SANDUSKY, Ohio — Not long ago Brian Schramm pursued the loftiest of goals in two different interests. A GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro berth and career as a music-recording artist topped his bucket list.
Neither would be easy to achieve, but after Thursday he’s closer to making hit music than hoisting the Classic trophy before cheering fans.
This week music is on hold as Schramm competes at the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Open #3 presented by Allstate. His Day 1 on Lake Erie got cut short due to misfortune. Ironically, it wasn’t from the Great Lake’s late-September winds.
Just 15 minutes into the day he boated a 4-pound smallmouth, the first of many more he planned to place in the livewell. Instead, upon opening the lid the water gushed into the boat. The bilge pump on his boat had failed. Schramm dispatched a rescue boat and returned to safety.
Just being here, though, required scheduling around commitments in the music business. This Open is his only of the season, in a year filled with promising events.
“It’s now or never, so I’m putting everything I have into the music,” said Schramm, 30, a native of Detroit.
“I love fishing, though, and still want to compete when I can.”
Schramm just wrapped a recording session in Nashville, where he cut a debut solo album to be released next month. The full album of 11 songs is titled “Brian James Schramm.”
Session players included members of Reba McIntire’s band and fiddle player Jimmy Mattingly, who plays for Garth Brooks and is a standalone star of the bow.
A record deal is imminent and Schramm makes frequent trips to Nashville, where he’s networking within the industry and plugging his album. The new record is old style country fused with Schramm’s rock-influenced past.
“I’m country to the bone, and always have been and it was just a natural progression,” he said. “Once I started playing country I just couldn’t stop.”
Schramm picked up the guitar for the first time at age 15. He grew up surrounded by musicians, namely his father who played honky tonk style country around Detroit.
He went on to play with Uncle Kracker and appeared on Jay Leno, Regis and Kathy and other popular TV programs. He left the group voluntarily to pursue a solo career.
The music Schramm plays now is much different from what his bass fishing fans recall. Several years ago “The Rockin’ Fisherman” cut three albums of fishing songs with titles like “Bassin USA,” and “The Spot Stealing Song.” He performed many of the songs from the “Rockin’ Fish Tales” record at the 2012 Classic in Shreveport, La.
That’s when his competitive fire got lit after hanging around friend Mark Zona, co-host of The Bassmasters. Schramm initially connected to the glitz of fishing after emailing a file of songs to muskie expert and TV personality Pete Mania. He received a reply and the networking began. He fished with walleye experts Keith Kavajecz and Gary Parsons on “The Next Bite.”
“Being around those guys really influenced my path into fishing,” he said. “It was hard to decide between which career I wanted to pursue.”
Schramm competed as a co-angler during the 2013 season of the Northern and Central Opens. He did it again the next year too, although his music performance played better than bass fishing luck. On the final day of the Opens competitions he warmed up the crowd prior to the final weigh-ins held at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor stores.
All the while Schramm operated a guide business on Lake St. Clair, taking clients out for bass, muskie and walleye on the fishery near his home.
He will be disappointed this week without a strong performance at the Open. Even so, he plans to compete when time allows.
“Maybe I’ll be returning to the Classic sometime soon, I hope,” he said. “I might not ride into the arena with a livewell filled with fish, but the feeling will nearly be the same.”