The fortunate ones

Lottery winner Peterson pays the way for Napier’s first top-5 finish

Any angler will tell you it’s better to be lucky than good. But, truth be told, success on the pro bass tour depends much more on an angler’s skill than luck. Still, when a skilled pro angler also happens to come upon an incredible string of good fortune through a good friend, it’s a certain recipe for success.

Fishing out of the deep

Pro angler Arlie Napier arrived in Florence, Ala., for June’s Wal-Mart FLW Tour Forrest Wood Open the day before competition began. That left him just one day for the all-important routine of pre-fishing on the tournament waters of Pickwick, Wilson and Wheeler lakes – all impoundments along the Tennessee River outside of Florence. Most anglers spend a week to 10 days practicing for an FLW tournament, but Napier wasn’t concerned about lack of preparation because he was already pretty sure what to expect.

“It’s summertime, and I knew the fish had to be deep,” he explained. “Plus, the lakes lay out the same as back home. That helped me out tremendously.”

Napier, a 26-year-old from Middlesboro, Ky., who grew up fishing deep water on the upper end of the Tennessee River, proceeded to catch a limit each day of competition, combining for a respectable four-day total of 52 pounds, 11 ounces. His final-round, 11-pound, 14-ounce stringer was bested only by Rick Clunn’s weight of 15-11 – which landed Clunn his second win in three FLW tournaments.

Napier’s strong second-place finish earned him his first FLW top-5 appearance and also the biggest paycheck of his life: $100,000. For the young angler, the cash and cachet of placing second at the Forrest Wood Open provided, finally, the sweet reward every aspiring angler on tour seeks.

“It felt remarkable to do well against all those pros I was fishing against,” he said. “It took a lot of pressure off of me professionally.”

The funny thing is, if it hadn’t snowed in Georgia at the end of February last year, all of it might never have happened for Napier. Even more remarkable, if a Tennessee landscaper named Brad Peterson had never bought a lottery ticket from a local convenience store in the fall of 1997, it certainly would not have happened for Napier.

Living a dream

Brad Peterson woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning on September 19, 1997, from one of the most vivid dreams he’s ever had. He dreamt that he won the lottery.

“Everything just seemed so real,” he said. “I woke my wife up and told her that we won the lottery.”

Later that morning Peterson went to work at his landscaping business and decided to call the Georgia State Lottery office. He’d purchased a lottery ticket earlier in the week and, the night before, he’d seen a couple of the winning numbers announced on television that looked eerily familiar. He called just to check it out.

When the lottery official read the last winning number to him over the phone – the last number to match exactly all the numbers printed on his lottery ticket – Peterson’s life changed forever. He threw the phone down and just started running.

Forgetting to close his shop and lock his truck, he ran the two blocks down the streets of Benton, Tenn., to the bank where his wife, Jennifer, works. It wasn’t open yet, so he banged on the door until somebody came. Once inside, he delivered the kind of news that only a handful of men get to tell their wives, “Honey, we really won the lottery.”

Peterson – a landscaper by trade, but hunter and fisherman by heart – cleared a cash total in the multi-million-dollar range from the Georgia State Lottery that fall. (Understandably, to avoid solicitations, he asked that the exact total not be revealed in this story.)

“You think it’s a dream and you want to pinch yourself,” he said. “You just can’t describe what it is not to worry about things like paying for the kids’ college and bills. God has really blessed us.”

Financially unburdened and happy at age 39 in his “one-red-light town,” as he calls Benton, Brad, Jennifer and their two sons, 8-year-old Dylan and 10-year-old Hunter, moved into a larger home and went about business as usual. While their lives changed dramatically, he insists the money hasn’t changed him as a person.

“I try to be the same guy I always have been,” said Peterson, who makes regular donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “I’m no better than anybody else.”

In fact, Jennifer still works at the bank. And he still dabbles in landscaping – albeit a lot less frequently these days. See, it’s hard to find time for rocks and shrubs when there’s so much fishing to be done.

“I’ve always liked to fish,” Peterson said. “My daddy’s had me fishing since I was old enough to walk.”

So he went fishing – competitively. Relieved of the time constraints of a nine-to-five job, Peterson practiced his angling skills. In 1999 he bought a new bass boat and joined the EverStart Series as a pro angler.

“I decided I was going to fish, hunt, play golf and just have a big old time,” he explained.

Having fished in several local bass tournaments over the years, he fared average in his first year in the Eastern Division, finishing in the middle of the field at most tournaments. This year he decided to join the FLW Tour as a co-angler. He finished in the money at the first two tournaments of 2000, Lake Okeechobee and the Pascagoula River, but he admits he found the competition a bit rigorous on the high-intensity FLW Tour.

“You think you know a lot about fishing until you get on this circuit,” said the multi-millionaire angler.

However, he appreciates the pro-am format used in Operation Bass tournaments because it allows him to approach every event as a training session. He has gained invaluable fishing know-how from the likes of tour pros Mike Harding, Denny Brauer and Jim Tutt – three anglers he credits for improving his fishing technique this year.

“There’s so much that these pros know – little things – that helps,” Peterson said. “I’d like to get good enough to fish the pro side, but I’m still learning. These boys are really good. As a co-angler it’s amazing how much you can learn from them.”

Finding fish, friendship and benefaction

Quite possibly the pro angler who has contributed the most to Peterson’s fishing career is Arlie Napier. Certainly, Peterson is the one fellow angler who Napier credits most for his own success.

