Foul Weather Tournament Fishing: SKA Brushy Branch Event

Big bass of the day on square bill

My best friend Corey Galloway drove up from Prattville, AL to fish the SKA Brushy Branch event with me. As if on cue, the temperature dropped 15 degrees and the rain came in sheets; a persistent, chilly downpour that pounded us the entire day. We fished a really cool area with some deep channel bends, islands and grass flats, bluff walls, and two major feeder creeks. The plan was to work our way up the feeder creeks where I have caught some nice spots in years past. Corey was the first to hook-up with a short fish on a crank, his only bite of the day, only to discover his identifier was in the truck. Yep, it was going to be THAT kind of day. Even worse, the passing front had the striped bass fired up and they were unleashed a blitzkrieg on threadfin shad that lasted for three hours. It truly hurt to watch those fish eat and not try to get in on the action. Focusing on the day's objective I paddled to the creek mouth and began firing spinnerbaits at everything in sight. My first fish bum rushed a River Series from the tapering point between two creek mouths. Only 14", but on the board is on the board. My game plan, paddling up a clear river and fishing for big spots, fizzled with the extra 800 or so cfs of chocolate milk humming down the creek. With a significant amount of time invested in the area and little to show, I made the call to pack up and move about 30 minutes down the road. This area is typical main lake, channel docks, rip rap, and sea wall fishing that usually holds post spawn fish throughout the year. Running and gunning with a square bill and a shakey head I cranked prime areas and flipped the shakeyhead into any isolated cover. I quickly boated a fat 16" spot that hammered my crank as it deflected off a stump. Unfortunately, that was the last bass I would account for as another cold front settled in and dropped the temps another 5 degrees. The final highlight of the afternoon was the 20 plus pound buffalo that hammered my shakey head on my Dobyns 703. What a battle on light tackle! Despite the lackluster fishing, I captured 3rd place and the big fish pot. Yeah, with two fish. Not the most glorious day of fishing, but I take a lot of pride in overcoming nature's worst and coming out ahead. One thing I will say about fishing tournaments in tough conditions is select lures that you not only have confidence in, but also work well with the conditions. High winds, severe cold fronts, rain, and muddy water all make tournament fishing extremely difficult. I find that I have more success by selecting a couple of tried and true lures and grinding with them all day, rather than switch lures constantly looking for something that the fish are keyed in on. You can spend time looking for the profile, color, action that the fish want in perfect weather, but when the wind is howling it is impossible to fish most normal presentations. I do a ton of finesse fishing in tournaments, but when your boat is getting battered by 15 mph winds, that finesse worm is flying through the water column...not how a dropshot or shakeyhead needs to be fished. Try tying on fast moving lures like squarebill crank baits and spinnerbaits that can be fished at high speeds as your boat is normally getting pushed by that wind. Fish with the wind and maintain a course that allows you to make long casts and pound the banks. Fish often stick close to cover during these conditions, so try to deflect your baits off the cover. My big fish hit when I swept the rod tip to make crankbait deflect hard off a stump. Don't get fancy and don't lose composure, just fish the baits you know and can fish in the given conditions.