Entry 327-3
Strike King’s Mark Davis Is on His Road Back
Editor’s Note: Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas, one of the most-successful bass fishermen in the nation, won the BASS Angler-of-the-Year title in 1998 and 2001, as well as both Angler-of-the-Year and Bassmaster Classic titles in 1995. Davis is the only professional fisherman who’s won the Angler-of-the-Year and the Bassmaster Classic titles in the same year. Babe Ruth, one of the greatest baseball players in history, was known for his homerun record and his larger-than-life personality, making him the idol of many young baseball players. His 714-homerun-hitting record stood for many years until it was first surpassed by Hank Aaron in 1974. Most people don’t know that Ruth also held the record for strikeouts. But strikeouts didn’t overshadow his greatness. Each time Ruth had a run of bad luck on the baseball field, he’d bounce back with the power of his bat, proving that greatness comes not with a great event, but rather is defined when you come back from great defeats. Today, Davis will tell us about the homeruns and the strikeouts during the 2009 bass-fishing-tournament season.
Part 3: Tackle-Up to Take More Bass
Question: What’s the second most-important ingredient to changing your luck and catching more bass when you’re having a bad year?
Davis: You need to tackle-up. I’ve learned that the more organized I am and the more I know about my rods, reels, lures, line and every piece of tackle I use, the greater my odds for success. When my wife sees me working on my tackle, she knows that’s a good sign that my fishing will improve. Changing blades on spinner baits, sharpening hooks, tuning crankbaits, re-spooling line, reloading my tackle boxes, trimming skirts and other small similar steps I can take to improve my tackle will help me catch more bass.
My old football coach used to say, “The little things you do to get ready to play will make a big difference on game day.” The more organized you are, the less time you waste when you’re fishing. I want to be able to step off the casting deck, walk to the right compartment in my Skeeter boat and with my eyes closed, lift the lid, reach in, grab the right tackle box and select the specific lure I want to fish. If I can do it blindfolded, I can find those lures twice as fast with my eyes open.
Question: What type of tackle boxes do you use, and why?
Davis: I use the Plano flat-sided boxes to store all my Strike King lures. Once I have my lures in those Plano tackle boxes, then I store those boxes inside the storage compartments in my Skeeter boat. I prefer Plano tackle boxes because they keep me organized. I often will have 100-or-more flat-sided Plano tackle boxes in my truck, but when I’m on the water, I may only have 12 of those tackle boxes in the boat. Not only do I like the organizational system of the Plano tackle boxes, but they also are relatively inexpensive.
Question: What do you put in each tackle box, and how do you label them, so you can find them?
Davis: I keep my organization system really simple. I label my tackle boxes, according to the type and the size of the lure in them. Too, I have specific tackle boxes organized according to color. For instance, I have a red crankbait tackle box where I store every red crankbait I have, and I’ll take this box with me when I know red baits will be best on this particular body of water. I may have all the Strike King crankbaits from the Series 1 to the Series 6 in the red color. If I want to fish with a red lure, I’ll grab that box. I’ll primarily use this box in the spring. My other Plano crankbait boxes will be organized according to size of the lure and the depth at which that lure runs. I keep my colors pretty basic.
I keep shad, chartreuse and 1/2-dozen of each color and size of bait in my boxes. I’ll have individual boxes for each Strike King crankbait, and each box will have a variety of colors. 
If I have a Plano tackle box that I designate for my Strike King Series 3 lures, I’ll have the colors in that box in which I have the most confidence. An important key to success is having the color of lure in which you have the most confidence easily within your reach.
Question: Where do your crankbait boxes fit in the tackle lockers of your boat?
Davis: There are two storage boxes in my Skeeter boat, but I generally use the back storage box, closest to the console. I keep all the Plano tackle boxes I’ll use the most in my middle storage box because they’re easier to reach. I’ll have three or four crankbait boxes, one or two spinner-bait boxes, a lipless-crankbait box, a jig box and a worm box. I’ll have another box with terminal tackle, such as hooks, sinkers and swivels.
Question: Why do you have the boxes you’ll most often use in the middle of the boat, rather than closer to the casting deck at the front of the boat?
Davis: When you’re rigging your tackle and lures, you want to be close to your rods and reels. I want to be able to not only select a lure, but also to pull the rod I want to use with that lure out of my rod locker quickly. I want to be able to work out of my rod and my tackle storage boxes at the same time. This way, I can rig a lure, put it on the rod I plan to use and either place the rod on the casting deck or back in the rod locker quickly and easily.
Contents:
- Part 1: Strikeouts and Homeruns
- Part 2: Pre-Practice to Win
- Part 3: Tackle-Up to Take More Bass
- Part 4: Believe You Can Find and Catch Bass
- Part 5: Time on the Water Increases Your Ability to Catch Bass
