By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Glenn Browne has watched moves from the FLW Tour to the Bassmaster Elite Series work out well for anglers such as Ott DeFoe and David Walker in recent years. He now has an opportunity to make such a transition himself, but says he'll need to come up with some additional sponsorship money over the next few months to pull it off.
The 37-year-old Floridian is now in his 10th Tour season and is a six-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. He was the 4th-place finisher in this year's Bassmaster Southern Opens points race, and that gives him the chance to fish either or both major circuits next year.
"I wanted to give myself some options," said Browne, who skipped the Tour stop at Lake Eufaula to compete in the final Southern Open at Logan Martin. "I've spent my whole career with FLW and I've had some good sponsor deals that've come and gone.
"Every year I'm seeing things get smaller and smaller and my wife and I made the choice that we'd visit the other side if we got that opportunity. It's worked out pretty good for some other guys and I'll give it a shot if I can get the sponsor backing. I'd really like to fish in a Bassmaster Classic."
Back on His Own
Browne has fished under an FLW team deal for 6 of the past 8 campaigns. He sported the Berkley colors for 4 years before that company greatly reduced its involvement with FLW and had single-year contracts with Band-Aid (2009) and Dr. Pepper Ten (2012).
He won the event at Ft. Loudon-Tellico in 2010, so funding that season himself wasn't much of a hardship. He's back on his own dime this year and has ended up in the money in three of his four outings, but hasn't logged a finish higher than 31st.
Because the Southern Opens wrapped up early this year, he has time to pursue his own deals for a possible move to the Elites in 2014, and he'll try to take full advantage of that scenario.
"A far as a title sponsor, I'll have to start from scratch," he said. "I've got some pretty decent smaller deals and Evinrude has been a huge supporter for a long time, and I'm hoping some of my current sponsors will be willing to step up a little more.
"I'll have to hunt and search for a boat-wrap sponsor. I've got some ideas, but it's a matter of it all coming together. I need to really clamp down here and make some contacts and reach out to a few connections that I do have and get the wheels turning. I've got a jumpstart on a lot of the other guys who are going to make it through the Opens (in other divisions) and I need to make hay while I can."
No Shot at Cup
At 90th on the Tour points list, Browne has no chance of qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup with only the Lake Chickamauga event in 2 weeks remaining on the schedule. Missing the Eufaula derby sealed his fate in that regard, but he accomplished his primary goal that week with a 25th-place showing at Logan Martin.
"It was hard to give up that (Eufaula) tournament, not only because I blew my opportunity to make the championship, but also because I've had great success the last two times I was there. I had a 3rd and a 4th (in an Eastern FLW Series and an EverStart) and I had an opportunity to have another good tournament."
He said he didn't fish conservatively at Logan Martin and made no special effort to protect his position in the points.
"I fished just how I wanted to. I should've made the (Top-20) cut but I lost a 4-pounder and a 3-pounder on the first day. Those would've given me about 14 pounds (instead of the 9-14 he weighed). They just came off on a buzzbait for no rhyme or reason. I absolutely caught the snot out of them the second day (when he weighed 14-06) and I landed all my bites.
"The whole thing was a calculated risk and I'm just glad it worked out. Maybe that's a sign that the rest of it will work out, too."
Notable
> Browne finished 58th in last week's FLW Tour event at Grand Lake despite sharing water in the Elk River with winner Jason Christie and 7th-place finisher Andy Morgan. "One time we were all going down an island and I had Andy in front of me and Jason behind me. I must've been in a lousy rotation because I just never got any good bites, but it is what it is."
> He still operates a floor-cleaning business between tournaments and during the offseason. "Fortunately the guys who work for me can cover stuff when I'm gone."
