Bryan has 3 Bassmaster wins on Champlain: last weekend, a 2021 Elite and a 2016 Open. Also a 2019 BFL. But it’s not like he lights ’em up every time he’s there.
The 4 other times the Elites were on Champlain, he only cracked the top 20 once. So what’s the secret ingredient for him to do well? It all starts with a bad practice.
Practice
> “I learned my lesson the last several times fishing specific spots that are good for 1-2 fish…a boulder, a rockpile, isolated clumps of grass. Historical spots for me that give 1-2 fish.
> “I start [practice] saying I’m never gonna fish them til the tournament, then I do other stuff, get bored or lazy, and pull up on a spot I haven’t fished in 10 years and catch a big one – and that fish is gone now.
> “[This practice he only fished new water and] it was horrendous man. I knew the bites were gonna be less…the number of 4-lb bites was gonna be less because they’re all out swimming in the middle of the lake and we can’t target ’em now [without FFS].
> “[Practice] didn’t lead me to anything new unfortunately. It led me to a technique, covering water [for fish you can’t see]….
> “Cranking became a big thing, that [SPRO] Rk Crawler. [He caught some with it when it was] flat calm or clouds or wind – yep that’s a god thing. But I didn’t catch any big ones in practice.
> “I flipped grass [a ton] because the water is low, they should be out here in 6-8′ deep grass, but I just didn’t find ’em.
> “I went into this tournament running stuff I hadn’t fished but I knew [from history]…there was a chance.”
Tournament
> “I started on [a spot] I had caught them there every single time I’ve been there and it gave me a 3.5-lber. But it was supposed to be a 17-18 lb bag. Not a winning bag, but a good starter bag.
> “I gave it 2 hours, and oh my gosh, plan A that’s worked for 10 years didn’t work. Now I was legit gonna run stuff and didn’t know if I’d get a bite.
> “The first stop I made was supposed to be for a little smallmouth or a decent smallmouth and I caught 4 big largemouth. It opened my eyes…. I caught 8-9 fish that 1st day, and every single place I caught a fish off of, I never caught one the rest of the week.
> “The 2nd day I thought I’d run the same pattern. The first 3-4 places…I didn’t get a bite. It showed me…nothing is reloading, so I have to run new water every day.
> “I did that but day 2 was a struggle…I caught 7 bass that day…looks good on paper but I only caught 7 fish.
> “[Day 3] I’m gonna start where I finished [day 2], and I go there and it’s on. I catch 4 giants by 9:30 and lost a giant. I got 4 for very close to 20. Then I catch a 3.30….
> “We got a north wind, a pretty good amount of wind, and that got the current rolling. We hadn’t seen wind all week. I think it got the big ones positioned….
> “…I got the cut made, now I want to worry about winning the tournament. …I need to find smallmouth…let me pull in here and hit this smallmouth boulder. I threw my dropshot…a [Missile] Ned Bomb…8-lb line. It hit the bottom and got spongy and heavy – digging, digging….
> “It was a 5-lb largemouth – in 25′ of water! I culled out that 3.30 and knew I had a bag that was almost impossible to cull a fish. If I caught a 4-lber I’d be hurting myself.
> “…idle and look for stuff for tomorrow. I went back to the zone where I started that 1st day…I’ve idled that area 100 times but maybe I’ll find something. I found 1 rock. Then I went to an old waypoint I never really had confidence in…looked really good on side scan…a nice rubble pile – just a sand flat with a rubble pile.
> “I weighed 23-08 and was 3 oz out of the lead. I let Chris Johnston know, ‘The only reason you’re leading is because I had a dead fish [day 1]. I poked the bear. [They are buds!]
> “I’ve caught 9, 7 and 6 bass in 3 days of competition. That’s how touchy this is, how easy it could go the other way.
> “[Day 4] I raced to that first spot and didn’t get any bites. I knew right away something had changed. When you’re dealing with northern largemouth, when you can get a bait to them, they bite. So if you’re not getting bit….
> “It went to a south wind. So with me understanding how serious that is, I left [that spot] after 90 minutes. Me 5 years ago…I’m not leaving.
> “I went from thinking I could win the tournament to salvaging a top 5 or top 3. I thought that [spot] was my only shot at 20 lbs….
> “…boulders didn’t give me anything. …rockpile with the Rk Crawler, my 3rd cast I caught a 3.75 largemouth. Couple casts later I catch a 3.5 largie. Then I catch a 2.5 smallmouth, all cranking.
> “…I feel like I need to let this rest. So I raced to another spot and cranked The Rk Crawler down the rocks as hard as I could and catch an almost 4-lb smallmouth. I’d never caught a smallmouth there and fished it day 1 with a dropshot and never got a bite.
