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That looked like it would be no problem after good catches the first two days, but on the third day he “had some battles with some striper fishermen” and fell to 18th place.
“I was pissed,” he said. “But while I was waiting for my check, they called me, J. Todd (Tucker) and Mark Burgess backstage. They said ‘You’re probably going to get called.’ I was overwhelmed.”
He had to leave immediately to follow Rick Clunn down to Del Rio, where he was going to participate in Clunn’s outdoor awareness school, so he had 500 miles of road to think about the decision.
“Everything just hit me all at once,” he recalled. “I knew that I had achieved my goal, my five year plan, but I didn’t have all my ducks in a row.” Those “ducks,” $55,000 worth in entry fees, plus associated expenses, would be tough to pin down and he had limited time. BASS told him that his first installment would be due on December 8th, which gave him a little over a month to make a decision that could change his life.
Now he has made the decision and the answer is the one he wanted to give – when the Elite Series pros line up for the season opener at Amistad next year he’ll be among their ranks. The man dubbed “Brody of the Lake” by Fish Fishburne is now “Elite Brody.”
Water Tested?
Brody has been with BASS for a long time, primarily through the Ohio Federation ranks, but his focused quest to become a top-tier pro has only taken shape in the past several years. He has participated in 35 Opens, 29 of them as a boater.
In those 29 boater entries, his top finish was 9th place in 2005 at West Point. His only other top 20 finish was the 18th place at Texoma that pulled him into Elite contention.
Only four years after he began this last leg of his effort to go Elite, he made it. Does he have any concerns that it happened too soon?
“I have no problem whatsoever with the angler field,” he replied. “I’ve been trained by the best anglers in the world. I can be a 40th place angler at that level. I’ll take my 60s, I’ll take my 100s, but I’ll have some 10ths
too. It’s a huge step to go from six events to eleven events, but each time I change systems, the third year is when I start excelling. So, by the third year, that’s when I want to make that quantum leap.”
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Pro Advice
Broderick’s efforts to glean advice from top-achieving anglers did not just begin when the Elite Series became a reasonable possibility. Long before he formally trained at Clunn’s school, dating all the way back to his first Open as a non-boater in 2002, he enlisted the counsel of top-achieving pros to help him complete his five year plan.
“Skeet Reese is probably my biggest psychiatrist,” he said. “He said he wishes there was a camera on me all the time. And Byron
(Velvick) is like my big brother. He has seen me struggle and now he’s working his magic for me.”
But neither of those pros could make the decision whether it was the right time to invest six figures in his fishing career. But in talking with those two and Boyd
Duckett, among others, Broderick said he’s come up with a “hard number that I have to have to be comfortable for two years.” |
He said that he’s “committed to fishing this year no matter what. The first question I got was ‘How many checks do you have to cash?’ and I refused to answer. You can’t be thinking that way and do well at this level.”
He has also taken note of anglers whose skill was there, but who didn’t have all of their financial ducks in a row. “Bink Desaro , Bradley Stringer, they both called me on their way out,” he said. “I will not do it unless the numbers are right.”
Show Me the Money
BASS extended the first payment deadline, but that extra time didn’t make Broderick’s decision to go forward any easier.
“With the way the market is, and guys like Brent Chapman and Greg Hackney losing their deals, I knew it would be tough,” he said. “I tried to go to local companies first and not a single person said no, but they’re not helping me yet.” Those local businesses said they’ll evaluate their status, and his, a few months down the road and make a decision at that point. No doors were slammed in his face, but his wallet didn’t get any fatter, either.
His nephew plays in the NFL and offered to forward Brody’s information to his agent. “This was a guy who never picked up a rod, never messed with fishing at all. He represents NASCAR guys and probably a hundred NFL players, but he let me spend the next two days educating him about bass fishing. He’s working it for me, but I know that title sponsors are hard to come by.”
Broderick already had $2,400 invested with BASS for 2009, in the form of deposits to hold a slot in both the Northern and Southern Opens. They told him that money could be transferred to the Elite Series. While he knew it would help, he also knew that was only a very small percentage of what he’d eventually have to spend to compete at the Elite level.
On top of the initial payment, another $8,000 would be due on January 20th, but despite the mounting bills he was characteristically upbeat. “If I can just get those entry fees paid, that’ll give me a chance to go to the Classic and pick up some smaller sponsors. I just want to secure some product deals and some incentive plans, where they’ll pay me if I make some top tens or make the Classic. I know how it is right now.”
Pulling the Trigger
Despite his understandable hesitance to commit to the costs of the Elite Series, the decision to make the leap was almost a foregone conclusion.
“This is more than just me,” he said. “When you look at the sacrifices my wife has made, she has been so supportive. And my son, who is seven, and my daughter, who is ten, they don’t know anything but fishing. This is a big achievement for the family.”
He also cited long-term sponsors like Triton and Mercury, both of whom gave him deals that may have exceeded his accomplishments to date. “Not many Open guys got the deals that I had,” he said. “So I feel like I have an obligation to my sponsors and my fans. I’ve defied the odds. I did every level you’re supposed to do, from non-boater in a club to boater, then president of the club then president of the region, all the way on up. I was one of the first guys to be a non-boater in the Opens, one of four of us invited by Al Smith.”
“Now is the time to start my next five year plan, to make the Classic and start being a staple on the Elite Series.” |
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