anaconda or the Rage Thumper Worm, really appeals to me and a number of other Midwestern fishermen.

I fish Truman Reservoir, as well as the Lake of the Ozarks, and that’s where the Rage Anaconda really shines. To me, the Thumper Worm is a better dirty-water worm than the Anaconda. If I’m flipping tree tops in stained water, the vibrations produced by the Thumper Worm makes it easier for the bass to find this worm in dirty water than the Anaconda. Also, if you’re fishing a body of water that receives a lot of fishing pressure, any time you can offer the bass a bait they’re not accustomed to seeing or haven’t seen before, you need to do it.

Anytime I can use a worm I think the bass haven’t seen before or that gives off pressure waves the bass haven’t felt before, I’ll use that worm. Because the Thumper Worm is new, the bass-fishing waters in the United States have not been saturated with these worms. So, that gives anyone who uses a Thumper Worm an advantage.

Too, most manufacturers make their lures so that they only should be fished at a particular size. But the Thumper Worm is segmented, so if you want to use a Thumper Worm as an 8-inch worm instead of a 10-inch worm, you simply cut off the first 2 inches of that 10-inch worm. Then you have a Thumper Worm that will perform just as well at 8 inches as it did at 10 inches. If you want a 5-inch flipping worm, that’s one of the best flipping worms you can fish. Cut the Thumper Worm in half, and fish with the bottom end of the worm that has the goofy-looking tail. This worm was designed so at whatever length you cut it, you still get the action the Thumper Worm has been designed to deliver.

Both the Thumper Worm and the Anaconda are tools for fishing, and when I go fishing, I don’t carry one of them and not the other. I take both styles of 10-inch worms. Even though you may think the place you’re fishing is best suited for the Anaconda because the water’s clear and warm, the bass may decide they want the Thumper Worm that day instead of the Anaconda. I know this because as I’ve told you on Monday, I have this device that lets me talk to the bass and lets them talk back to me. Some days those bass will say, “Denny, we don’t care what you think, or what lure you think we’re supposed to eat, today, we’ll eat this type of lure.” So, for this reason, I make sure I have any type of lure the bass may want to order that day.

Another reason for carrying two big worms is bass don’t have big brains, but they are able to become educated. If you catch two or three bass out of a school of bass on the Anaconda, and the bass stop biting the Anaconda, then pitch the Thumper Worm to the bass. You’re presenting a totally-different looking worm with a different action. Many times you can get the bass to begin biting again and catch a few more bass in that school that may cause you to win a tournament.

Question: If you only can take two colors of plastic worms with you in your boat to fish anytime and anywhere, what two colors would you take?

Brauer: Green pumpkin and plum.

Article and Photos courtesy of StrikeKing
You can read more interviews with the Strikeking pros here: http://www.strikeking.com/

Question: Denny, why do you like the Rage Chunk?

Brauer: The Rage Chunk is designed to be the trailer for the Denny Brauer Premier Pro-Model Jig. It’s the perfect size, so the angler doesn’t have to add anything to make it fit on the jig. Also, he doesn’t have to bite off a portion of the bait and then worry if he’s bitten off too much or too little for the chunk to look natural on the jig.
The Rage Chunk is the perfect size when it comes out of the package. The angler only has to thread it on the jig and go fishing. The Rage Chunk has the same kicking action with the claws as the Rage Craw does. Strike King has incorporated all the good properties of the Rage Craw into the Rage Chunk. I really like the Rage Chunk because it has all the kicking and the swimming action in its pincers as the Rage Craw. When the fish are really hitting the jigs on the drop in thick cover, I’ll use the Rage Chunk as my trailer.
I always match the color of the Rage Chunk to the color of jig I’m fishing, which is based on water clarity. When choosing jig and trailer color to match the color of lures to the color of the water and the sky, remember to change colors when the light penetration changes. When fishing on a clear day and cloud cover rolls in, the time has come to change color. When fishing in clearer water and moving into slightly-stained water, change the color of your bait.

If the wind picks up, and there’s a little chop on the water, the light doesn’t penetrate as deeply, and the color needs to be changed. When the light penetration into the water becomes less, use darker colors, and when the light penetration into the water increases, fish with more-natural colors. When the water’s calm, use a lighter-shade bait, and when the water becomes choppy, use a darker-shade bait.
Weather and water changes will happen throughout the day, so when I get to the lake, I make a decision on the color I’ll fish. I start with that color, but then I pay close attention to the water and the weather changes and change the colors of my jigs and my lures accordingly.