> “I ran out on the lake…hit a special boulder or 2. They hadn’t produced all week but let’s try it. [Eventually he caught a] 4-lb largie that kind of turned the day around…maybe I’ll stay in the top 5.
> “…shallow little rock clump with grass only in like 5′ of water, but the wind was kinda hitting it. I backed way off of it, threw up there with the dropshot and caught a 3.75 largie…. Now I’ve got all 3+.
> “…gotta go back to where we started, maybe something’s changed…never got a bite.”
He never landed another fish and weighed 18-13. Drew Cook was the only guy to crack 20 lbs the last day:
> “I run back to weigh in and have no inclination [he won]. I’m blown away.”
The spots
The only commonality of his spots is that most were in 6-10′:
> “…something unique man. Location is king. A lot of it is largemouth stuff, and especially up north, you have to be near largemouth stuff – near bays, in bays.
> “Anything unique. If you could find a special little clump of coontail that’s all by itself. A mooring buoy but a special one all by itself. A rock vein, rockpile, rubble piles mixed in the grass….
> “If you’ve got a shoreline that just goes forever and there’s a little rock outcrop. A lot of times they can be on something that simple.
> “That’s the main thing and most of it is off the bank – it’s not visual. You can’t really see it with your eyes.
> “I threw my bait at more spots that could give you a big fish – fresh spots – for 4 days than other guys. That was a big deal….”
Baits
He caught ’em on a few different baits over the 4 days – including a SPRO Popping Frog (albino) and dropshotting a Missile Ned Bomb (gp gold flake) – but these were his 2 main deals.
> SPRO Rk Crawler 55 (ozark craw, green craw and one that was “brown on the top, chartreuse side and orange belly”) with #5 Hayabusa TBL930 Trebles, 15-lb P-Line Ultimate Fluoro, SPRO Jason Christie Elite MG Reel (7.2), 6′ 10″ MH SPRO McStick Rod.
> “Back in the day some of the [Champlain] OGs were all about a Wiggle Wart…for both species. A Rk Crawler I can throw a lot better in the wind and I can get it a little bit deeper. It’s like a Wiggle Wart on steroids.
> “I was burning it until I would really dig into the rock. I would still work it fast, just slow it up a bit. A huge part [was] you could start to feel higher rock – deflecting off [a little] bigger rock that so often led to a bite. And if you could make that cast again….
> “[In the past] l’d fish these spots with a couple finesse techniques or a jig and move on. No bites and I’d move on. The Rk Crawler showed me there’s more [fish] there than you think.
> “That [MH] rod is very forgiving…throwing crankbaits with smallmouth, you want something forgiving.
> Dropshot – Missile Baits Magic Worm (blueback secret) soaked it Nories Bite Liquid and Nories Bite Powder TX-rigged on a 3/0 Hayabusa WRM957 Offset Worm Hook (“it’s extremely light wire, very easy to penetrate”), 1/4-oz weight, 10-lb P-Line No Fade Braid (green) to 12-lb P-Line Ultimate Fluoro, SPRO Jason Christie Elite MG Spin Reel (3000), 6′ 10″ ML Nories Road Runner Structure Series Spin Rod.
> Like Taku Ito does, Bryan pre-soaked his baits with the Nories scent and used the powder: “This week it was a difference because I’m throwing where there should be one and letting it sit. …when it swims off after 5-6 seconds, I feel like scent is a big thing. It sure didn’t hurt.
> The rod – “SPRO is a [US] distributor for Nories, HideUp [and other JDM brands]. The rod I used…Taku Ito designed…. It has the tip for Schmitty because I set the hook way too hard on spinning rods. That’s not gonna change – it’s been going on for 20 years.
> “I caught 23-08 on this rod – largemouth, 4 of which I pulled out of the grass. So this rod is bad to the bone.”
Electronics
> “I’ve been Garmin since the inception of LiveScope – I’m one of the older guys that adopted LiveScope.
> “When Garmin came out with 360, I felt like I had a weapon [for Champlain]. I would not even been in the top 10 without the Garmin SpyPole [360]. It was a big deal man, us being allowed to use 360. Probably more than anything, that’s why I won.”
Shoutouts
> “The Dex rod organizer system [the foam deal you can step on] is on my front deck. Keeping everything super-organized is a plus for me.
> “Chris [Johnston] is a good friend of mine and [the Johnstons] are as classy losers as they are winners. That’s a hard thing to be, a classy loser. They have more shots to win than me, but they’re gracious. That’s a big thing.
> “It’s a hard thing to lose like that [Chris got 2nd by 1 lb] and be so respectful and congratulate people.”
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