Daily Limit: Browning’s fortune cookie pattern

Stephen Browning reacts to winning the Bass Pro Shops Central Open on Ross Barnett.

Never in his years of eating Chinese food has Stephen Browning opened a fortune cookie that mentioned fishing, let alone tell him he would do well fishing.

That all changed Friday night, after he had climbed back into the Bass Pro Shops Central Open at Ross Barnett. The Hot Springs, Ark., pro was 36th after Day 1, but after rising to fifth he went to dinner with wife, Tammy, their son, Beau and his fishing partner, Cole Lamb.

Technically, Browning, 51, didn’t break open the folded sugar cookie and discover the tiny paper prophesy; his wife did.

“She said, ‘Oh my gosh! You have to read this! This should have been yours,’” Browning said.

It read: If you go fishing, your catch will be plentiful.

“I’m like, ‘I should have opened that one,’” Browning said. “Then we were like, ‘No, no, we’re a team. That’s meant for all of us.’”

Confucious say, roll with it.

He did. Stephen caught the largest bag on Day 3 of 16 pounds, 8 ounces for a 44-0 total that gave him his third Open title and fourth B.A.S.S. victory overall.

Everything comes to him who waits

Browning’s week might be best described by the above Chinese proverb. Each day he had to practice extreme patience, and each day he was rewarded. He did not cull once in the event, landing only 15 fish, and he filled his limit late each day.

On Day 1, Browning lost several key fish and caught No. 5 for his 11-7 total with 15 minutes remaining in his fishing time. Meanwhile, his co-angler and eventual winner, Justin Leet, topped him with three fish for 13-4.

“He only had 3 keeper bites all day, but they were a 3, 4 and 5,” Browning said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, really?’ It didn’t go my way the first day, but it dang sure did the next two.”

Browning fishes early on Day 3.

On Friday, No. 5 came with 10 minutes left. The day was extremely trying, Browning said, so much so he told his co-angler it was the toughest limit he’d ever caught. Surprising since Browning has excelled on Ross Barnett. He was 15th in the Elite event there last year and posted a fifth and a second in Opens in 2015 and 2014. In 1998, he led the Barnett Open after Day 1 before finishing 21st.

“You don’t think I wasn’t a nervous wreck? I thought about it late on Day 2. ‘Dadgummit man, you’re streak is over here.’ This has always been a good pond to me,” he said, kind of giving himself a pep talk. “‘Don’t get discouraged. Just keep fishing it.’ I catch 5 and a 3 at end of day; the streak is alive.”

That 16-1 bag was a huge boost to Browning’s confidence as well as jumping him 32 spots up the leaderboard to fifth. He gives a ton of credit to a big switch in equipment after Day 1, calling it the difference between winning and losing. 

“I went to a longer 7-10 rod, a faster reel and heavier line,” he said. “If I had stuck with what I had on Day 1, I would have never won that tournament. Never.”

On Day 3, the winning fish came with five minutes left in his day. In the morning, about six of the final 12 were fishing in the area where Browning believed the event would be won. He caught one early and ran to other spots, knowing he needed to spend his final hour and a half there.

In practice, he told Beau and Lamb the event would be won along this specific grass line, and he caught seven of his keepers there. He even pointed out a specific spot that might hold a kicker.

“I had told the guys, this is a winning place right here,” he said. “There won’t be a lot of fish out here, but I guarantee they’ll be the right ones. That little clump of reeds right there — it sits out there by itself — that’s the place where you can catch a big one.”

Back in his favored area, Browning’s run began. He caught two 5-pounders, one at 12:30 on the reeds, and another 15 minutes later. He knew he now had a chance to win. An hour passed before his next bite, a 2 ¾. Then at 2 p.m. with five minutes before he had to run in, he filled his limit with a 2-pounder.

“I had a lot of confidence,” Browning said. “I had a gut feeling and really utilized a lot of patience. This time of year, there’s that bite that happens in the afternoon. I stayed focus and had that gut feeling that if you just keep chunking line, you’re going to eventually get one.

“The whole event set up the way I normally win. It seems like every time when I win one of these Opens, fishing gets tougher, yet I get better.”

Browning’s two other Opens wins were on the Red River in 2013 and 2014. His first victory was in a 1998 Top 150 on Alabama’s Logan Martin Lake. This win came after probably his most disappointing Elite season, in which he only made two cuts. It serves as affirmation that he can still get things done.

“I was just watching golf and saw Phil Mickelson win. He’s 47, and I just texted a buddy of mine that these old blue hairs still have it,” said Browning, admitting fishing is a crazy sport. “If you really put it in perspective — how many tournament fishermen there are and how many at this level there are — you almost have to have a loose screw to be able to do this.

Team Browning celebrates the victory on Saturday.

“It’s awesome, and it’s very rewarding when you have success. It’s not easy doing it. You just don’t run out there and eat a box of Wheaties and say I’m going to be a champion. But you’re not competing against other fishermen, your competing against the fish. I’ve got a lot of confidence now and hope to be able to carry that through the rest of the season.”

Lots of General Tso’s chicken in order

Don’t be surprised if Browning tries the Chinese food pattern for more tournaments this year. Odds are he won’t get another fortune like this week’s, but there’s no harm in trying. He’s seen it attempted.

“This is funny,” he said. “Back when I was fishing club tournaments in Stuttgart, a good buddy of mine and I would always eat Chinese food on Friday before the Saturday tournaments. We never got anything remotely like that — ‘You’re going to catch … ’ But it was funny, because he always looked at the fortune and would go, ‘How can I relate that to tomorrow.’”

The Brownings didn’t have to rationalize anything with this fortune, although his catch wasn’t exactly plentiful, just plenty enough. Maybe, the positive vibe stuck in Browning’s mind, offered that extra boost of confidence or the will to remain diligent when things didn’t appear so bright.

Maybe it was just coincidence.

“I bet I’ve had thousands of fortune cookies and never has one ever said anything about fishing,” Browning said. “There’s been some things that related to fishing, but fishing has never been in the text.”

So, then that’s why you won? A Chinese fortune cookie?

Well, sure, the entire Team Browning team realized that Friday night after dinner.

“Every one of them were like, ‘He’ll win this thing.’ ‘You’re fixing to win this tournament,’” Browning said. “And I’m like, ‘You know what, I think I am.’ That just doesn’t happen.”