Are you an aspiring tournament angler in need of some lessons in fish management? Just study what Denny Brauer did at the Champlain Bassmaster Elite Series.
The veteran from Missouri fished one area for 4 days, and he did it with a specific plan. It culminated today in a monstrous 23-04 sack, and he won by nearly 8 pounds with an 80-03 total.
Kansas' Brent Chapman, who needed a strong finish to get back into contention for a Bassmaster
Classic berth, caught 17-15 today and finished a distant 2nd with 72-05. Oklahoma's Terry Butcher, ultra-consistent throughout the event, ended up third with 16-15 today and a 70-11 total.
Arizona's Mark Tyler, who needed a good outing even more than Chapman, finished 4th with 16-09 today and a 69-06 total. Tommy Biffle, last week's winner at Oneida, bagged 15-11 today and finished 5th with a 68-13 total.
Here's how the rest of the Top 12 ended up:
6. Chris Lane: 68-08
7. Mike Wurm: 67-08
8. Todd Faircloth: 66-06
9. Kevin VanDam: 64-14
10. Paul Elias: 64-03
11. Zell Rowland: 63-11
12. Paul Hirosky: 59-05
Florida rookie Chris Lane, who led the first 3 days, wasn't allowed to fish his primary spot in Missisquoi Bay (BASS ruled on Saturday evening that it was within an off-limits zone). He went south to Ticonderoga, and ended up with just 10-05.
He needed more than twice that to hold off Brauer, who notched the 16th victory of his 26-year career. The win was his first since he prevailed at Eufaula in March 2004.
The weather along the New York/Vermont border was sunny and hot (93 degrees) today – another factor that favored Brauer, a wizard with a flipping stick. His bag was the biggest of the day by more than 5 pounds.
A stiff south wind kicked up in the afternoon, but by then most of the anglers were on their way back to the launch.
Textbook Day for Brauer
The day started out well for Brauer and got better as it went along. He caught 4-pounders on each of his first two casts, then went on to boat a trio of 5-pounders to complete his big bag.
"It was an awesome day," he said. "My gameplan couldn't have worked out much better. To have a magical day like this on the last day of a tournament is something that all anglers dream about. Everything went just right."
Naturally, he caught all of his fish on a flipping stick with a jig. Today, he stayed in a spot that he knew harbored big largemouths, and pulled them out of deep cover.
He'd visited the spot on each of the first 3 days, but took care not to burn it up.
"I was efficient – I didn't lose a fish all tournament that would have helped me, and I had the target weight of 18 pounds every day. I made sure not to beat my water up too bad, but I beat it up enough to where I didn't fish myself out of (contention)."
Details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the 2nd- through 5th-place finishers, will be posted soon.
Runner-up Brent Chapman said it was important to get himself back into contention for a Bassmaster Classic berth.
2nd: Chapman Changed Gears
Chapman finished 143rd at the FLW Tour event here 3 weeks ago, so this was quite a turnaround.
"You don't get that many opportunities to win, and I would have loved to win, but Denny kind of blew everybody away," he said. "The important thing was to get a good finish and move up in the standings to qualify for the Classic."
He's now 37th in the points – one spot out of the Classic cutoff.
"There's two tournaments left, and I hope to continue moving up."
Time on the water and a focus on a different species was the difference between his performance in this event and his bomb last month.
"I had a little more practice this time – at that one I only had a day and a half (after the Kentucky Lake Elite Series)," he said. "And I fished for smallmouths, and that was a mistake.
"That's when I finally realized that I'm a better largemouth fisherman than smallmouth. At the end of every tournament day I'd go fish for largemouths for the last hour and end up culling two or three of my little smallmouths. If I'd done that the whole time, I'd have done pretty good."
Terry Butcher's first visit to Lake Champlain was a profitable venture.
3rd: Butcher Feels Good
Butcher had never been to Champlain before, so he was more than happy with his finish.
"I feel good about it," he said. "I fished a good tournament. I only lost two fish, and neither one of them would have helped me place-wise.
"I caught a ton of fish every day, and it was just a ball."
He caught more than 15 keepers today, and his biggest was a 4 1/2-pounder.
"I pretty much did the same thing I'd been doing. I was hoping to get a few bigger bites, but they just didn't come.
"This place is awesome – it's just full of fish. You keep coming back to the same areas thinking there can't be any of them left, but then you catch them just like you did the day before."
4th: Tyler Climbs
Tyler moved up four places in the standings today with his 16-09 bag. More importantly, he gained 10 spots in the points (to 43rd) and he's back in the hunt for a Classic berth.
"It feels pretty good," he said. "I started the day 8th with a lot of weight to make up and a lot of big names in front of me who I knew would catch them.
"To catch a big bag and move up to 4th was about as much as I could have made of the day. How am I supposed to compete against 23 pounds? That's not fair."
He had a 5th at Rayburn in March, but hadn't finished in the Top 50 in the last five Series events.
"This was critical – it was a make-or-break tournament for me. I was running out of tournaments to keep my Classic hopes alive."
The way he looks at it, he won the Ticonderoga tournament. "I beat all of the 50 or 60 other guys who were fishing down there."
