When it comes to the all-star circuit known as the Bassmaster Elite 50 Tour, Mark Davis is the man.
All you have to know is that the Arkansas pro has won three out of the last four Elite 50 events spanning the last two seasons. Although he’s a former CITGO Bassmaster Classic champion and three-time CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Davis is in danger of becoming better known as “Mr. E-50.”
Case in point: After suffering through the worst season “by a long shot” in his illustrious career — primarily because of a slow recovery from fall shoulder surgery — in which he finished a dismal 88th in the Angler of the Year standings, Davis went to Alabama’s Smith Lake for the E-50 season-opener and walked away with the $100,000 top prize.
“If you look at the Tour, you’ll see I did terrible until the end when I started catching limits again,” Davis said. “I started feeling better. It’s mostly a health deal and a mental deal. I just finally got my game back, and it just all came back together for me at the first Elite 50.
“Everyone thinks it has something to do with the Elite 50s. It doesn’t. It just worked out that way.”
Inside BASS has a different opinion.
Since finishing fourth in his first finals of the BASS MegaBucks tournament in 1990, Davis has developed a wealth of experience in the timed course rotation format that was born with that event. It’s the same format used for the final two rounds of all Elite 50 events, and he’s become an expert at the combination of time management and quickly deciphering patterns for each hole.
“I’ll be honest, for a long time I was not a big fan of the MegaBucks-type format,” he said. “I think the reason being years ago I didn’t win those things. I think my mindset was wrong; I wasn’t fishing them right.
“I’ve learned how to do it. At least my approach is different. The biggest stumbling block you have when you go into that course is you have preconceived ideas. That’s what always beat me before in that format. Finally, I guess I have the mental discipline to overcome that.
“I wipe the slate clean in my mind, and I fish from scratch, and that’s what you have to do. I think for years I didn’t understand that. I always tried to carry what I was doing out there on the rest of the lake [during the qualifying rounds] onto the course. You carry a little bit of that, but usually you have to start over again. In every one of these that I’ve won that was the key.”
Davis heads for one of his favorite lakes in his home state, Lake Dardanelle, next week for the second stop on the Elite 50 Tour. He does so with a certain air of anticipation that only comes with these mega-money specialty events.
“I’m really looking forward to all of them,” he said. “I just want to make sure I make the Classic, but it’s nice to win one this year because you win a substantial amount of money.
“I’m definitely looking forward to fishing the next one.”
HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED. With the continued success of the CITGO Bassmaster University seminar series and television show, it’s obvious that America’s fishermen have a huge thirst for knowledge.
But they didn’t always admit it, as Rick Clunn recalled recently.
“It dates back to my club days,” the four-time CITGO Bassmaster Classic champion said. “The very first Ray Scott series of seminars came to Houston in 1969, and I had just joined a bass club. Roland (Martin) and John Powell were going to be there, and they were going to give these BASS seminars at the auditorium
“I went to the bass club meeting and said, ‘Hey did you guys hear about this? You want to go?’ They said, ‘Hell, no. we ain’t going down there. We don’t need some guy from some other state telling us how to fish our water.’ I swear when you looked around the audience at the seminar a lot of those guys had on fake noses and such. They wanted to go, but they were embarrassed to go.
“They were afraid someone was going to make fun of them.”
GREATEST ANGLER DEBATE. Texas pro Zell Rowland was one of the 35 nominees in ESPN Outdoors’ Greatest Angler Debate presented by John Deere. Inside BASS asked him whom he would vote for as the best of the best.
“When I think about the greatest angler, it’s probably the angler who has done more for the sport of bass fishing other than just his achievements as far as catching them,” he said, “and I’d have to say it would either be Roland Martin or Rick Clunn.
“They’ve both been very innovative in the sport in bait designs, rod designs, reel designs. They’ve both always spoken up for all the anglers when it came time to speak up.”
The Greatest Angler Debate series is part of BASS Saturday on ESPN2. The programming features biographical shows on the top 10 anglers as well as debate among experts. Fans will find stats and stories in the pages of Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times, Bassmaster.com and on the weekly ESPN Outdoors radio show. In June and July, the debate will heat up again as the fans choose between the top two anglers during a second round of voting on Bassmaster.com.
The debate will conclude in Pittsburgh — at the 2005 Classic — when two champions are crowned. One will be given the Classic trophy and the other – or perhaps even the same angler! – will be hailed as the greatest angler of all time.
WEIRDEST CATCH. Inside BASS has asked various Bassmaster pros to name the strangest item they’ve ever caught while fishing. Randy Dearman’s reply certainly fills the bill.
“A coyote,” the veteran Texas pro said. “It was at Lake Mead. I was going down a sandy beach bank throwing a Pop-R when this little old skinny, shaggy-looking coyote about half-grown came walking down the bank. Every time I threw close to the bank, he would tiptoe down into the water about an inch deep. Then he’d run down at it the next place I threw it.
“I threw it up there one time and the son of a gun actually tried to grab it with his mouth. It was an old original Pop-R, and I didn’t want to lose it. I snatched it back real fast.”
DID YOU KNOW? Denny Brauer holds the record for the most Classics fished (16) before finally winning one in 1998.
PRO BIRTHDAYS. Eight-time BASS winner Shaw Grigsby celebrates his 48th birthday on May 11th, while Tim Loper of Mississippi becomes 46 two days later. Michigan pro Gerry Gostenik will blow out 46 candles on May 16th. Former Classic champion Davy Hite will be 40 two days later. Another former Classic winner, Paul Elias (54), California’s Robert Lee (37) and Oklahoma’s Jeff Kriet (36) all share May 19th as their birthday.
IF I HADN’T BECOME A BASS PRO… 2004 CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle would probably be working with his hands. The Alabama pro was trained in commercial refrigerator installation before becoming a carpenter.
THEY SAID IT. “I didn’t have my balance beam with me because I figured it’s bad luck to carry that. I don’t really believe in luck, but it seems like every time I leave it, I really catch them.” It took Aaron Martens a full minute to cull a bass on the final day of the Tour season. All that was at stake was the CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year crown.
BASS is the world's largest fishing organization, sanctioning more than 20,000 tournaments worldwide through its Federation. The CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite 50 series, is the oldest and most prestigious pro bass fishing tournament circuit and continues to set the standard for credibility, professionalism and sportsmanship as it has since 1968.
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit www.Bassmaster.com.
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