How different is it today for young
anglers coming up?
It’s night-and-day different, with the
internet and the wealth of information
that’s readily available. You can find out
anything you want to know. In those
days, it wasn’t like that. There wasn’t
anyone really to ask. You couldn’t
Google anything. There wasn’t any such
thing as a waypoint. All we had was a
paper map and some flashers, and you
had to get out there and figure it all out.
Nowadays, I’ve got a son (Fisher)
that’s going on to college. He’s going to
fish for East Texas Baptist University,
and he’s going there because of the
fishing team. When he goes to a lake,
he researches it and does it all on his
phone. And he’ll have a pretty good
idea of what the lake’s going to be like,
what to expect, seasonal patterns,
water level, water clarity. He’ll have all
that figured out before he goes. It’s so
different nowadays than it was 45
years ago.
Are all three of your sons competitive
anglers?
No. Only one is. I have twins that are
18, and one of the twins is named Fisher.
He’s a competitive angler. Now, Hunter,
the other twin, actually was. In fact,
Hunter won the (High School Fishing)
National Championship just a few years
ago; he and his partner. And he has not
fished a bass tournament since.
Really? Why’s that?
He won that tournament over on
Pickwick, and his partner graduated,
and he just stopped. He never was as
passionate about it the way the other
one was.
What’s the best piece of advice
you’ve given Fisher as an angler and
as dad?
Going into college fishing, of course,
he’s going to be a freshman. He’s probably
going to have a junior or a senior
for a partner. So, my best piece of
advice to him was just use your versatility.
I’ve always tried to really instill in
him to don’t be a one- or two-dimensional
type of angler. Learn how to do
it all. Wherever your weakness is, you
need to be doing a lot more of that.
Just try to eliminate any weakness you
have, whether light tackle, heavy tackle,
power fishing, finesse fishing, jigs,
topwaters, frogs … everything. Learn it
all. That’s my advice to him.
I’ve been to a few Strike King media
events over the years where you got
up in front of the group and told
some hilarious stories. You’re kind of
known for that. How’d you get so
good at storytelling?
I don’t know about that. Maybe it
stems back to all the years that I was
guiding and the fish weren’t biting and
you had to do something to pass the
time, so you had to learn how to tell
stories. We’ve had a lot of crazy things
happen over the years, and outdoorsmen
love to hear that stuff.
A lot of those old stories have been
told over and over and over again, and
people want to hear them over. That’s
what’s crazy. “Well, I’ve already heard
you tell that story, but let me hear ya
tell it again.” And they’ll say, “You told
it exactly the same way you told it the
last time.”
Well, yeah. I mean, it really happened
that way. I’m not making this
stuff up. You can’t make it up.
Do you have a story about a bass
that got away?
I’ll tell you the story about a bunch
of them that got away.
It goes back into the ’80s. It was on
Lake Okeechobee. We were fishing out
of Clewiston, and I was fishing way up
on the north end, and I caught a really
good limit. We were weighing in seven
bass in those days. I had seven really
good fish and had to get to weigh-in.
So I’m making my way back, right
out in the middle of the big water out
there, and I felt something hit my
shoulder. I look back, and there’s a 4-
pounder bouncing on the back deck.
Now, I’m running down the lake, and
it’s rough, so I just let go of the wheel
and just dive back there and grab that
bass and put it back in the livewell. The
livewell lid had come open, obviously. I
closed my livewell lid and kept going,
thinking, I hope that was the only one
that jumped out. I don’t have time to
stop and catch another one.
I go on in, check in, get up there,
get my weigh-in bag and I’ve got three
bass left. Four of them jumped out. The
fifth one jumped out, and I just happened
to get him back. I weighed in
three. That’s a true story.
Ouch. How about a memorable one
you landed?
Yeah, I remember when I won the
Classic. It was the final day, and I cast
my crankbait out. I’m cranking it on
20-pound line so I can boat-flip these
fish because we can’t use a net. I
crank it down, and I’m like, Man, this
is a good one. I’m fighting it, and it’s
fighting all weird, and I look, and I’ve
got a 4-pounder on one hook and a 2
1/2 on the other hook. And I’ve got
big No. 2s (hooks) on the crankbait,
so I’m thinking I’m just going to winch
them. I could see them on top of the
water. They were out there a pretty
good distance.
So I just start winching ’em, and now
I’ve got them really coming fast just kind
of skiing them into the boat. When I get
them there, I swing, and when the fish
get up out of the water over the gunwale
of the boat, the bait comes loose
from both fish, and both fish fall. They
both hit the gunwale of the boat. The 2-
pounder bounces and goes back into
the lake, and the 4-pounder bounces
into the floor of the boat.
And I won the Classic. I mean, that
was one of those deals where you kind
of know the Lord is looking out for you
and it’s your turn.
What an unbelievable story. We’ve
been looking back a lot, so tell me
this: What’s next in Mark Davis’
career?
Well, I would say it this way: I’m in
the fourth quarter of my career, and I
don’t know how many minutes are left.
I take life and my career one day at
a time and one fish at a time. I’m not
ready to retire just yet, but I realize I
have definitely made more casts in the
past than I’m ever going to get to make
in the future. If my health holds out and
everything, I’ll keep fishing, but who
knows how long. It’s been fun, and I’m
still looking forward to having some
more fun going forward.
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