By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
During his high school and college days, if someone had asked Brandon Card to describe his fishing style, his response probably would’ve sounded something like this: “I’m kind of similar to Kevin VanDam. I like to fish as fast as possible and pattern the fish.”
Nowadays, with four years of Elite Series experience under his belt, Card’s tune has changed dramatically.
“As I look back at the last few years, I’ve really learned what type of angler I am,” he said. “When I look at the tournaments I’ve done well in, I seem to do the best when I fish like Greg Hackney or Aaron Martens and just find a few key areas and slow down. It’s funny when I think about it, but it’s what I need to do now. I need to be methodical and catch the fish in the areas I found them in.”
It’s Card’s hope that this sort of reflective thinking and introspection will have a positive impact on how he goes about formulating his strategy for the upcoming Bassmaster Classic.
Card’s first Classic came in 2013 at Grand Lake and he’ll get another shot in early March at the sprawling Oklahoma reservoir when he competes in his second career Classic. He finished 39th in 2013, but felt like he was in the right areas – he just went through them too fast.
“I’m going to find some fish in practice and lean on them in the tournament,” he said. “I’m going to fish slow and be more methodical. If they’re not eating a crankbait, I’ll turn the boat around and throw a jig. If they’re not on a jig, I’ll throw a jerkbait. I’ll just be fishing slower and smarter.”
Applying What He Learned
Card recalled thinking how much Grand resembled some lakes he fishes in east Tennessee upon seeing Grand for the first time during his scouting trip prior to the ’13 Classic.
“I felt good about how the lake laid out,” he said. “Going in, I thought it would fish deeper than it did. I did a lot of side scanning on deeper brush in the 12- to 20-foot range and marked a lot of deeper structure. I figured if the fish were shallower, I could go beat the bank.”
When he returned for official practice, his confidence started to soar. He caught about 17 pounds on the first day with a jig and crankbait.
“I was feeling good and as it got colder and colder, I thought it would play into my hands because the fish would move deeper,” he said. “With the all brush I had marked, I thought I was in good shape.”
Ultimately, he thought the arctic blast that preceded the tournament would prompt a big movement of fish, but it didn’t and he never slowed down.
“The water temperature threw me for a loop,” he said. “It didn’t mess up the shallow bite that much. I knew fish would suspend with the dropping temperature and a jerkbait would play, but at that point the jerkbait was one of the baits I had the least amount of confidence in. I tried that a little bit, but looking back, I should’ve kept a jig and a crank in my hand and fished slow.”
Card also competed under the watchful eye of his older brother, Jordan, who drove to Oklahoma from Tennessee, boat in tow. Both days of the tournament, Jordan followed Brandon on the water to watch how he operated.
Brandon was prohibited from getting any advice from Jordan during the event, but after he was eliminated from the tournament following day 2 the feedback he received was that he fished too fast.
“Like brothers do, he was picking on me,” Brandon said. “He told me I was fishing so fast for 43-degree water. He wanted to tell me to slow down so bad, but he couldn’t. He said being the big brother it was painful to watch because he saw I got caught up in the moment.”
Second Time’s the Charm
Knowing what he knows now about his style and how Grand sets up in late winter, Card is banking on being more successful this time around. He’s had mixed results when visiting a venue for a second time in Elite Series competition. For the sake of the Classic, he’s going to focus on the improvement he showed at places like the Mississippi River (52nd in 2012, 5th in 2013) and the St. Lawrence River (66th in ’13, 4th in ’15).
“It’s pretty awesome that my first and second (Classics) are at the same lake,” he said. “Looking back on my career, the lakes I do poor on, when I get that second crack I always do better. Those tournaments where you barely miss the deal it’s always cool to go back with that experience and you can fish a lot smarter. I hope that transpires this time around, obviously.”
Rather than conclude that the fish have moved if the conditions change, Card said he’ll exhaust his options in those areas instead of abandoning it quickly.
“I came away from the last Classic knowing there’s a ton of fish in that lake,” he said. “Going back through areas where you got bites in practice, you think, ‘Did the fish move?’ Maybe that was not the case and I just have to hunker down and figure out what to do in that area. The guys who did that are the ones who excelled. Guys like me who didn’t catch them and wrote them off didn’t do that well.”
