Entry 97-5

Denny Brauer - Back On Top Again - The Heart Of A Champion

Last Day of the Lake Eufaula Tournament

Editor's Note: Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri, never fishes for second place. He always competes to win. Brauer has developed a strategy that has made him one of America's top professional-bass fisherman. In one year, Brauer earned $1 million in competitive bass fishing and endorsement money, made appearances on television and became the first professional angler featured on the Wheaties - Breakfast of Champions - cereal box. But in 1999, Brauer sustained a back injury that many believed would destroy his career.

From then until 2002, Brauer had several operations and many months of rehab that most thought would signal the end of his bass-fishing career. But Denny Brauer and his family never gave up. Brauer always has been determined not only to win bass tournaments but also to win at life. He stands today as an example of just how far a man can go when he won't quit. In March 2004, Denny Brauer won the Bassmaster Tour Tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama, and took home $100,000 in prize money.

Brauer: On the last day of the March, 2004, Lake Eufaula tournament, I went back to the primary area where I'd fished and caught bass on days 1 and 2 of the tournament. I felt that this ugly-water place was holding even more big bass. Although I only took 11 pounds on the third day, I really felt I'd done the right thing by resting the water, staying away from it, and keeping the boat traffic off of it.

On my third or fourth cast of the morning of the last day of the tournament, I caught a 6-pound largemouth. Then I took three more smaller bass in the 3- to 4-pound range. Finally I caught a 7-pound largemouth. I had a total of 19 pounds, 2 ounces going into the scales on this final day. But I'd heard while waiting to weigh in my fish that Bink Desaro of Idaho had weighed in a 24-pound stringer. I didn't know if my fish would hold up with such a big limit of bass weighing in ahead of me. But in the end, I had enough weight of bass to win the tournament, and my belief in fishing overlooked water, ugly water, and my confidence in the Strike King Pro Model jig and the Denny Brauer 3X chunk trailer proved to be well-founded.

I like to fish jigs and tubes because these types of baits really can penetrate the cover. Oftentimes I'll find a
logjam, for instance, that maybe 100-bass fishermen have fished. However, there may be one or two spots in that logjam where no one ever has put a lure before. If I can flip or pitch a jig into a spot like that, I'll often catch a big bass. Even though the cover's not overlooked by other anglers, you may discover a particular place in the cover that's been overlooked by other fishermen, and that may be where a big bass is holding. I also like the jig and the tube because these two baits hook a high percentage of the bass that bite them. Because I get a good hook set on these baits, then regardless of what kind of cover the bass are in, I generally can land them. Also these two lures are big bulky baits and appeal to big bass. Big bass are what win tournaments.

I've been asked by many people lately why I helped Strike King develop the new Denny Brauer 3X chunk trailer. The reason is simple. I don't believe there's a better trailer in the world than this one. This trailer presents the perfect silhouette of a crawfish as it falls. The trailer is very soft and tough. So, the bass will hold it in its mouth. Then you can catch many bass on this trailer before you have to replace it. Since this chunk trailer is made of 3X material, I believe this trailer is better than anything else on the market.
 

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