WS Chronicle

“[dropcap]A[/dropcap] ll you have to have to be a human being is a mind, a heart and a soul; anything else is just extra,” says Clay Dyer, who is 36-inches tall, weighs 85 pounds and was born with no hands or feet and only a partial arm.

Clay Dyer is America’s greatest bass fisherman. The Hamilton, Ala. native drives his own high-performance bass boat at 70-miles per hour across the lake. He’s been a professional bass fisherman for 15 years and is one of the most-respected pros on the pro-fishing circuit.

Dyer has 25 tournament wins on the local and regional levels and has finished in the top 75 in major tournaments. He can cast with pinpoint accuracy; he puts lures on and takes lures off his line and ties lures to his line, by putting the line and the lure in his mouth and using his tongue, to form a knot and tie it. Most contestants, who fish with Dyer, are totally amazed at how self-sufficient he is. As soon as he shuts-down his big engine, he moves quickly to the front of the boat, puts the motor in the water and begins to move down the bank, casting at rapid speed and landing his lures exactly where he wants them.

Dyer also is a motivational speaker, who titles his talks, “If I Can, You Can.” Dyer explains, “I can do anything anyone else can, I just may have to do it differently. I played baseball and football in high school, but fishing always has been my first love. I started competing in local tournaments and then moved-up to regional and national tournaments. Someday I’d like to win the Bassmaster Classic or the FLW World Championship, but I’m not in a hurry. I know there’s much to be learned about bass fishing, and I try to learn something in every tournament I enter.”

When Dyer’s paired with another angler, the first question he’s usually asked is, “What can I do to help you?”

Dyer quickly will fire-back, “Stay out of my way.”

Dyer is just one of the outstanding individuals you’ll meet in John E. Phillips’ new Kindle eBook, “Courage – the Story of Hometown Heroes.” Dyer’s own biography is entitled “The View From Down Here is Just Fine.”