Entry 107-3

How To Win Bass Tournaments With Denny Brauer

Preparation Is The Key To Overcoming A Bad Day Of Fishing

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: To overcome a bad day of fishing, prepare the night before to fish. The connection between the angler and the bass is one of the biggest fishing problems. If you have a bad connection and lose a fish that may win a tournament, or change your day from a bad day to a good day, you quickly realize the link between you and bass is the most-critical element to changing a bad day to a good day.

I definitely believe that this year I have improved the link between me and the bass by starting to fish with Stren's Super Braid line. I always have been dead-set against using braided line, because I've felt that monofilament line is far superior for many reasons. However, this year I've decided to try the braided line and I've noticed a huge advantage in my fishing by using the braided line. I wasn't losing any bass and having any problems fishing monofilament line, but I do think the braided line gives me a greater advantage than I had before when I fished in thick cover.

When you pitch and flip in really-thick cover, the speed at which you can set the hook and get that bass out of the cover often determines whether you'll put the bass in the boat or lose the fish. Stren Super Braid allows me to strike the bass much quicker and apply much-more force to the rod and the line to get the fish's head turned up and away from the cover than monofilament does. Once this year when I fished with 50-pound-test Stren Braided line and hooked and landed a 10-pound bass that I may not have landed if I hadn't been using that braided line. When you flip and pitch Strike King's jigs, tubes and soft plastics into heavy cover, I believe you can increase your odds of having a good day by fishing with some of the new braided lines that are on the market.

Question: Denny, you have won a Bassmaster Classic, but you've lost all the rest of them. What do you plan to do this year to try to win?

Brauer: Winning the Classic is really important to me, and it will be a great win for me. However, this year, instead of having only one chance to win, I have two chances to win, because my son, Chad, will fish in this year's Classic also. I really hope I finish second this year, because I really would like for Chad to win. I think Chad is at a point in his career where he needs a big win, like the Classic, to take his bass-fishing career to the next level. This year he's made a good run for Angler of the Year, and he needs to either win the Angler-of-the-Year Award or a Bassmaster Classic to better establish himself in the bass-fishing world. Don't get me wrong. I'm in the Classic to win, but I'll be far from disappointed if I finish second behind Chad. But I don't want him to beat me by much if he were to win, 2 or 3 ounces would be plenty.
 

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