A day in the boat with two top pro’s.

Since its construction over 70 years ago, Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, has been an epicenter of bass fishing. For more than 50 years, it has been home to one of the premier fishing families of North America, the Hibdon clan. And since 1981, the Brauers also have called it home.

The elder statesmen of this generation, Guido Hibdon and Denny Brauer, are ensconced among the most successful professional bass anglers of all time. And their sons, Dion Hibdon and Chad Brauer, have followed closely in their fathers’ footsteps. Indeed, Dion won the world Championship, the BASS Masters Classic, nine years after his father was crowned.

A boat ride on Lake of the Ozarks will reveal why both father-and-son teams have become legendary for their skills at extricating bass from under boat docks. The number of these structures has escalated drastically since the 1970s. Heavily populated arms of the reservoir, such as the Gravois, contain literally thousands of docks.

Though many consider these docks an eyesore, they make wonderful year-round habitat for resident largemouth and Kentucky bass. By using his home-grown dock wisdom, Dion was able to capture the bass title at Lake Logan Martin in Alabama, where docks also abound. And indeed, he and Chad Brauer have parlayed these skills to top finishes in northern natural lakes past the Canadian border.

Last fall, I fished with Chad Brauer and Dion Hibdon as they searched for bass among these manmade structures. Actually, I watched as they deftly performed their magic in the timeless test of modern technology versus the ancient instincts of aquatic creatures, taking notes to help anglers pick up new dock tricks.

Chad On The Water

A touch of frost did not deter young Brauer from prospecting beneath docks, soon after he launched at first light. Of his eight rods, five carried jig combinations, while the others were at the ready with a buzzbait, a Zara Spook, and a spinnerbait.

Though bundled as if for a snowstorm, Brauer noted that the water temperature was still in the range (low 50s) that bass would strike a lure on the surface. And he proceeded to fish the buzzer and Spook where there was substantial space between docks. For probing the docks themselves, his tool was Team Daiwa’s 71⁄2-foot flipping and pitching rod, and his bait options 3/8- and 1/2-ounce Strike King Denny Brauer Pro Model jigs, backed by BoHawg Junior Frogs. He continually tested color combinations of black-blue, brown-green-chartreuse, and black. He’d spooled 20-pound-test Stren High Impact line.

Chad deftly pitched the jigs at ladders, poles, pilings, dock sides, boats, corners, front and back ends, walkway piers, and gaps in the Styrofoam logs used to float the docks. According to Chad, the most productive docks usually are supported by white Styrofoam logs, and for unknown reasons, they become heavily laden with algae that attracts baitfish. But as Chad prospected for bass with an eye to an upcoming tournament, he did not discriminate between types of docks or the substrate and depth below them. With a furtive air, he tested any unique part of a dock’s architecture.