Rewind to La Grange, Ga., in late February of 1999. The EverStart Batteries Series stopped in western Georgia and anglers gathered for the normal pre-fishing routine on the waters of nearby West Point Lake.

Less than a week before the tournament began March 3, Napier met fellow Pro Division angler Brad Peterson through a mutual friend. Napier was fishing on the pro side and was staying in a pup tent at a nearby park to cut cost for the tournament. The weather was unusually cold and wintry for Georgia, with temperatures plunging below freezing. When it began snowing, Peterson invited Napier to stay with him at his hotel.

Napier – who had done well at the previous EverStart tourney on Lake Okeechobee, placing 10th – put on a strong performance at West Point Lake that weekend and nearly won. His second-place finish proved to the field, especially Peterson, that the young Napier knew how to catch bass.

Soon afterwards, their friendship grew and Napier took Peterson fishing on Watts Bar Lake in eastern Tennessee. Napier took the time to show Peterson some of his deep-water fishing techniques and it paid off.

“I told him I’d never lie to him,” Napier said. “When I took Brad out fishing on Watts Bar I blew his mind. We caught 30 fish in 30 consecutive casts.”

For the remainder of the season, the two traveled and roomed together on the road. Then in November, Napier was invited to compete in the high-profile, nationally televised Ranger M1 Millennium tournament in Cypress Gardens, Fla. The rookie pro angler, who began to feel the financial strain of a long pro bass fishing season despite clearing checks at four of five EverStart Eastern Division tournaments, debated how he would pay the Millennium tournament’s $5,000 pro entry fee.

It was at this point that Peterson decided to help his friend extend the pursuit of his fishing career.

Peterson covered Napier’s entry fee for the Millennium tourney – where Napier placed a respectable 21st out of 206 anglers – and made a commitment to sponsor his friend for the 2000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour, covering Napier’s entry fees. Peterson, too, decided to give the FLW Tour a try in 2000, fishing as a co-angler. For both fishermen, it was a mutually beneficial mentorship: Peterson gained a friend and fishing confidant who could help teach him the finer points of deep-structure fishing, while Napier also gained a friend and the financial freedom to test his mettle against the big boys of bass fishing.

“I never would have fished the FLW this year if it wasn’t for Brad,” Napier said of his benefactor. “I guess he just took a liking to me. He knows how it is. I’m young, and if I don’t catch them, I don’t eat.”

Peterson says he saw the promise of Napier’s fishing skills and hated to see it wasted for lack of resources.

“He’s so confident in himself,” Peterson said. “He just knows he can do it on this tour.”

Onward and upward

Napier has fished the Operation Bass circuit for four years with moderate success. He chalked up four wins on the Red Man Tournament Trail early in his career and placed seventh in the standings for the 1999 EverStart Batteries Series season – including the second-place, $10,000 finish at West Point Lake that year.

But as any competitive angler knows, just fishing for a living can be a tough row to hoe. While he runs a coal-retail business in Middlesboro, Napier nevertheless decided that pro fishing is how he’s going to butter his bread. He fished both the EverStart Eastern Division and the FLW Tour this year and cleared checks in five of the eight tournaments he entered, but none of the first four even came close to the fifth and sweetest check – the $100,000 payout in Florence.

“I always said I’ll either make it or go broke,” he said, “because that’s what my life is about – fishing.”

When he “made it” at the Forrest Wood Open in June, Napier achieved the sort of vindication for which many competitive anglers strive. After logging some 200 to 300 days a year on the water since he was 6 years old, he now can go home to his wife, Melanie, and 11-month-old son, John Daniel, with the proud knowledge that he has the opportunity to provide for them by doing what he loves. He also proved to himself and others that he could fish with the best of the best – and beat them.

When Napier accepted his second-place trophy onstage in Florence, he made it a point to thank his mentor and friend, Peterson, while the television cameras were rolling. For both anglers, Napier’s near-win at the Forrest Wood Open made it all worthwhile.

“When we looked at the schedule, Arlie said, `I can win that tournament.'” Peterson said following the final weigh-in. “I’m really proud of him. I had faith in him the whole time.”

Almost as important as the second-place finish, the $100,000 cash prize released Napier from the financial doldrums that forced him to rely on lottery-winner Peterson’s generosity.

“He’s a man of his word, I’ll tell you that,” Napier said. “Brad’s just a real good guy.”

“Yeah, I think this win will put him on his feet now,” Peterson deadpanned. “He’ll be able to take care of himself.”

And Peterson, who knows more than a little about the potential pitfalls of sudden wealth, jokes that he’ll be there to keep Napier on an even keel.

“I won’t let it go to his head,” he said. “I didn’t, so he can’t.”

Meanwhile, Napier is looking forward to further success on the FLW Tour. He’s out practicing most days, working on his shallow-water technique to make himself an even more well-rounded angler. He is looking into possible corporate sponsorship contracts to ensure his future in fishing. And he especially looks forward to the end of August and the approach of the FLW Championship in Shreveport, La., in September.

“You’ve always got to try and improve yourself,” he said. “From this point, I’m just going to fish harder and set higher goals. You’re out there to beat the fish, and that’s what makes this fun.”

And while Peterson’s sponsorship is over, the mentorship between the two anglers continues. Peterson can’t wait to see how Napier performs at the biggest tournament of the year, the FLW Championship. And even though he’s not fishing, don’t think he won’t be there to lend his invaluable support to his friend and to learn even more about big-time fishing from his buddies on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour.

Proclaimed Peterson, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”