Entry 107-1

How To Win Bass Tournaments With Denny Brauer

Blow it Off, But Learn

Editor's Note: To win bass tournaments, you have to prevent yourself from losing. You can have the best equipment, be fishing at the best places and have everything you can possibly need to win a tournament, but if your attitude isn't right, there's a good chance you'll lose. There have been some anglers who've won the Bassmaster Classic and never again have returned to that winning form. Bass fishing consists of more losing than winning. How do you recover from a bad day of fishing or from a bad tournament? How do you mentally prepare yourself, not only to fish the next tournament well, but to win the next tournament.

One of the most-consistent winners on the BASS circuit is Strike King Pro Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri. Brauer not only has won all the major bass-fishing events, he came back from what could have been a career-ending back injury, and returned to his winning form and the top level of competition. Brauer's attitude is responsible for his wins just as much as his fishing skills. This week, we've asked Brauer to tell us how to overcome difficulties and get your fishing back on the winning track.

Brauer: I look at the world of professional-bass fishing as a job that I do. I get up every morning, put on my pants and go to work. Some weeks I make a good payday. Other weeks I don't get paid. But every day, I go to work. If I win a tournament, I don't get too pumped up, too excited or too proud of myself. If I lose a tournament, or don't catch any bass, I don't get too depressed. I try to keep my mental state on a very-even keel, regardless of whether that day deals me a winning hand or a losing hand.

When I go fishing, I think to myself, "I'm going to try to work as hard as I can, use everything I've learned, use the lures I think are the best for that day and on that water and then whatever happens just happens." I don't look back much at my wins or my losses. I could really care less about what I did yesterday, because yesterday is history.

What is important to me is what will I do tomorrow, and tomorrow is what I focus my attention on after I've come in off the water and the day is over. Now, don't get me wrong. When I come off the water, if I haven't caught the fish that I felt I should catch, I really get mad at myself, because I'm a competitor. I really, really hate to lose. But by the end of the day, I shut the door on that anger and focus on what I have learned that day to get ready to fish the next day.

To fish consistently and to catch bass more frequently, try to learn something new or different every day you fish, whether you catch bass or don't catch bass. If you dwell on whether you've won or lost a tournament, especially if you've lost, or haven't caught any fish for the day, you'll mess up your mind for the next day of fishing or the next tournament you have to fish.

I've seen tournament fishermen who have really done poorly in a tournament, and that one poor performance will cause them not to do well in the next tournament. I don't want to be like that. If you're a tournament fisherman or just a weekend angler, you'll have more trips and tournaments where you don't catch fish or you perform poorly than you'll have days where you catch several fish or you win the tournament.

If you get angry, frustrated and mad every time you have a poor day of fishing, or every tournament that you fish poorly in, you won't be a happy person, and bass fishing won't be what it can be for you. If your objective is to learn every day on the water, and when you come off the water begin to think about what you've learned instead of the fish you've caught or haven't caught, you'll be a much more-successful-bass fisherman and a much-happier person.




 

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