Entry 80-4
Get To Know Mark Davis
A Day of Pre-Practice
Editor's Note: You've seen Mark Davis on TV, perhaps have heard him present at a seminar and read about him in magazines. But, when you peel away the fishing veneer, who is the man inside the shirt with all the patches on it who listens to the roar of outboard engines all day while dancing across the tops of waves in a fiberglass bass boat? What's the man behind the legend like, and what kind of person is he? This week, we want you to get to know Mark Davis.
Davis: I try to pre-practice before all the tournaments. I make sure I have a good map of the lake and my GPS coordinates for that lake. When I get to the lake, the first thing I do is eliminate water I won't fish. For me, knowing where I'm not going to fish is more important than deciding where I will be fishing. After I've eliminated water, I then pinpoint places where I think I can catch bass. Once I find the bass, then I have to start studying the area and try to determine where the bass may be 30 days later. Since we have a 30-day cutoff, which means we can't fish the lake 30 days before the tournament, I've got to decide where I think that school of bass will go and possibly be holding by the next time I come looking for them in 30 days.
This last year I had such a busy schedule, I didn't pre-practice on any of the lakes we fished. The difference in pre-practice and practice is that I'm actually using the lures and fishing the places where I intend to catch bass during the tournament in practice. I only had practice just before the tournament to find fish. However, last year when I did pre-practice, I would still put in about an 18-hour day just like I would during the tournament.
Next: Local Information
Contents:
- Part 1: Know Mark Davis
- Part 2: On the Road Again
- Part 3: Life on the Water
- Part 4: A Day of Pre-Practice
- Part 5: Local Information
