Consistently Brent Ehrler
by Scott Hellesen

Recently I was given the opportunity and privilege of speaking with one of the top professional anglers and nicest guys in the sport today. This man has amassed over a million dollars in career earnings and just won his first event of the year fishing the FLW Western Series event on Lake Shasta. (Update: First 2 events of the year with FLW Western Series Shasta and the FLW Tour event on Table Rock Lake) The man I am talking about is of course Brent Ehrler. Ehrler took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his recent win on Lake Shasta and about his thoughts on fishing the 2010 FLW Tour and Western Series.

When I called to contact Ehrler about one week after his victory on Lake Shasta I caught him in the middle of making an appearance at a boat and fishing tackle show in Illinois. He answered and I told him I was writing an article about him and he lit up with excitement as if it was the first article anyone had ever written about him, obviously it's not, and jokingly asked if I would call him a little later because he didn't want to be talking on the phone and trying to talk to everyone at the show at the same time. He really is nice down to earth guy and willing to talk fishing all day long. I called him back a few hours later and we chatted for a while about Lake Shasta and the coming year.

I started by asking Brent about his winning pattern on Lake Shasta. He told me that he had a few key areas that really produced well for him. His main spot happened to be over by the dam on a rocky point where he targeted fish in roughly 40 feet of water. The area he was fishing was a long point that had a large flat in about 40 feet of water next to it and a steep drop off that went into about 70 feet of water. The deep water access was the key in his eyes because that's what he believed kept the fish replenished on the spot throughout the tournament.

On the first two days of the tournament his main bait was a wacky rigged 5” Yamamoto Senko in Green Pumpkin or Cinnamon black flake rigged with a 3/32 nail weight. Brent went on to say that he was fishing the bait on a spinning set up with 12 lb braid and an 8 lb Sunline Super FC Sniper Fluorocarbon leader. Brent believed that the low stretch and castability of the braid really gave him the edge on detecting those deep water bites. However, on the final two days of the tournament Brent reached for his drop-shot rod. Again he fished with the braid and fluorocarbon leader with a 4 ½ inch Oxblood Robowom or a thin 5” Yamamoto Senko in Green Pumpkin and went on to win the tournament with a four day total of 42 lbs 12 onces.

I asked Brent how he approaches a lake that he has only fished once in his life over ten years ago and if his pre-fish results led him to believe he was on a potential tournament winning pattern. He told me that he looks at old tournament results online for the time of year he is fishing and the techniques used to win the events. He knew that Senkos had won tournaments in the past and found a good bite during his pre-fish time on the water. The fish he was catching didn't lead him to believe he would win, but he said he figured he could cash a check. Brent stuck with his pattern and worked hard every day and did enough to be in the top 5 and gave himself a chance for a victory. He went on to say that consistency is very important to him and he never goes into a tournament “swinging for the fences” in hopes of a win. Rather Brent's approach and goal is to put fish in the boat and put himself in position to catch a few big fish and cash a check at every event. His consistency can be clearly seen in his results at Shasta where he never had a massive sack, but slowly made his move from 5 th place to a win over the four day tournament with consistently catching quality fish. Brent said he is very excited for the upcoming season and is looking forward to a strong showing at all the stops on the FLW Tour and Western Series.

With a good start to the season and high hopes for a very productive year Brent has signed deals with a few new companies and was very excited to tell me all about his new sponsors. Ehrler has three new sponsors for the 2010 season and gave me a few details on each. Yamamoto Baits is now sponsoring Brent and he jokingly told me it's a relief to finally be able to say that he was fishing a Senko rather than being forced to say he was fishing an “unknown bait” as he has won many tournaments on Yamamoto products and has always wanted to just be able to just say the word “Senko” in an interview. Next he told me about a company called Wave Away that produces a product used for cleaning the screens on your sonar and GPS units. Brent says the cleaner works really well and he uses it to get the water spots off his electronics. His third new sponsor is Power-Pole, which is a mechanical pole that is mounted on the back of your boat and used to anchor your boat in shallow water. Brent told me that he just had one installed on his boat and is very anxious to use it out on the water.

With his new sponsors and great start to the 2010 season Brent has high hopes for the year. Brent Ehrler is not only one of the best fisherman year in and year out, but he is also a really great down to earth guy to talk fishing with. With the 2010 FLW Tour and Western Series seasons amongst us, keep an eye out for Ehrler's name to be atop the leader boards and watch as one of the best sticks and hardest working guys in the fishing world goes out there and consistently flat out catches fish and cashes checks!