By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Up until a few weeks ago, Chris Brasher had never laid eyes on the Red River, let alone wet a line there.

Despite growing up in east Texas and living in the Houston area up until last year, the draw of Texas' bass lakes always outweighed making the drive east to the Red. That was until he qualified for his first Forrest Wood Cup, which is slated to be held at the Red (pools 3, 4, 5) next month. Now, the river that's hosted the 2000 Forrest Wood Cup, two Bassmaster Classics (2009 & 2012) and two other FLW Tour events (2001 & 2011) has his full and undivided attention.

Brasher now lives in Hallsville, Texas, about an hour west of Shreveport, and he's worn a pretty good path between home and the Red in recent weeks as he is neck-deep in on-the-water prep for his first run at a major.

"This is probably the closest they'll ever have one to me and I hadn't realized it would be this close to the house," he said. "You definitely don't want to miss one this close to the house. I know some of the guys that live close to here are upset they didn't make it."

Last year, he made two Top-20 cuts and totaled three Top-25 finishes, but bombs at Lake Hartwell (121st) and Kentucky Lake (95th) prevented him from making the Cup in his first attempt. This year, he was pretty steady throughout, finishing 25th in points after posting three Top-50s and cashing checks in five of six tournaments. Making the Cup after underwriting most of the year out of his own pocket brought with it some satisfaction for sure.

"I've done pretty well sponsorship wise the last couple of years, but this year I lost a bit of that money so it was important to catch 'em and stay in the game," he said. "It's tough to do it when you're paying out of your own pocket."

Salvage Mode

Wanting to build on last year's results, Brasher came into this season with the mindset that he wasn't going to let a bad practice derail him. He knew on-the-fly adjustments would be very important, especially considering how behind schedule the fish were this spring.

"My main goal this year was even if I had a bad practice to be able to salvage the tournament and not let it turn into a bad tournament," he said. "In 2012, I had a bad tournament and it cost me the Cup. This year, I had a bad practice at Okeechobee and that was my worst finish, but I still cashed a check."

His 80th at the Big O was, by far, his worst showing of the year and he followed it up with a 25th at Smith Lake and an 18th at Beaver Lake, where he says he let a Top 10 or better slip away.

"Beaver was my best finish, but it was the most disappointing out of all of them," he said. "I thought I was on the fish to win. I had 16 (pounds) on day 1 and that was the worst day I'd had since I got there. It just got tougher and the fish repositioned. I made the (day-2) cut in 6th, but on day 3 there was no wind. I'd been throwing the umbrella rig in clear water and I didn't think I was going to get a bite. My back up stuff didn't pan out and I wound up with two fish on day 3."

Grand Lake was the biggest surprise in his mind because of how it fished compared to most everyone's expectations.

"It was totally different than I had expected," he said. "I went there and had everything rigged up and ready with deep-diving crankbaits and football jigs and Carolina rigs. After an hour, I had to sit down and spend an hour retying everything. With the water up in the willows, I knew it'd be pretty hard to catch them deep."

The adjustment paid off as he logged a 33rd-place finish flipping buck brush and flooded willows.

He went into the season finale at Lake Chickamauga sitting 20th in points and with designs on moving into the Top 15, which would've secured a spot in the Toyota Texas Bass Classic this fall and next spring. However, those plans went kaput when he encountered mechanical problems on the final day of practice during the opening day of the tournament. He managed just three fish on day 1 and wound up 68th, missing a check by 1 1/2 pounds and a Top-50 placement by 4 pounds.

"That was real disappointing," he said. "It's part of the game, but you hate to have mechanical issues cost you. You can't fish without a trolling motor because it's hard to catch anything if you can't move. That was a bit of a downturn to the end of the year."

'It's Been Brutal'

Brasher has taken full advantage of his proximity to the Red since the FLW Tour season concluded a few weeks ago. He's put in 6 days on the water over the past 3 weeks and was planning to spend another 5 days on the river prior to it going off limits on July 29. Weather wise, the dead-of-summer heat is nothing new to him, but it still takes some getting used to while on the water.

"It's been brutal for the most part," he said. "Last Sunday, it was cloudy, but other than that it's been 95 to 100 (degrees) and humid."

Based on several long-range forecasts, it doesn't appear the weather is going to change all that drastically between now and the third week of August. Brasher says that means the fish he's finding now are likely to still be in the same vicinity come tournament time.

As far as how the fishing's been, he used the word "grind" numerous times, adding a 2-pounder would be a real good fish right now.

"The amount of water here is overwhelming," he said. "Out of the days I spent here, you can go for hours and hours without a bite so it really helps to be able to spend the time because I can go into an area and spend all day and then rule it in or out. If you can't catch them now you probably won't catch them there in August. I'm glad I've been able to look at it and figure it out.

"It's not too tough to catch fish. I'm just not catching anything of any size. I've been spending most of my time in Pool 5 and will probably fish a couple days in 4. I probably won't mess with Pool 3 because it's going to be such a long run and in talking with some people, nobody's ever won out of 3. You're going to lose a good 3 hours of fishing time by going down there and once you're there it's not like you're going to catch them quick."

He said his scouting trips have been helpful from a navigational standpoint because what shows up on a mapping chip isn't always what's there in living color.

"I want to make sure I know my way around and check everything I possibly can with it being so close," he said.

The river does harbor some deeper holes on the main channel, but Brasher anticipates the Cup will be won shallow.

"I don't know if you can win it on the main river, but a Top 10 is possible," he said. "Somebody might win it, but just from what I've seen, I don't think you can catch enough to win. There will definitely be some guys fishing the main river because there are thousands of rock jetties up and down and the fish get on them. Catching size is a problem, though."

The last big championship-style event he fished was the 2011 Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Conroe, where he was considered to be among the favorites because of his experience there. He fell into the classic trap of fishing his memory banks and not the present conditions. He's hoping his lack of history at the Red will steer him clear of similar pitfalls next month.

"I really learned a lot from (Conroe)," he said. "I choked big-time on day 1. I ran around too much and tried to fish everything I'd caught one off of. On day 2, I settled down and caught them pretty good. I hope to take that into consideration up here because you can't run around on the river. It just takes too much time to get into places."