Entry 249-1

My Greatest Day of Fishing, and I Didn’t Even Win with Mark Davis

Part 1: Falcon Lake — The Best There Ever Was

Question: Mark, where did you fish a couple of weeks ago?

Davis: We fished Falcon Lake on the Texas/Mexican border in south Texas. This was a BASS Elite Series tournament, and I knew absolutely nothing about the lake before I arrived. I’d never fished Falcon Lake before.

Question: Mark, this is your first season back on the BASS circuit after being off for 2 years. Why did you decide to come back to BASS?

Davis: Well, my sponsors, including Yamaha, Skeeter and Strike King, line up better at BASS and like the BASS circuit. I can do a better job for my sponsors at BASS, and BASS is my home. I’ve fished the BASS circuit for 20 years, so I guess I’m back at home.

Question: Mark, before you went to Falcon Lake, how much research had you done on the lake?

Davis: Well, not very much. I knew pretty much what the lake would look like, that the bass would definitely be in a post-spawn pattern, and that the water in the lake was falling rapidly and was already down 10 feet for the year. I believed the bass would be moving out away from the bank toward deeper water in the middle of the lake, so I decided to fish based on those factors.

Question: Mark, what did you learn in practice?

Davis: I had an amazing practice. I started using the right technique, immediately, which turned out to be fishing on structure. The only problem I had was trying to figure out the key depth at which the bass were holding and biting.

Question: How did find the structure? Did you use a topo map, or did you just ride the lake using your depth finder to see the release?

Davis: I just rode the lake and searched for underwater points, creek channels, humps and a lot of rock.

Question: Mark, during practice, what baits did you decide to use, and how did you choose to fish the structure you found?

Davis: I cast Strike King’s Series 6 crankbait many times, but the bass I was targeting didn’t seem to want the crankbait. I learned that the fish on Falcon Lake wanted Texas-rigged and Carolina-rigged soft-plastics, which produced bites the first day of practice.

Question: What lures did you use?

Davis: I used a wide variety of soft plastics, but I caught a lot of fish on the new Strike King Ocho bait in the green-pumpkin color. I also caught a good number of bass on really-big plastic worms. At first, I Texas rigged the baits, but because the wind was blowing hard, I switched over to a Carolina rig and fished those same big plastic lures. I learned that the bass didn’t really care whether you Texas or Carolina rigged the bait, as long as it was a soft-plastic bait, they’d eat it. So, I made the decision to fish the Carolina rig for most of the tournament.

Question: How did you Carolina rig the soft-plastic baits, Mark?

Davis: I used a 1-ounce slip sinker with 3 feet of 20-pound-test monofilament line 3 feet below the slip sinker and a No. 6/0 hook. So, before the tournament started, I decided my tactic would be to Carolina-rig soft-plastic lures on structure.

Question: Mark, how many places had you marked on your GPS to fish?

Davis: I marked more spots than I had to fish on the tournament. I marked two areas on the lower end of the lake down by the dam where the tournament was actually won. On the last practice day, I fished the upper end of the lake, close to the launch site.

I discovered that the upper end of the lake was just as productive as the lower end of the lake, so I decided to stay in the upper end of the lake because the upper end of the lake where I planned to fish was 5-miles away from the launch site, and if I fished the lower end of the lake, I’d have to make a 30-mile run; and, I didn’t think I’d have nearly as much competition on the upper end of the lake as I’d have on the lower end of the lake. Not as many people fished by the launch site as there were in the lower end of the lake. As time would prove, I made the right decision, because I weighed in an average of 34 pounds of bass per day, until the final day.

Question: So, before the tournament started, you decided to fish the upper end of Falcon, right?

Davis: That’s right. I decided to stay on the upper end of the lake and fish soft-plastic lures with the new Strike King Ocho as one of my primary baits.

Next: Day 1 of the Tournament

Contents:

• Part 1: Falcon Lake — The Best There Ever Was
• Part 2: Day 1 of the Tournament
• Part 3: Day 2 and 3 of the Tournament
• Part 4: Day 4 of the Tournament
• Part 5: Final Day of the Tournament