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MORE ON MARK DAVIS AND HIS $100,000 WEEKEND
Versatility, Adaptability and Reading Skills - Keys
to Success
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Mark Davis of Mt. Ida, Arkansas, has won three
of the five Bassmasters Elite 50 tournaments with the
participants chosen from the top Angler-of-The-Year
finishers on the Bassmasters circuit for the past three
years, along with the top-10 all-time money Bassmasters
winners. Bassmasters has designated these 50 anglers
as the best bass professional fishermen in the world.
The events of this type of tournament include competition
among all 50 contestants the first two days. Then the
tournament eliminates all but the top 12 fishermen,
who have all their fish weights erased to allow all
12 to compete equally. The course, which originally
has included almost anywhere on a lake, also changes.
Bassmasters declares six areas off-limits, and the fishermen
have to fish the final two days in each of these six
areas. This Elite 50 competition tests all aspects of
bass-fishing skills. For any one angler to win three
out of five of these events, he has to know bass inside
and out and be doing something different from the other
fishermen. This week, I’ll pick Davis's brain
to learn how he's beat the best of the best in three
out of five competitions and how you can become the
best bass fisherman you can.
I'm convinced that my versatility with a wide range
of lures, my ability to adapt quickly to changing water
and weather conditions and my ability to read the water
to determine the changes taking place in and on the
water and then adapt to those changing conditions all
come together when I'm fishing a tournament to give
me an edge. I believe some of this talent is God-given,
but a big amount of what I'm doing is based on my fishing
more than 100 days a year for bass. I don't think you
can learn everything about bass fishing by watching
videos, reading books or watching TV. But I am convinced
that you have to be out on the water in all types of
weather and water conditions and constantly attempt
to learn what the bass are doing, and why they're doing
it.
 I
know people often don't want to hear this, but a part
of my success I believe to be a God-given talent. In
years past, Ray Scott would say, "When it comes
to bass fishing, not all men are created equally. There
are some who have a talent for the sport, and that talent
is what gives them an edge." In any sport, there
are athletes who have a talent for that sport, and there
are other athletes who strive to become good in the
sport through nothing but hard work. If both athletes
spend the same amount of time and practice winning competitions,
the athlete with talent usually will win over the athlete
with not as much talent. I know other anglers on the
professional bass-fishing circuits whom I also believe
are very talented. For instance, Kevin VanDam, who came
to professional fishing at a very young age, also has
been highly successful because of his talent and his
hard work. I don't think when you're a younger fisherman
that there's any way you can know for certain whether
or not you're a talented bass fisherman until you test
your skills against other bass fishermen. Competition
fishing at some level will help you to see whether or
not you're a talented fisherman. Once you feel that
you have the talent at bass fishing because you've consistently
placed well in tournaments, then to develop that talent,
you have to spend hours on the water learning more about
how to catch bass. After 19 years, I still consider
myself a student of bass fishing.
Only in the last few years have I learned how to win
tournaments. Up until the last few years, I think I've
still been learning how to compete. There are a lot
of secrets that you have to learn to win a bass tournament.
But, one of the biggest secrets that will change your
fishing is knowing how to capitalize on opportunities.
The best example I know of capitalizing on opportunity
as a fisherman is the blue heron that stands in ankle-deep
water, looking at the water and waiting for fish to
come by. When he spots a baitfish swimming by close
enough to him so that he can act quickly, catch the
baitfish and eat it, he's had to watch patiently for
some time and must have the knowledge to seize the opportunity
when it presents itself. So the professional bass fisherman
learns the skills that give him the edge when he seizes
opportunity. He's spent thousands of hours fishing competitively.
As a tournament fisherman, you have to stay poised and
ready, waiting for and anticipating that one small window
of opportunity when you'll have a chance to catch the
bass you need to win the tournament. For instance, the
tournament I just won at Smith Lake in Alabama is the
classic example of waiting for an opportunity and then
taking it.
 Early
on the first morning of the tournament I had the opportunity
to catch a quick limit of spotted bass. That door of
opportunity was only open for about 45 minutes, so I
had to do all I could to stay focused and to fish effectively
while I had the chance to do well. No one had told me
that fish would bite Strike King spinner bait on that
day. I just had the hunch that the spinner bait could
be effective in producing a good limit of those spotted
bass, if I would fish it and stay with it long enough
to be successful.
Although the lake was clear and deep and not really
the kind of conditions where you would normally fish
a spinner bait, I realized that the storm, including
hail and heavy winds and rain, that occurred on the
lake just before we went out to fish would affect my
fishing. I knew that spotted bass really loved to feed
after a storm and often fed actively then. Therefore,
instead of using a finesse bait, I felt that there was
a small window of opportunity after that storm to get
those bass to bite a fast-moving spinner bait. And I
felt just like that blue heron waiting on the bank for
the minnows to come by. I saw that small window of chance
where I just might be able to fish a spinner bait and
catch a good limit of bass. After that first spotted
bass bit, I fished as hard and as well as I could for
as long as that little window stayed open, about 45
minutes. I had to fight myself to fish that spinner
bait because I knew that this lake under these conditions
probably weren't right for a spinner bait, but I had
that little hunch or notion if you want to call it that,
that the spinner bait, at this time, in this place on
this lake could produce the bass I needed to catch.
By following that notion and taking advantage of that
window of opportunity, I caught the bass I needed to
catch to get out in front of the pack and have a chance
to win.
 Often
a fisherman may talk himself out of the only opportunity
he'll ever have to win a tournament because he's thinking
that what he's planning doesn't really make sense. And
that's where bass-fishing experience pays off. I've
learned to follow my hunches, regardless of how goofy
they may seem or how impractical they may be. Ever now
and then those goofy hunches can, will and do result
in tournament wins. Now, that spinner-bait pattern didn't
work all day long. It only paid off for me during that
short time at the very beginning of the tournament when
I followed my notion.
To learn more about Strike King, go to www.strikeking.com.
TOMORROW: PATIENCE
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