Impoverished Berry Finds Strength, Purpose In Seclusion

Art Berry awakes to a cold, silent, semi-dark room. He's got no electricity. No work for the day.

But there, on the wall before him, hangs inspiration – a sign he's posted all around his Hemet, Calif. apartment.

So he rises from bed the same way he has each day over the past 8 months:

He reads aloud the note that says "Look up. Get up. Never give up."

And the same note is posted all around his apartment, so it's in his mind when the refrigerator's empty and he has to share a bowl of dry cereal with his dog. It's there through the painful silence of winter when his apartment's 30 degrees because he can't afford heat. It's there when the phone doesn't ring for days, except when some acquaintance wants to bum GPS points or a swimbait tip.

But that's okay. Because throughout this self-imposed exile – this long, lonely year away from the FLW Tour – there hovers like the mist of a perfect topwater morning a truth Friedrich Nietzsche wrote so long ago: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

And so Berry refuses to ditch. Refuses to punch a keyboard or push a pen or tow a hotdog cart to pay the fuel company. Refuses to accept help from friends with good intentions. He's a pro fisherman. And even though he's living hand-to mouth right now, with every glance at his graph, with every cast, with every fish he moves one crawl closer to his goal – another shot at the tours, and another chance to fulfill his promise as one of the most talented stars of the West.

Out Of The Box

Berry, a dominant western fisherman, hit the FLW Tour in 2004 and achieved near-instant success. FLW-team sponsorships and magazine covers followed. He was a sponsor's dream – a bright-eyed, happy, charismatic pro who could work the sponsor booth just as well as he could seine the lake.

Then the floor caved in. He lost his Suave deal partway through the 2007 season and another deal never came his way.

He's still the bright-eyed, charismatic Berry, despite the seclusion and heartache of this year. And fact is, he can't help but feel that all his disappointments (both past and more recent) have been for a reason.

His four 2nd-place finishes in FLW Outdoors, the fact that he narrowly missed the Bassmaster Classic twice through the Western Opens, an auto accident several years ago that left his girlfriend in a coma for months, the loss of his Suave sponsorship last year, never realizing a dime (beyond a lucrative sponsorship) from his brother's success with California Swimbabes, the recent death of his grandmother and near loss of his mother – it's all been meant to test him, he said.

And that test has built a better, stronger Berry.

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I'm Michael Jordon," Berry said, referring to a T-shirt he once saw that still inspires him.

"I see these guys having all this success," he added as he fought back tears. "I lay awake at night. Obviously there's a reason why all this has happened. I'm being tested. It's all about what'll make me the best – make me better than all the other guys. I don't think I could be the best without going through these things.

"Never in my life have I wanted to be the fifth-best, or the 10th-best. Somebody else has a plan for me to be better and bigger, but it's not going to be given to me on a silver platter. And I'll tell you something: 99% of the guys would have fled this ship if they had to go through what I've gone through. It's all about how bad you want it, and this stuff is all about making me better."

The toughest times, he said, are the days leading up to an FLW Tour event, and then the event itself. That's when he lies awake the most. That's when the pains in the gut come more frequently, because he knows he should be there.

It wasn't until recently that he unpacked his trophies – a massive collection of wood and metal gathered over two decades of competition.

"About 6 months ago I took all my trophies I had in boxes – my BASS Angler of the Year from the West(ern Opens), my BASS champion trophy from Elephant Butte that I'd put away. I put them all up so I could remember who I was, because it was almost like I forgot.

"When you're at home and nobody's there, and you only want to go bass fishing because it's the only thing you've ever known in your life, it's freezing cold, there's no TV, no checking account, no savings account, and you lay there and think about it – it's the worst feeling in the world. So why do I do it? Because I believe. And I love the sport like no other."

Each Day, One More Push

Berry's time away from the Tour hasn't been spent entirely in seclusion. He guides and fishes, when he can. He eats healthy, when he can. He works out, he prays, and he stays focused on his goal to return to the tour level with a drive and determination like no fan has seen before.

It'll take a major sponsor to get him back to a tour– something like he had with Suave through FLW Outdoors – but once he gets back, it's all on him to stay. And he knows it.

"My drive right now is like no other out there," he said. "Put me on the front deck of a boat and you can tell. It's a drive from start to finish. And the drive is to learn constantly, and be able to push myself to become better, to have open eyes, and be a student of the game. To be there and be the best, most influential person I can be. I sit here and I get a little upset, but then on the other hand, I get my fists together, then they get a little tighter because I know I've got it."

And so his outings on Diamond Valley Lake continue. And so he waits for the phone to ring with a potential sponsorship. And so BassFans wait for his return.

"If I listened to what everybody else says, I'd be doing some other job. But nobody knows what's in my heart. And it's been hard on my boys. But everything has been making me a better Christian. I've always been a Christian, but I've not always tried to fulfill it 100%. More than anything that's happened in my life, this was probably the way the Lord has brought me closer to him.

"I'm extremely motivated. When you're at your house, and you walk around from your bedroom, back to your living room, back to the kitchen, you look at your dog, then you look at your trophies in the room. No sounds. Not a thing. Just you. It gives you an incredible motivation to fight – to dig deep inside yourself and really ask yourself, What does it mean to you? How bad do you want it? How much of a difference can you make?

"I'm going to make a difference because someday, somebody's going to say, 'I can't believe that guy made it back. That guy was down and out, but he knew in his heart he was good enough. He believed."

Notable

> As noted, Berry currently offers guided trips on California's Diamond Valley Lake. To schedule a trip, call (951) 750-9802.

> He's fished one significant event this year – the Delta Western FLW Series. He finished 104th.