Brennan Bosley owes his 19th place finish in the 2006 FLW Tour points largely to two early season Top 10s. One was a toadfest at Lake Murray where he weighed 45-12 over the last 2 days to narrowly miss a $100,000 paycheck. The other took place at miserly Pickwick, where he scratched and clawed his way to a 7th-place result.
What did both finishes have in common?
In both instances, he relied on a shallow crankbait, and it's a technique that he continued to fish throughout the tour season and into the latter half of the year.
"I love to fish a shallow crankbait," he said. "I fish shallow all year round and I fish it the same way all year round. I'm just covering a lot of water – looking for five active fish over the course of the day. Usually you'll get more than that, and usually they'll be your bigger fish."
His love of the shallow-diving plugs was influenced by both local and national crankers. "As bad as I hate to admit it, because everyone says the same thing, Rick Clunn inspired me early on. Then there was Terry Thomas of Missouri. He was an absolute terror in Red Man tournaments and in the Central Pro-Am circuit. When everyone else would consider it a good day to bring in 6 or 7 pounds, he'd have 20."
Spring Starters
While it's a tactic that Bosley uses throughout the year, he makes some subtle tunings to adjust for seasonal changes.
"In the springtime, I like a flatter bait with a tight wobble," he said. "I'll start with a crawfish pattern, or even a bright red, just like the Rat-L-Traps that people throw early in the year.
"I'm looking for rocks, and especially big rocks. They hold the most heat. It may be big rocks with scattered smaller rocks or big rocks on a muddy flat, or big rocks on a flat leading into a spawning area.
"If we get a good warming trend, then I'll switch to a bigger bait and start looking to wood, like stumps and rocks."
He sticks with crawfish patterns and red hues all the way through the spawn. "I may use one that's not quite as bright as I get closer to the spawn, but it's a reaction bite and that gets their attention. At both Murray and Pickwick (last year) it was pure reaction."
Accordingly, the best retrieve is to absolutely burn the plug. "I stay hung up a bunch," he said. "A lot of guys, when they bump into something, they'll stop the lure and let it back up. But when I bump something, I give it more gas. I want it to go crazy or even turn upside down. That's what generates those reaction strikes."
When the spawn is finished, he switches to shad-color lures. He'll target a variety of cover through the summer, including rocks and docks. Then in the fall, he'll follow the shad into the backs of creeks. En route, he may switch to a slightly deeper diver.
Pick Your Poison
He claims not to have a single favorite crankbait, but he does have several that he uses most frequently, and they generally fall into two categories: flat-sided, tight-wobbling divers, and rounder, square-billed baits that displace a lot of water.
In the former category, he often uses a deep-diving Bomber Flat A or a variety of handmade baits.
In the latter category, he's recently taken a shine to the Lucky Craft RC 1.5. "It has a different wobble than a lot of other shallow divers and you can fish it very fast," he said.
Later in the year, he often employs a Bill Norman Mad N.
No matter which bait he ties on, he makes one alteration to all of them. "I'm a big believer in using a red front hook. I use only Owner Stinger treble hooks. If there's money on the line and it keeps me from losing one fish, then I think it's worth it."
Tackle Tips
Given his preference for a lightning-fast retrieve, Bosley dotes on the smooth gears and fast speed of his Shimano Chronarch reels.
That's a pretty pricey little winch, so does he mount it on a super-expensive cranking stick? Nope. "I've been through about 20 high-dollar cranking sticks and I've settled on a $39 Bass Pro Shops cranking stick that Stacey King designed," he said. "It has the right parabolic bend like a fiberglass rod, but it's lightweight like a graphite rod."
His line choice is non-negotiable: "One hundred per cent of the time I use Seaguar fluorocarbon." The strength may vary depending on water color and depth, although 10-pound is usually as low as he goes.
When he ties into a major-league hawg, he compensates for the light line by setting his drag lighter than a lot of people. "If he wants to run, I let him run and then if there's any cover around I use my thumb on the spool to slow him down."
Notable
> When the crankbait bite dies, he'll often swim a jig in those same areas. "If they're not really reacting to a crankbait, I'll switch to the jig because they don't see that nearly as much as a spinnerbait."
> Asked to identify his three favorite cranking lakes on tour, he chose Lake Murray(S.C.), Grand Lake (Okla.) and Old Hickory (Tenn.). He admitted that the third one might surprise a lot of people, "but it has a lot of good river cover to crank."
> At Murray, he caught his fish in the lake's clearest water, down near the dam – conditions a lot like those on Beaver Lake (his home water).
