Pro Tips Weekly: Glenn Browne

Have a backup bait ready

Whenever I’m flipping cover, I always have two identical rods rigged up with exactly the same bait. I’m looking for a reaction strike, and when it happens, it happens quickly. But sometimes the bass isn’t hooked on the take, and maybe the lure gets pulled down or wadded up on the hook or part of the lure is even torn off. You can’t afford to waste time re-rigging. Instead, you want to be able to get the same bait down there as quickly as possible, and that’s why you have the backup rig.

I don’t know how many times I’ve caught fish with it that I missed on the first go-around. In one tournament this spring, the biggest bass I caught came that way. No matter where you’re fishing, and especially if you know that you’re going to be flipping most of the time, keep that backup rig on the casting deck next to you. And don’t mess around; get the bait back in there NOW.

— Neosporin/Band-Aid pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla.