Entry 327-4
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 4: Believe You Can Find and Catch Bass
Question: What’s the third thing you do to improve your odds for catching bass, especially after a bad season?
Davis: You have to be mentally prepared before, during and after the tournament.
Question: How important is your mental attitude to finding and catching bass?
Davis: The biggest and the most-important aspect of bass fishing, whether you’re a tournament or a weekend fisherman, is your mental attitude. To successfully find and catch bass, you have to believe you’ll locate and take bass. You have to believe in yourself and your fishing tactics. Even if you may not know where the bass are holding, you have to be confident that you can find and catch them. If you lose confidence in your ability to find and catch bass, gaining that confidence back can be very difficult, whether you’re a beginner bass fisherman or a tournament pro. Preparing your tackle, practicing your techniques, studying the water where you’ll be fishing and organizing your gear all are critical factors to gaining your fishing confidence.
You want to know you’ve done everything you possibly can to help find the bass and catch them, and that everything you can control is under control for you to perform at your highest level. If there’s one little factor you haven’t done that you should have to prepare to fish, it can decrease your confidence. For instance, if I’m on the water and think I may need a chrome with a blue-back-colored Strike King Red Eye Shad, I should know if that particular lure’s in the boat and where – in which tackle box and compartment I’ll find it. Too, I should know if the hooks have been sharpened, if the lure will run true, and if I’ve caught bass on this lure previously. I should instantly be able to think of three or four situations where that particular lure has paid-off.
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
