Entry 33-1
Mark Davis
When Strike King Saved the Day For Mark Davis
Editor's Note: Mark Davis, 38, of Mount Ida, Arkansas, who won the BASS Masters Classic in 1995 and the Angler-of-the-Year title in 1995, 1998 and 2001, never has had a career outside the fishing industry. Davis is ranked third by www.BassFan.com for bass-fishing expertise.
Question: Can you tell us about a time when Strike King lures saved the day for you.
Davis: First thing that comes to mind was fishing a World Championship Fishing event around Richmond, Virginia. I was catching fish on a Strike King Spit-N-King, a buzzbait and a spinner bait. After working through this area I knew contained fish, I only caught a couple on the Spit-N-King and maybe one on a crankbait. Then the bass just quit biting. I racked my brain trying to figure out some way to catch them.
I fished floating worms. I tried plastic shad bodies, like the Zulu, but caught no bass. Of course, being summertime and being hot I went to the Strike King Series 1XS (extra shallow) crankbait. The great thing about that little bait is you have to work really hard to run it a foot deep. Depending on rod elevations, speed of retrieve and size of the line you are using, you can make it run from only a few inches deep down to about a foot. So, I fished it over the grass.
I went to that little lure, and the last hour of fishing I had a heyday. I caught a bunch of 3- to 4-pound bass. Without that little Series 1XS, I wouldn't have caught them. They would react to that bait because I could fish it fast over that grass and get those strikes. Those fish wouldn't hit a spinner bait going fast, a buzzbait, a top-water bait, worms, or anything. But a lot of it has to do with the size and the image of the silhouette those fish are getting.
The Series 1XS crankbait is small, about the size of the baitfish they feed on a lot and even a small bream. It has a real erratic, wide action, but when you retrieve it fast -- even though it's wide, it is also fast. Often, if it is a wide action, it is slow, but this is a wide, fast action. You have to fish that lure to understand what I'm talking about. But it will draw strikes. The Series 1XS saved the day for me that time.