Question: Denny, what’s your take on the new Rage Toad?

Brauer: Toad baits have been around for a while, and they’ve been really popular for the last few years. Most lure companies have their own versions of the toad. Strike King’s Rage Toad is different from other toads because Strike King has enabled the angler to slow down the retrieve of the toad type of baits and keep it in the strike zone of a bass for a longer time. We’ve incorporated the best features of a toad bait and a frog bait into the Rage Toad. A frog bait hops along and sits still, and a toad bait has a swimming action. Strike King’s Rage Toad does both.

The Rage Toad also produces a different sound than any other toad on the market. Most toads make a plop-plop sound as they’re reeled across the surface. A Rage Toad has more of a swimming action, which Strike King has achieved by changing the material of its toads to tough plastic. All the Rage baits are made from a plastic that has the toughness and the density to match the fishing application for which they’ve been designed. In other words, if you’re fishing with a toad made of really-soft plastic, that lure is a one-time fish bait. Then it’s destroyed, or it slides down the hook, making it hard to fish the bait correctly. Strike King’s Rage Toad has all the advantages of the soft plastic, yet it’s a much-tougher bait.

Question: Denny, how do you set the hook when a bass takes the Rage Toad?

Brauer: All fishermen are guilty of setting in the hook too quickly when bass take a top-water bait. When fishing toad baits, it’s critical for your success to fish braided line. A higher percentage of bass that strike the bait are landed with braided line, especially when fishing the bait over and through heavy vegetation where most people fish toads. Because the braided line has no stretch in it, most fishermen will jerk their baits away from the bass before the bass have the baits in their mouths.

For that reason, making sure the rod tip is at the right angle is critical to getting a good hook set and timing the strike correctly. To get the fastest hook sets, most anglers point their rod tips straight at the toads as they retrieve the baits. Instead, I hold my rod at a 45-degree angle to the surface of the water. This way, when the bass takes the toad, the fish can load the rod by pulling the rod tip down and continue to load the rod when I pull the rod tip up and set the hook.

Getting the proper hook set when fishing the toad is a timing issue. Yes, I’ve pulled the toad away from a bass before the fish has the lure in its mouth. But I don’t like to let the bass have the toad too long. If I let the bass have this lure for an extended time, the bass will go down in the vegetation and swim toward the boat to reach deep water. Even though braided line is designed to cut through vegetation, there won’t be nearly as much force in the strike if the bass swims toward the boat as there will be if you strike the bass before it makes the turn and starts swimming toward the boat. If I can feel the fish before I strike it, I know which way the bass is moving and how to set the hook before I actually set the hook.

I also can learn a lot from the way the fish attacks the lure. If there’s a big explosion on the bait, I assume the fish has the toad. If the bass take the bait like this, I can’t react fast enough to take the toad away from the bass. If I start missing strikes, I have to adjust my tactic. I have to slow down and wait to feel the fish before I set the hook. I have to adapt each day to the way the bass take the bait on that day. I’ve seen days when bass won’t blow-up on the toad. They’ll just boil the water and suck in the bait. On those days, I really have to be concentrating on the lure as it comes across the water, give the bass more time to get the bait well in its mouth and almost feed the bass the bait before I set the hook.

Question: You can’t daydream and fish the toad, can you?

Brauer: Yes, you can. On some dayss, you’re better off being almost semi-conscious when fishing this bait. If you concentrate too hard on the lure, you may see the water move, the fish readying to attack the bait, and you may concentrate so hard on the lure and the fish that when the bass comes out of the water to take the bait, you immediately try to set the hook and will end up jerking the bait away from the bass. There are times when daydreaming and being less focused will enable you to catch more bass.

In this situation, you have to know how well you can control your emotions and reflexes when you see a bass approaching or blowing-up on the toad. When you see the bass move, if you can’t slow down your emotions and your reflexes, you’re better off daydreaming and waking up when you feel the fish take the bait. If you can force yourself to not strike the bass when everything in your body and mind tells you to hit it, you can watch the bait, let the bass take the toad and then set the hook. Most people probably are better off daydreaming when they’re fishing the toad.

