Entry 333-3

How to Win a Bass Tournament with Denny Brauer

Part 3: Listen to the Little Man in Your Head

Question: Denny, what’s another reason anglers don’t win?

Brauer: When you’re chunking and winding all day, you can get bored and lazy, which affects your ability to make good mental decisions. For instance, you can be fishing down a bank and not catching anything, and you think, “I should pull-up my trolling motor, crank-up my big engine and run 20-miles down the lake.” But instead of following that instinct and making that move right then, you say, “Well, that’s a hassle. I’ll just fish another 1/4-mile down this bank.” I call this type of fishing robot fishing.

I analyze a lot of tournament fishermen, and many of them are robots. They get locked into one pattern or one lure, and they fish that technique, pattern or lure all day. At the end of the day, their excuse is, “The bass weren’t biting.” Many times if they’d each made one little change and listened to their guts, they could have had great days on the water. When you’re fishing, you have to constantly be analyzing what’s happening, as far as weather, wind, bait and water conditions. You have to see those changes that occur throughout the day and mentally decide to switch your tactics or lures to better suit those conditions.

Now, don’t think I don’t get into that robot mode at times. Many times we second-guess ourselves. We say, “Oh, I could make that change. But I’m not really sure that if I did I’d catch more bass.” Right there is where confidence plays a major role in bass fishing. When you think you need to make a change, you need the confidence that if you do make the change, you’ll catch more bass. If you tell yourself the lie, “Well, if I make that change, it probably won’t make any difference,” then that change probably won’t make any difference. But if you feel that the spinner bait’s not working for you, but the crankbait may work, you need the confidence to lay- down that spinner bait and pick-up that crankbait, believing you’ll catch bass.

The most-critical keys required to win a bass tournament is: having the confidence you can win that tournament; making good decisions quickly; and executing those decisions as soon as you make them, based on what you know about wind, weather and water conditions and how they change throughout the day. In any sport or business, confidence is the key factor and then the ability to make right decisions consistently always determines the winner or the loser.

Question: Denny, we’ve known you for a long time, and we know that part of your decision-making process is intuitive. There’s a little bird inside your brain that says, “Denny, do this,” and you instantly respond to that message. How have you learned to follow your intuitive sense when you’re bass fishing?

Brauer: That little voice inside your head wants you to win, and it’s a major part of winning. That voice speaks to you more strongly the more time you have on the water. The mind is a wonderful machine. It stores far-more information than we realize, and it knows what we need to do, even when we don’t know consciously. I spent years as a fishing guide, and during those years spent fishing, I almost became a product of nature.

Today, when I’m on the water, and the weather clouds-up, without even thinking, I know what to do and how to change my strategies, my baits and possibly my locations. When the wind picks-up, without thinking, I know what I need to do, where I need to fish, and the lures I need to be fishing. When rain starts falling, I know what the bass are doing and intuitively know what I need to do catch them. When you’ve got that little man inside your head telling you, “This is what you need to do,” don’t question what he’s telling you. Just do it. If he says, “Go to that windy bank,” you don’t ask why, you don’t try to reason or argue. You pull-up your trolling motor and go to the windy bank. If he says, “Denny, now’s the time to run 20-miles up the lake to that spot you found in practice and hadn’t planned to fish,” I don’t argue with that little man. I just go.

You don’t do what others do, and ask, “Why am I doing this?” Just follow the little man’s directions. He’s led me astray occasionally, but he’s also put a lot of money in my pocket. I’ve learned over the years not to argue or reason with him, but to just do what he says. Most times he’s right, and I’m wrong.

Question: How do you develop an ear for that inner voice?

Brauer: It all comes down to time on the water and building-up that confidence that when that little man tells you something – to move, change baits or whatever – that you not only do what he says, but you do it quickly. You don’t hesitate, argue or reason. You just do it. Those little men inside our heads can read all the fishing data we’ve stored in our brains over the many years of fishing. The little man wants me to win. And, while I’m fishing, that little man’s analyzing everything I’ve learned about fishing and picking the best-case scenario that will help me win. The more time you put-in on the water, the smarter that little man gets, the better decisions he’ll make, and the more you’ll learn to trust him. You have to be willing to give him a break, because he’s not always right. But I’ve found he’s right more times than I am, and so I don’t question or argue with him. I just do what he says.

Next: Execution, Focus and Education

Contents:

• Part 1: You Have to Know You Can Win
• Part 2: Equip Yourself to Win
• Part 3: Listen to the Little Man in Your Head
• Part 4: Execution, Focus and Education
• Part 5: You've Got to Have a Strength - That's Right, a Favorite Way to Fish