BACKLASH
Q&A
CLENT DAVIS
MONTEVALLO, ALABAMA
that’s oddly specific. did some-
thing happen?
Yeah, people noticed me. I was at
LongHorn Steakhouse with the boss
from Mister Twister. We sat down, and
all of a sudden I looked around and
realized everyone was kinda looking
over at me. Like, “That’s the guy who
just won the Cup.” It was so weird.
What’s it like having a check for
$300,000 in your wallet?
I don’t know. My wife, Ashley, left
with the check on Sunday [day three
of the Cup].
Well, hopefully you get to see
some of it. at least treat yourself
to something, right?
Actually, something I started doing
this year that Cody Meyer and Jason
Lambert got me into was camping at
events. It’s the single greatest thing
I’ve done for my fishing. I can’t explain
it, but you gotta do it.
So I told Ashley all I wanted was a
little bit bigger camper. She was more
than OK with that. We’ll probably put
away the rest for our daughter, Kayt.
how many calls and texts have
you received?
Thousands. I mean, honestly, more
than a thousand; just people congrat-
ulating me, or requests for interviews.
It’s overwhelming, but it’s all good.
When did you first realize you had
the cup won?
Not until Wes [Logan] raised his
hand showing he only had one fish.
80
seriously?
Yeah. I mean, I started getting a
hunch when I saw Brad Knight out on
the water, and he was giving me a
thumbs up, and you
showed up to take more
photos. And then I got off
the water and I had 200 texts
saying “congrats,” but you
never know with that live feed if
someone catches them late.
What was that moment like, on
stage, with confetti raining down?
It was crazy. It’s funny, I picked up my
daughter to celebrate, and she just said,
“Put me down.” She wanted to play and
pick up the confetti. She and Ashley
took a bag of confetti and kept it.
You want to hear something cool
about that? In 2015 [Lake Ouachita], I
got off the stage on day two of the
Cup, jumped in my car and drove
straight home to witness the birth of
our daughter. Three years later she’s
on that stage picking up confetti.
can you believe that after every-
thing you’ve been through you’re
now the cup champion?
It’s crazy … man, you’re going to
make me tear up.
This dream all came about because
a man named Brad Killingsworth took
me to a pond when I was 5 or 6 years
old and helped me catch my first fish. I
remember it like it was yesterday.
Caught that fish on a worm. He told
me where to cast, and I didn’t even
know how to set the hook. After that I
was hooked. It’s all I ever wanted to do.
Who’s Brad?
He’s a family friend and like a sec-
ond dad to me. He’s the one who real-
ly got me into hunting and fishing.
My parents were great, too. They
took me fishing all the time, and as
soon as I was 12 years old and I
could legally run a boat with a
motor, they’d drop me off on Lay
Lake every day early in the morning.
I’d fish all day while they were at
work, and then they’d pick me up in
the afternoon.
It’s been two days since you won
the cup. has it set in yet?
Actually, yeah. It set in last night at
dinner.
By Sean Ostruszka
obviously, that had to have a pro-
found impact on your career.
Oh, absolutely. But you know what?
I probably wouldn’t be fishing profes-
sionally without College Fishing.
Why’s that?
I got to meet Justin Lucas through
that, because he was an emcee. He
needed a place to stay, since he lived
in California at the time. So I offered
that he stay with me. We became
friends, and he probably stayed with
me off and on for a year or two. Cody
Meyer started coming out with him
and staying there, too.
Those two are the ones who
pushed me to try fishing as a co-angler.
And when I finished fifth in my first
tournament [2010 FLW Tour on
Ouachita] I thought, “Dang, I need to
keep doing this.” So I started fishing the
Costas and did a full year on Tour as a
co-angler. When I won the Pickwick
event with Mark Rose, it basically paid
my entry fee to go pro the next year.
You talked about nearly quitting
because you were burned out.
I was. I just kept going fishing every
day. I couldn’t stop, and I wasn’t enjoy-
ing myself.
so how do you plan to combat
that this time around?
By not fishing – competitively, at
least – until next season. I realize I
need to take a break. You look at
someone like Andy Morgan; that’s
what he does. He doesn’t fish non-
stop. This way you can be rested for
when the season starts.
flWfIshIng.com I fall 2018