Question: Denny, why do you like the Rage Craw?

Brauer: To catch more bass, I’ll fish a non-traditional lure in a place that calls for fishing a traditional lure. The Rage Craw is a classic example. If the water where I normally fish a tube has too much tube pressure on it, I’ll fish a Rage Craw there. Or, if I’ve already fished a tube, I’ll return to that spot and fish a Rage Craw, giving the fish a similar type of bait that looks really different. Bass are finicky. They have moods. The tube is a subtle presentation that resembles a dying shad, which you can present to very-docile bass. When the bass are in that same type of mood, they’ll take the bait.

If the bass are very active, you can catch more bass quicker with active baits like the Rage Craw. The pincers on the Rage Craw have an unbelievable action –displacing large amounts of water. So, when the Rage Craw hits the bottom, it sits on the bottom like a crawfish in a defensive position with its pincers up. The Rage Craw also is an excellent flipping bait to fish in heavy cover. If the bass are accustomed to seeing a tube or a jig in heavy cover, and I flip a Rage Craw into that same cover, I drastically can increase my odds for getting the bass to bite.

Question: What are your favorite colors of Rage Craws?

Brauer: Most of the time I like darker colors. Black-and-blue is my choice for most waters I fish, because it adds a little something extra to the bait. If the water’s clear, I prefer green pumpkin. The same rules of selecting colors for the Rage Craw apply to selecting colors for any other lure – match the color of the lure to the color of the water. I try not to have favorite colors. When I get to the lake I’m fishing, I look at the color of the water and the sky. If I have a sunny day with relatively-clear water, I’ll use more-natural color lures. If I have cloud cover, I’ll use darker colors. I carry every color Strike King makes in my tackle box.

Question: What pound-test line do you fish?

Brauer: That depends on water clarity. If the water’s muddy, or if I’m fishing matted grass, I’ll probably use 60- to 80-pound-test braided line. If the water’s clear, I may use fluorocarbon line. If I’m flipping and pitching, I may use line as light as 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line. If the water clarity is average, I’ll probably use 25-pound-test line.

The Anaconda – A Big Bait for Big Bass

Denny Brauer sums up his thoughts on the Anaconda:

“The Anaconda is available in two sizes – the 7 and the 10 inch. It’s a totally-unique plastic worm. It has a tail you’ve never seen before on any other worm. Because of the tail, it looks different and sends out more-distinctive pressure waves to the bass than they’ve ever felt from any other type of worm. This is a big-fish bait because of the action. In the last 2 years, from fishing lakes like Falcon and Amistad in Texas, we’ve learned that bigger bass will eat bigger baits. By using the new bigger Strike King baits, we can catch bigger bass. The Anaconda isn’t a finesse bait but rather is a Bubba bait that appeals to big fish. I’m a big-worm bass fisherman, and on lakes like Lake of the Ozarks, my home lake, this worm is productive at producing plenty of big bass.

I’m looking forward to getting this worm up on Truman Lake where one of the strongest summer patterns is fishing out in timber for suspended bass. On this lake, the timber may be in 40 to 45 feet of water, and the bass often will be suspended 15- to 20-feet above the timber. Those fish have always loved to eat big worms. When those suspended bass see the Anaconda, it’ll be lights out. I like to put enough weight on the Anaconda to generate a reaction strike as the worm falls. To successfully fish the Anaconda, don’t fish it too slowly or too fast. I’ll generally use a 1/4- to a 1/2-ounce weight, depending on the size line I’m fishing. If the water’s stained, I’ll fish 60-pound-test braided line, especially if I’m pitching into cedar trees. If I’m pitching into big hardwoods, the bass aren’t nearly as hard to pull from the timber, so you may not need heavy line. If the water’s clear, I’ll use 25-pound-test fluorocarbon line.”

Denny Brauer was quoted when asked about the new Rage Tail Lobster:

“The Rage Lobster is a real man’s bait. It truly appeals to big fish. I’m a big fan of the Lobster because I target big fish in tournaments. If you can catch those bigger fish in a tournament using big baits like the Lobster, you can win. Because the lobster is an oversized crawdad, it appeals to big, heavy bass. Big bass probably don’t want to waste their energy chasing small baits. So, when they see a big bait like the Lobster moving slowly, they’ll attack it. I’ve had a lot of success this past year fishing the Lobster.

