Entry 104-1

Road To The Classic - Mark Davis

Don't Come In Out of the Rain

Editor's Note: On May 22, 2004, in Columbus, Mississippi, on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Mark Davis of Mt. Ida, Arkansas, once again proved why he deserves to go to the 2004 BASS Masters Classic. From the first day of the tournament until the last day, Davis lead the field of Elite 50 and won the tournament. "I started looking for these bass using a Strike King Series 1 crankbait. But on the last day, I had to change to the Strike King 3X ribbontail worm to win the tournament."

The road to the BASS Masters Classic is a rocky road. Oftentimes one tournament, one day in a tournament, one hour in a tournament or even one minute in a tournament throughout the entire season will make the difference in whether a Strike King Pro wins a berth in the BASS Masters Classic or not. Winning a spot to compete in the Classic is important because the Classic has been defined as the World Series of bass fishing. All the media shows up at this tournament as well as the sponsors.

Too, at the Classic often is where offers are made to contestants that can secure their financial futures and their careers. Winning the opportunity to compete in the Classic also proves to a sponsor that the contestant has been worthy of the dollar investment the sponsor has made in him. A chance to win the Classic is also an opportunity to make more than $1 million from tournament bass fishing in one to three years, depending on the angler. Usually a Classic win also secures an angler's future as a bass fisherman who can stay and compete on the professional bass-fishing circuit. This week, we'll look at the five defining moments that have insured that once again Strike King Pro, Mark Davis from Mount Ida, Arkansas, will take part in this year's Classic.

Davis: The first day of this year's Table Rock Tournament, in Arkansas, set up the win that I needed to build my confidence and build the points required to get a spot in the Classic. I caught a really big stringer of bass on a 3/8-ounce Strike King Pro Model spinner bait. We had a warm rain on the first day of the tournament, which put color in the water and caused the bass to move up shallow to feed. That rain became probably the biggest turning point in my season and did more to help me earn a spot in the Classic than any other event during the season.

When the rain hit, I grabbed my chartreuse-and-white 3/8-ounce Strike King spinner bait with two Colorado blades and started casting. I was targeting run-off creeks that had fresh water in them coming into the lake. I fished a large number of these run-off creeks, and I found good bass in most of them. This pattern can be the key to your catching bass any time you're fishing a clear-water, cold lake.

When an area receives a warm rain that brings warm water into the lake, the bass will almost immediately move to that warm, off-color water. If you'll stay out on the lake and continue to fish while everyone else heads back to the marina because of the rain, you can really have a great day of bass fishing like I did on Table Rock. You have to remember that most fishermen run from rain. But if you want to catch bass, especially in the spring when the water's cold, keep a rain suit in your boat, put it on when the rain starts, and run to the rain.

Get to those little feeder creeks as quickly as you can. As soon as that feeder creeks start bringing warm water into the creek, get your Strike King spinner bait out and start fishing those run-offs. Then you'll probably have very little competition for the bass you find, and you'll learn to run to the rain instead of away from the rain when these weather conditions put big bass on a feeding spree. That one day, that one rain, and that Strike King Spinner Bait are some of the most-defining moments that have enabled me to fish in this year's Classic.




 

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