Entry 11-5

Fishing with Chad Brauer

Brauer's Most-Memorable Fishing

Editor's Note: Twenty-nine-year old Chad Brauer, from Osage Beach, Missouri, has fished professionally for six years. He won the 1996 Tennessee Top-100, has had nine top-10 finishes, has competed in the BASS Master's Classic and enjoys fishing with Strike King lures.

Question: Tell me about any great fishing experiences you have had. Tell me what the weather was like and what happened.

Answer: The best single day of tournament fishing that I have ever had was up on Lake Champlain. The tournament was in September of 1998, I believe. There were bluebird skies and the temperature was around 70, with calm winds. The day was as nice as you can expect in Vermont at that time of the year.

The last day of the tournament arrived, and I had been doing fairly well. I was catching bass on a Pro-Model jig out of thick weeds, in one foot of water. For some reason, the fish moved up in those weeds, and I probably ended up catching 35 to 40 largemouth that were over 3 pounds each. My partner probably caught another 20 or 25. The weather was nice, and there was as many fish as you wanted to catch all day long.

Question: So, it wasn't your expertise or your fishing skills that helped you catch bass that day?

Answer: My fishing skills found the fish, but luck helped out too.

Question: Tell us a little bit about the future for you. What are you hoping for? What do you see?

Answer: I think I've probably got the same goals as all the pro fishermen. I would like to win Angler of the Year as the points champion, and, of course, qualify for the BASS Masters Classic every year. The Classic continues to get tougher and tougher. Too, winning every tournament you go to is always a big deal. I would like to continue doing it.

I'm only 29. My dad is in his 50s, and he is willing to keep going. So I figure I've got as many years as I want. I would like to settle down a little bit and cut down on a few of the tournaments. I would like to see the sport become similar to golfing; where you can pick or choose 10 tournaments throughout the year to go to rather than have to be gone for three weeks at a time. I have a couple of kids at home with whom I want to spend more.

Question: Will you ever get tired of fishing?

Answer: Oh, I think we all get tired of it. There is no job that you can have that if you do it continuously, you're not ready for a break -- particularly every year in May, We are on the road 80% of the time, up until the end of May. At that point, you're ready to take some time off. We used to wonder how our dads could tire of golf tournaments, but it's the same thing. It all looks great on the outside, but once you're doing it all the time, it kind of gets old.

Fishing with Chad Brauer

Brauer's Most-Memorable Fishing

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