If you’re fishing a body of water that homes a number of big bass, the Lobster should be your lure of choice. It will make those big bass bite. If you’re fishing a tournament, you’ve already caught a limit of bass in your live well, and you want to upgrade your stringer with bigger fish or catch the big bass of the day, the Lobster is your go-to bait. The Lobster will appeal to bigger bass. You can put the Lobster on the back of a jig to give it a slower fall and a different look. If a versatile bait is fished many-different ways, it has a variety of applications. You can Texas rig the Lobster, flip it, cast it or use it on a Carolina rig or a flip trailer.

Question: Denny, when you put the Rage Lobster on the back end of a 1/2- or a 3/4-ounce jig, you’ve created a big bait, haven’t you?

Brauer: Absolutely. Many times bass really prefer that gorilla-sized bait. For many years, anglers thought a bait could be too big for a bass to eat. However, in recent years, with the success of the new big swim baits, like Strike King’s King Shad and Shadalicious, many anglers’ eyes have been opened to the size of forage fish the bass will take. Many people want to catch any kind of bass, so they downsize their lures. Therefore, the bass are accustomed to seeing small to medium-sized lures. When you put an oversized bait in that type of environment, it’s a new type of creature the bass has never seen before and the bass will strike it.

If you rig the Lobster and color coordinate the Lobster with the jig skirt and jighead so the Lobster looks like an oversized crawfish, the bass will often gobble up that bait. The Lobster is a tremendous bait we’ve never seen previously. With all the new lures from Strike King this year, I feel like a kid in a candy store. I’ve got so many-different baits from which to choose that I can cater to the size of the bass and the fishing conditions much better than I’ve ever been able to before. The Lobster is at the top of my list of favorites of Strike King’s new 2009 baits.”

When asked his thoughts on the new Space Monkey, Denny Brauer was quoted:

“The Space Monkey is a creature bait unique from any other creature bait on the market. It’s a combination of several successful baits. The back legs resemble the Rage Craw, and it has two additional smaller side appendages with the action of a Rage Craw. The real secret to the Space Monkey is the legs are positioned differently from the legs on most creature baits, giving you a totally-different action.

It’s a more-subtle presentation than the Rage Craw, and the legs don’t kick as violently. Too, it doesn’t have an elongated look like most creature baits. I prefer to use the Rage Craw as a drop bait for suspended bass holding in cover. Because it’s compact, the Rage Craw can move through heavy cover, and it produces a lot of action as it drops through a tiny hole.

The Space Monkey also can be fished as a jig trailer to give the jig a completely-new look. Not only are there tentacles kicking on the back side of the jig, but there are two arms that reach outside the skirt strands and kick to give it action. My favorite way to fish the Space Monkey is to Texas rig it like I’d fish a worm.

You also can Carolina rig the Space Monkey because the lure’s designed to plane-off in the water as you drag it behind a Carolina rig. This bait is ranked right up there with a lizard as far as being effective on a Carolina rig. However, the Space Monkey has a different look from the lizard, which causes bass to bite it more readily. Too, I like the name of the Space Monkey. You can’t forget a name like the Space Monkey. And, when you say Space Monkey, there’s only one lure tied to this name. When you say lizard, there’s a million-different types of lizards associated with that name.

To test the power of the Space Monkey, I gave one to another fisherman on a tournament practice day. I fished with several soft-plastic lures with a lot of wiggle action similar to the Space Monkey. The angler using the Space Monkey caught five bass to the one bass I caught. The difference in our success wasn’t simply angling skill. The Space Monkey allowed the other fisherman to be more successful, proving that it will perform even in competitive fishing conditions.

I like the new line of soft-plastic lures created by Strike King because each lure is unique and produces a different type of pressure wave the bass can feel and interpret. None of these new lures look or feel the same to bass. On any given day, any lure may catch bass. But on tough days, when the bass don’t want to bite any bait you’re fishing, the Space Monkey gives you a different bait to present to the bass that will turn on the bass bite.

I’ll fish it all three ways. However, I probably won’t drag it on the bottom like I will a traditional Texas-rigged plastic worm.”