Entry 72-5

Denny Brauer

Brauer’s Comeback

Editor's Note: Denny Brauer, of Camdenton, Missouri, has had has 64-top-10 finishes and 14 career wins in BASS, with the most recent being the Southern Open at Wheeler Lake. Brauer, the 1998 Bassmaster Classic champion and the 1987 BASS Angler of the Year has fished in 17 Classics and has earned over $1.7 million on the BASS circuit alone. Brauer, the first angler to be on the Wheaties Breakfast of Champions cereal box, is one of the most well-recognized and best-known bass fishermen in the nation.

Denny Brauer has lived the American dream. Through perseverance and hard work and having the courage to take a chance on his dream, Denny Brauer went from earning $15,000 a year to earning more than $1 million in one year of tournament fishing. Only in America can a family with vision and courage so drastically turn their lives around and improve their family's fortune.

In 1998, Brauer won the Bassmasters Classic Championship and also appeared on the David Letterman show. But then, tragedy struck. ''Right after the 1999 Bassmasters Classic, I was fishing when a really big boat passed by my boat,'' Brauer says. ''The wave from that boat threw me up in the air, and when I landed, I blew out a disc in my back.'' Hospitalized for some time, Brauer then had to endure four lower-back operations and struggled just to stand up in a boat. Many fishermen believed Brauer's competitive career had ended. A lesser man would have quit tournament fishing. Brauer had earned enough that he didn't have to return to the tournament trail again. He had a TV show, speaking engagements and a list of sponsors who believed that he could teach other fishermen how to win bass tournaments. Although Brauer made a noble effort, very few thought Brauer could return to that peak level of concentration and skill required to fish competitively.

However, Brauer continually fought his disability and its associated pain as well as the thoughts of having to give up his competitive fishing career. With his September 27, 2003, win at the Bassmaster Southern Open on Wheeler Lake in north Alabama, Brauer proved he's the greatest comeback fisherman in the world of bass fishing. Brauer had to play on a field of rainy, bad weather, high water and difficult fishing conditions for his first win in four years. While others searched for excuses for losing this past weekend, Brauer looked for ways to win. He returned to his roots and the bass-fishing technique that had won many tournaments for him. He said he flipped the 1/2-ounce black-and-blue, Strike King Pro Model Jig with his own Denny Brauer Chunk by Strike King on the back of it, and once again proved his mastery of this technique and his ability to catch bass on it.

Contents:

• Part 1: From Brick Laying to Bass Fishing
• Part 2: Me, The Guide
• Part 3: My First Break
• Part 4: My Motivation
• Part 5: Brauer’s Comeback