5th: Biffle Satisfied
Biffle didn't achieve his second consecutive win, but back-to-back finishes in single digits are nothing to scoff at.
"It's not bad," he said. "I was wanting to win, but at least it's a Top 5."
He didn't do anything special today in pursuit of a giant bag.
"I knew if it was going to happen, it was just going to have to come. I caught one almost 5 pounds, and I thought maybe that was the start of it.
"I had some logs way out in the middle where I caught two that were almost 5 on the second day, and I thought I might get a couple of big ones off those today. I kept thinking they'd replenish, but they never did."
Chris Lane will view the events that transpired over the tournament's final 2 days as "a huge learning experience."
6th: Wild Ride for Lane
Lane arrived at the launch this morning hoping he'd be given the go-ahead to fish the spot that had propelled him to the lead over the first 3 days. The area was behind some signs that marked the boundary of the Missisquois National Wildlife Refuge, but he could have accessed it via a river channel.
He said tournament director Trip Weldon put the kybosh on that, though. Weldon had conversed with a fish and wildlife official the previous evening, who'd recommended that the waters within refuge boundaries be placed off limits.
He went south to try for some big fish he'd located in practice, but all he caught were 2-pounders.
"I'm just going to use this whole thing as a huge learning experience," he said. "I'm going to go to the next two tournaments and fish the best I can, and not worry about the $100,000 that might have been.
"There's a lot of disappointment, but it was a heck of a ride. I know I would have really caught them (at the refuge spot). It might not have been enough to beat Denny, but it would have been a heck of a weigh-in."
He said all sorts of people approached him between the day 3 weigh-in and day 4 launch with advice about what would be his best course of action. Their recommendations ran the gamut.
"I have a future to look after – it's not just about the moment," he said. "The bottom line is that Trip checked with the warden and he said nobody should fish there, and that's how it ended up this morning."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.
> With the win, Brauer moved back to the top of the BASS career earnings list with $2,077,751. He retook the lead from Kevin VanDam, who surpassed $2 million last month.
> Chapman said he didn't know until today how close he'd been fishing to Brauer throughout the tournament. "I'd seen a boat back in there, but I didn't know who it was. It turned out I'd been fishing on both sides of him."
> By this afternoon, Lane was pretty much burned out on all the talk about the refuge area. "I've heard so much from so many people – the press, other anglers, other organizations. I just want to get in my motorhome and turn the phone off and relax."
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, Mo. -- 20, 80-03 -- 305 -- $102,000
Day 1: 5, 19-05 -- Day 2: 5, 18-10 -- Day 3: 5, 19-00 -- Day 4: 5, 23-04
2. Brent Chapman -- Lake Quivira, Kan. -- 20, 72-05 -- 295 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 19-02 -- Day 2: 5, 16-05 -- Day 3: 5, 18-15 -- Day 4: 5, 17-15
3. Terry Butcher -- Talala, Okla. -- 20, 70-11 -- 290 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 19-08 -- Day 2: 5, 17-03 -- Day 3: 5, 17-01 -- Day 4: 5, 16-15
4. Mark Tyler -- Scottsdale, Ariz. -- 20, 69-06 -- 285 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 18-15 -- Day 2: 5, 15-01 -- Day 3: 5, 18-13 -- Day 4: 5, 16-09
5. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, Okla. -- 20, 68-13 -- 280 -- $17,000
Day 1: 5, 18-09 -- Day 2: 5, 19-00 -- Day 3: 5, 15-09 -- Day 4: 5, 15-11
6. Chris Lane -- Winter Haven, Fla. -- 20, 68-08 -- 291 -- $16,500
Day 1: 5, 21-02 -- Day 2: 5, 19-08 -- Day 3: 5, 17-09 -- Day 4: 5, 10-05
7. Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 20, 67-08 -- 272 -- $17,000
Day 1: 5, 19-08 -- Day 2: 5, 16-06 -- Day 3: 5, 17-00 -- Day 4: 5, 14-10
8. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, Texas -- 20, 66-06 -- 268 -- $15,500
Day 1: 5, 17-03 -- Day 2: 5, 18-14 -- Day 3: 5, 15-12 -- Day 4: 5, 14-09
9. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 20, 64-14 -- 264 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 16-09 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 5, 16-04 -- Day 4: 5, 15-04
10. Paul Elias -- Laurel, Miss. -- 20, 64-03 -- 260 -- $15,500
Day 1: 5, 18-01 -- Day 2: 5, 16-03 -- Day 3: 5, 19-14 -- Day 4: 5, 10-01
11. Zell Rowland -- Montgomery, Texas -- 20, 63-11 -- 257 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 16-15 -- Day 2: 5, 17-11 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12 -- Day 4: 5, 14-05
12. Paul Hirosky -- Guys Mills, Pa. -- 20, 59-05 -- 254 -- $12,300
Day 1: 5, 19-06 -- Day 2: 5, 13-12 -- Day 3: 5, 16-12 -- Day 4: 5, 9-07
Big Bass
Day 4: Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, Mo. -- 5-02 -- $1,000
Day 3: Paul Elias -- Laurel, Miss. -- 5-01 -- $1,000
Day 2: Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, Texas -- 6-03 -- $1,000
Day 1: Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 6-06 -- $1,000
