Entry 140-2
Mark Davis's $100,000 Weekend
The First Day of the Tournament
Editor's Note: On April 23, 2005, Mark Davis won his third Bassmaster Elite 50 Series Championship against 50 of the best fishermen in the nation. In four days of fishing on Alabama's Smith Lake, Davis earned $104,000. This week, we'll see not only how Davis won the big bucks against the best of the best, but also the character and personality of a true Strike King pro.
Davis: On the first day of the tournament, we had beautiful spring weather in which to fish. The temperatures were in the high 70s, and there was virtually no wind at all. This day was the kind you'd dream of fishing in a tournament. I decided from practice to fish the Sipsey Arm of Smith Lake. I knew where a good school of spotted bass was holding that was easy to catch.
When I left the launch ramp, I went straight to my spotted-bass hot spot. On my very first cast of the tournament, I caught a 3-1/2-pound spotted bass on the watermelon-colored Strike King finesse worm. I fished the worm weightless by casting it out on a spinning rod and just letting it fall, giving the bait no action. In an hour and a half of fishing like this, I had a limit of five spotted bass that weighed a total of 11-1/2 pounds.
Then with a limit of good-sized spotted bass in my livewell, I headed straight to the area where I'd located the big largemouth bass. Luckily, no other fishermen were in that region, so I had this section of the lake all to myself. The water was stained in the bay I planned to fish, so I laid down my finesse worm, picked up the Strike King Zero I'd fished with in practice and caught seven largemouths.
Next I spotted about a 5-1/2-pound largemouth in the top of a bush. The fish was actually looking away from me, so I made a long cast out in front of her and then brought the Zero close enough for the bass to see it. Once the big largemouth saw the Zero, I just stopped the bait, let it fall to the bottom and watched the bass dive to take it.
When I saw my line jump, I waited two seconds and then set the hook on my 12-pound-test line. The bass fought hard and jumped several times, but my hook held. I released a 2-1/2-pound spotted bass from my limit and added the 5-1/2-pound largemouth. I replaced a few more spotted bass with largemouth and weighed in a 16-pound, 8-ounce limit.
After having that heavy of a limit on the first day, I knew I wouldn't have to catch many bass on the second day to make the cut. At the end of the first day of the tournament, I was in third place. Kevin VanDam had caught 20 pounds and was in first place, and Dean Rojas was in second place.
Next: The Second Day of the Tournament
Contents:
- Part 1: Great Practice
- Part 2: The First Day of the Tournament
- Part 3: The Second Day of the Tournament
- Part 4: The Third Day of the Tournament
- Part 5: The Last Day of the Tournament
