Day off with Elite Bryan New

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Photography by
Shane Durrance
Captions by
Shane Durrance
Unfortunately the first day of the St. Croix Bassmaster Southern Open at Cherokee Lake was canceled due to high wind. So Bryan New became our target for a gallery. When we found New, he was rescuing a baby turtle from the backroads.
Who “knew” he had a soft heart for aquatic animals.
New said that he likes to prepare for his next tournament on days off. The Bassmaster Elite Series will be at Chickamauga Lake starting on April 7 — just next week.
So, New started rigging a few of his 100 Fitzgerald rods.
Organizing tackle, rods and reels is extremely time consuming, especially if an angler is going from a spotted bass lake to a largemouth lake.
Everyone notices and asks about the numerous sets of electronics on New’s boat. New runs six units in total and has to power them and his boat with two 36-volt and two 12-volt Lithium Pro batteries.
The electronics are a mixture of Hummingbird, Lowrance and Garmin, and they all have their specific purpose. Here is his formula. The Helix 10 is strictly for LakeMaster mapping, the Helix 12 is for satellite/LakeMaster mapping and Mega side imaging. The Lowrance HDS Live 12 is for C-map mapping, 2-D sonar and downscan. New feels that the Lowrance side imaging is better for locating fish, and the Humminbird side imaging is better for finding structure.
One cool thing New mentioned is he uses the FishSmart app to add waypoints and potential target areas before practice. He said he can also transfer those waypoints to his Humminbird units via Bluetooth.
Brittney, his wife and road partner, does so much behind the scenes — from running the business, to organizing tackle, labeling reels with size of line, and most importantly, keeping his electronics updated. 
The majority of the line that New uses is fluorocarbon. New said that at Chickamauga he would use anything from 10- to 20-pound test depending on baits and clarity of water.
New pays close attention to detail. One thing that he does before each tournament is makes notes of what baits he needs for the event so he doesn’t miss anything.
Here is where everyone needs to pay attention. There is a tool that many anglers don’t invest in that New says is a moneymaker … or money getter.
That tool is his lure knocker. He said that his knocker has reclaimed thousands upon thousands of dollars’ worth of expensive crank baits.

New has done incredibly well this year on the Bassmaster Elite Series. At the end of the day, you know what they say: Behind every good fisherman is a darn good woman.