By Sean Ostruszka
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE
LESSONS FROM PROS WHO SPEND ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF THEIR YEAR ON THE WATER
Water makes up 60 percent
of the human body. When
it comes to the life of some
humans, though, the percentage
is much higher.
Take someone like Tackle
Warehouse Pro Circuit pro Alex
Davis. Conservatively, he spends
more than 200 days a year on the
water, and, realistically, it’s more
like 250-plus. Fellow Pro Circuit
pro Josh Douglas is in the same
boat (figuratively, anyway).
It makes sense that, as professional
tournament anglers, they’d
be on the water religiously. But the
tournaments and practice days are
just a fraction of their staggering
yearly allotment. The reason these
two rack up as much time on water
as on dry land is because when
they’re not catching fish in tournaments,
they’re helping others catch
fish as full-time fishing guides.
They’re not just guides on runof-the-mill
lakes, either. They
guide on two of the best bass fisheries
in the country – Davis on
Lake Guntersville and Douglas on
Mille Lacs.
That got us to thinking: Is the
old adage true that there really is
no substitute for time on the water
to become a better angler? And
since these two put in more days
fishing in one year than most
“avid” fishermen do in five, on two
of the best fisheries in the country,
it then stands to reason that they
might be privy to some insight others
aren’t when it comes to tournament
fishing and fishing in general.
Sure enough, they are, and
they’re willing to share some of the
things they’ve learned on the
water over the years.
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FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2020