Stephen and Tammy Browning experienced one of life’s unforgettable moments Thursday. Stephen had already qualified and competed in three Bassmaster Classics before their son, Beau, was born.
Stephen, now 58, with 30 years of professional bass fishing experience and over $1.5 million in tournament earnings, had never felt a thrill like he did seeing his son line up for takeoff on Day 1 of the FXR Pro Fish Bassmaster Elite at the St. Johns River.
“At takeoff it was really, really surreal watching him motor out with all the guys that have watched him since he’s literally been on Tammy’s hip,” Browning said. “Two dozen of them came up to us this morning and were like, “Gosh, I remember when he was running around here, jumping in people’s boats and doing all that fun stuff.’ Now here it is, he’s fixing to be idling out, so that’s kind of when it hit us. This is real.”
The hits just kept on coming. Beau Browning, 23, weighed a five-bass limit of 17 pounds, 8 ounces, including a 7-1 largemouth, to finish 17th on the first day of his Elite Series career.
Stephen and Tammy Browning knew then that their son was right where he needed to be.
“You watch him walk across the stage, especially with the catch that he had on his first day of competition, it was just a really, really cool feeling,” Stephen said. “I don’t even know words can explain it.”
Dad didn’t push his son into following his career path. He let him figure it out on his own. There was a time when golf was as important as fishing to Beau.
“I think when I really decided I was about 14,” Beau said. “That’s when I really felt like I had the drive to make it as a pro. I was playing golf at the time and love golf. But I found my love for competition was in bass fishing. I dropped golf and went all-in on fishing.”
Practice at the St. Johns wasn’t encouraging. “It was slow and tough,” Beau said. “I found an area (on the first day of practice/Sunday) and got a handful of bites. It just felt right to me. It looked like an area I could pick apart. The rest of practice basically sucked.”
The weather changed and Florida fishing tends to change from day-to-day this time of year. But Browning had nothing better to go to, so he went back to the spot he found Sunday. And he dissected it, as is his style.
Browning finished 9th in the Bassmaster Open at Florida’s Lake Okeechobee last February. That’s next week’s stop on the Elite Series.
“I like Florida fishing in general because I like to really put my head down in an area and dissect it,” Browning said. “It’s not like one of those places where you have to run all over the place to catch ‘em. I’m more of a shallow water dissector-type fisherman. That’s more in my wheelhouse than running specific spots from one end of the lake to another and getting one bite here and one bite there. I’d much rather put the trolling motor down, get in there and dissect it, then pick up the trolling motor and go to the weigh-in.”
Interestingly, Beau Browning is now in a place where his father is striving to return. Stephen was part of the exodus to Major League Fishing that took place after the 2018 season. The emphasis there was that every fish counted, not just your heaviest five.
“I don’t regret leaving BASS, and the reason I say that is I wanted to challenge myself with the other format,” Stephen said. “It fit my style. I was always a guy that caught a lot of fish. I was always that guy who didn’t catch a big one or two.
“So, I don’t regret that. I wasn’t mad at BASS. The one thing I do regret a little was letting that inclination, that little inclination in my mind say maybe there was something better. At that stage in my career, I just felt like I needed a little bit of a shot of something. When you do something for 25 years, it gets kind of monotonous and you take it for granted.”
Stephen Browning has been competing in Bassmaster Opens, hoping to join his son one day on professional bass fishing’s biggest stage.
“Going to the Classic, there’s nothing even close,” Browning said. “B.A.S.S. has been really good to me. I want to make it back to the Elite Series and go across the stage with my son. I want to make it back to the Bassmaster Classic and go across the stage with my son.
“That would be pretty cool.”
