Photo: Bassmaster.com On day 2 at the Delta, Mark Davis figured out the right tide for his big-fish spots. Photo: Bassmaster.com Kenyon Hill changed swimbaits on day 2 at Clear Lake, and it worked.

Davis, Hill Were Best Below-Cuts Out West

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

The two California BASSMASTER Tour events were tough ones for most of the non- western pros because they'd never fished those waters before. In other words, for the first time they were encountering what western tour pros face back east every year.

The western pros' experience and confidence on the California Delta and Clear Lake helped them do generally better than eastern pros there, but the guys from the East did pretty well. In fact, the two BassFan Best Under the Cut performers in the California events are both from the East – sort of. After all, Arkansas and Oklahoma are west of the Mississippi River.

California Delta: Mark Davis

With Roger Boler's 27-09 leading after day 1 and several others in the 20s, the gloves were off. Everyone knew they had to have big limits on day 2. As it happened, most anglers – including the day 1 leaders – had lower weights.

Some who didn't – notably Jim Bitter and Jimmy Mize – made the Top 12 cut. Also, the cut weight (Peter Thliveros) was 35-01, so the Best Under the Cut performer for this event had to be someone who had a shot at catching the leaders had there been a cut after 3 days instead of 2.

That angler is Arkansas' Mark Davis, who finished 29th with 29-08. He had a 12- 15 limit on day 1 and a 16-09 limit on day 2, and looked like he could've gained more ground on day 3.

"The Delta is a tricky place, but I was figuring it out a little better as I went," he said. "It was all about the tide. Not knowing anything about the Delta, I couldn't believe how quick that tide changes. Unlike East Coast tides, it turns real quick there. It jumps up quick and goes down quick.

"The first day my timing was all wrong tide-wise. I started in the wrong area, but more importantly, you had to be at the place where the biggest fish were on high tide, and I didn't go to those fish until the tide had run out.

"So I screwed up the first day. On the second day the overall catch went down, but mine went up because I changed my timing."

On one practice day he found that the bigger fish bit well on high tide. But on another practice day he tried his two big-fish spots on low tide and "got a couple of bites. So I thought I could still catch them on low tide."

After day 1 he realized that "high tide was better where the big fish were. I probably caught 40-50 bass (in those spots) the first day, but I didn't catch any big ones. I could see the big ones, but they wouldn't bite." On day 2 he went back on high tide and caught fewer fish, but still a lot (20-25), and they were bigger.

"I got my timing down," he said about day 2. "I think if could've had one more day, I would've made the Top 12."

He added that he wished he checked out the Delta before the tournament (in the off-season). "It would have been worth a lot because in practice it took a while to learn how to get from point A to point B."

Gear/other notes:

• His main lures were a Texas-rigged tube and a floating worm. "I was keying on fish that were inside the grassline, spawning-type fish, and the big ones were more or less cruising that inside grassline," he said. "They weren't really on beds so I wasn't really sight-fishing."

• Tube – 7' 6" Falcon Expert Series flipping stick; Pflueger Trion low- profile reel; 25-pound Ande mono; 3/16-ounce weight; 5/0 EWG hook; Strike King Flip-N-Tube (bluegill). "Bluegill and green-pumpkin are my two go-to colors when the water's clear, but it seemed they liked bluegill better."

• Floating worm – 7' Falcon Expert Series medium-heavy rod; same reel; 20- pound Ande; 3/0 EWG; green-pumpkin and black floating worm.

> 22. Woo Daves -- Spring Grove, Va. -- 10, 31-12
Day 1: 5, 14-07 -- Day 2: 5, 17-05

> 48. Rick Morris -- Virginia Beach, Va. -- 9, 26-02
Day 1: 4, 7-04 -- Day 2: 5, 18-14

Clear Lake: Kenyon Hill

The selection of Oklahoma's Kenyon Hill as the Best Under the Cut Performance for Clear Lake is much easier. He had one 6-14 bass on day 1, but followed that up with a 26-03 limit that put him just under the cut: in 13th with 33-01, half a pound out.

"When I went out to California I was a novice at throwing the swimbait," Hill said. "The first day I had 4 other big ones on and they came off. I found out that different brands of swimbaits have different hook situations. Some have a big jig hook that comes out of the top, and others have a big treble on the bottom. I'd been throwing one with the hook on the top and I lost those fish, so (that night) I went to buy some that had the treble on the bottom, because of the way the fish were biting."

It should be noted that several people – including western swimbait whiz Byron Velvick – had trouble with fish short-striking or just slapping at swimbaits on day 1. For some of them it wasn't much different on day 2, but for Hill it was. "I caught 18 pounds on it before I went bed-fishing," he said.

"If I wasn't a novice with that bait, I think I could have had over 50 pounds. But I wasn't as experienced with a swimbait as I would've liked to have been. If I'd had one or two tournaments prior to that where I used a swimbait, I think I would have made the cut fairly easily because I would've made the proper adjustments prior to the tournament."

He explained: "The ones I was catching in practice were biting really close to the boat so they were clubbing it, and the rest I was shaking off because I didn't want to burn up any big fish and other boats were around. So I didn't have a good feel for (the bite). I felt like I could hook them, but it was just inexperience with that bait.

"But that's what happens. It was still a lot of fun."

He thinks he would've made a 3-day cut. "I stayed after the tournament for a couple of days for an Abu-Garcia function. I caught several more big fish on a swimbait, and two 5s and a 6 on a dropshot. Pete (Thliveros) developed that pattern, and we're roommates. So I'd have had another pattern to go with the swimbait and spawning fish."

Gear/other notes:

• American Rodsmiths Marty Stone flipping stick; Abu-Garcia 5600 C4 reel; 30-pound Berkley Sensation line ("it has a big spool so you can put enough of that 30-pound mono on it so it's easy to cast"); hitch-pattern swimbaits (the hitch is a western baitfish).

• "I tried several different brands of swimbaits," he said. "Basstrix makes a good bait – great action. Not only does it wobble from top to bottom, it's almost jointed in the middle so it looks like it's swimming. But the way they were biting, I was having a hard time with the single hook. So I switched over to an Osprey."

14. John Murray -- Phoenix, Ariz. -- 8, 32-03
Day 1: 4, 13-08 -- Day 2: 4, 18-11

23. Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, Mo. -- 8, 26-15
Day 1: 3, 3-06 -- Day 2: 5, 23-09

Notable

> After their two good performances in those events, Davis and Hill went on to even better performances in the next two tournaments. Davis finished 3rd at Lake Hamilton and Hill won at the Alabama River.