Entry 333-2
How to Win a Bass Tournament with Denny Brauer
Editor’s Note: The first week of November, 2009, Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, told us the five things he believed were important to winning bass tournaments. VanDam mentioned that one of the people who taught him the mindset required to win a bass tournament was Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Missouri. So, this week, we asked Brauer to tell us his five most-important keys to winning bass tournaments.
Part 2: Equip Yourself to Win
Question: Denny, what did you mean yesterday when you said you had to equip yourself to win?
Brauer: In the early days of bass fishing, I had to scrimp and save and use rods, reels and tackle I wouldn’t be proud to fish with today. And, not using good equipment hindered my success in those early days. If you get the very-best rods, reels, lines and lures and are totally prepared to win, in regards to your equipment, you drastically increase your chances to win. Your lures have to be well-organized in your boat. You have to know where they are in your boat and that the hooks are sharp, the crankbaits are tuned, the skirts on your spinner baits are trimmed, and every piece of equipment is ready to help you win.
I’ve looked in some competitors’ tackle boxes and seen rusty hooks and slip sinkers with the paint chipped off. 
I’ve seen equipment in disrepair that I absolutely wouldn’t tolerate. I look inside some people’s boats, and they’re total messes. When you’ve got a mess in your boat or your tackle box, you can’t be as efficient in a tournament as you can be, if you’re well-organized and have every piece of equipment in the proper place.
I’m very particular about my equipment. I spend a lot of time working with my equipment, getting organized and knowing where to find every lure. Then when I’m on the water, all I have to concentrate on is my cast, feeling the bass, setting the hook and putting the bass in the boat.
If you really want to win a bass tournament, instead of going to one of the BASS Elite events and following a competitor all over the lake to see how he fishes, spend some time with the competitor and learn what he does to get his tackle ready before a tournament, how he treats his tackle during the tournament, and how much time he spends after the tournament’s ended preparing his tackle for the next day of fishing. Casting and winding is casting and winding. 
But having that equipment ready so that it performs the very-best it possibly can each day, each hour and each minute that you’re fishing is often the difference between winning and losing.
Perhaps we’ll never fish exactly like Kevin VanDam, Greg Hackney, George Cochran, Larry Nixon or the other legends of bass fishing. The way they cast and work lures is unique to their personalities and their styles of fishing. But the one ingredient all the winners have is they spend a lot of time preparing, taking care of and working with their equipment – rods, lures, lines, reels, boats, motors, electronics and everything else. If you want to win, learn your tackle like you know your children.
