(Editor's note: This is part 1 of a 2-parter on David Fritts that covers his eye injury and his thoughts on this season.)

His is one of the more storied careers in professional fishing. David Fritts, the recognized master of cranking, has won more than $1.5 million over the course of his 16-year pro career. He's won BASS Angler of the Year (1994), the Bassmaster Classic (1993) and the FLW Tour Championship (1997). Add to that his 49 Top 10 finishes and nine wins, and you have one of the sport's true legends.



But the past 2 years on tour have not been kind to Fritts. After a disappointing 2003, some would say he bottomed out in 2004. On the FLW Tour last year, he only fished five events and finished 91st, 130th, 165th, 185th and 4th (Kentucky Lake). The Bassmaster Tour was a little better for him, but not by much. His finishes there included a 101st, 130th, 140th and 95th. His saving graces came at Guntersville (16th) and Lake Eufaula (10th).

He qualified for the Elite 50s through all-time money winnings, and held to middle-of-the-pack finishes there in all but one event. All told it was a rough year and his world ranking suffered. He started last year ranked 93rd and plummeted to 160th. Conventional wisdom said the spring schedules hurt him. His penchant for cranking and finding deep fish just doesn't come into play during the spawn-heavy schedule.

That may be true, in part, but more on that later. Right now, he's battling a career-threatening injury that makes any poor season seem a pittance. He's having major eye trouble, and until a few weeks ago, wasn't sure if he'd even be able to fish this year.

Seeing Three

"I don't know what caused it," Fritts said in reference to his eye injury. "All I know is I was helping my dad out, picking pumpkins sometime in September. I reached down and all of a sudden – it was like you snapped your fingers – I started seeing double and triple. I must have fallen down 10 times that day."

He said the problem wasn't with straight-ahead vision. Troubles occurred when he looked down, which of course is what happens when you fish. "Straight ahead I could see fine, but below the centerline, if I looked down, I could not get an image in. I went to a few local eye doctors. Then finally, a friend of mine who's a cardiologist got me hooked up with someone who is supposedly the best muscle doctor in North Carolina.

"He found out that a muscle in my left eye, on the inside, had gotten weak or damaged. What happens is, that makes my eyeball turn. It's not like I'm cross-eyed, it just turns my eye. I couldn't drive – I didn't know what was going on. Actually, Gary Nesty with Solar Bat was pretty involved with it all. The muscle doctor told me what was wrong, but (Nesty) was probably the one who helped me the most." (Editor's note: Dr. Gary Nesty, owner of Solar Bat, is an optometrist.)

Fritts said the injury came as a shock. "All of a sudden, to lose your vision like that? It blew me away. I don't know how it happened."

The muscle doctor told him an injury like his usually results from a blow to the head. Fritts said he didn't experience anything like that, although he did recall being affected by lightning at the 2004 Paducah E50. "I did get hit by lightning in the last E50, but I don't know that for sure."

Close Call

"What happened was, I came in pretty close to the launch – a few hundred yards from takeoff – and a really bad storm came up," Fritts said. "I've never in my life gotten down from the front of my boat. For some reason, I don't know why, I got down between the seat and the console.

"The next thing I knew, I felt something hot running up my back. The next thing I knew after that, I was getting up off floor and my face was bleeding. I had hit the latch on the center console, which was turned up.

"That cut me on the left of my nose and my cheek. And everything in the boat was knocked out – nothing worked. I messed around and flipped breakers, then finally got my engine to crank. I went in 30 minutes earlier than normal and I was going to load up, but I was so dazed, it was like I was drunk or something."

At that point, he thought about going to the hospital, but said he started feeling better. He spent the night at his friend Charlie Conway's house. "That's pretty much the extent of it," Fritts said. "I'm sure it wasn't a direct hit, because if it was I probably wouldn't be here talking to you right now."

Special Specs

Fritts said nobody is sure whether the lightning strike caused his injury, but he has set about to healing it. Progress has been slow, but there has been some improvement. He credits a special pair of glasses for the turnaround.

"They ended up having to make some 3X prisms to go in my glasses," he said. "It was really aggravating. At first, I could see nothing but a bunch of lines though my left eye. The prisms relax the muscle and try to correct it."

But he put up with the aggravation, because if the glasses didn't work, the next step was surgery. "It would have been serious surgery, not minor like LASIK or anything like that," he said. "They would have to cut the muscle completely loose from my eye and reattach it. I wanted to wait and see if it got better or worse (with the glasses).

"I feel it's gotten a little bit better. I've worn the prism glasses about 1 1/2 months and I'm able to see well enough now. I'm still planning to fish the Bassmaster Tour. I'm probably going to have a problem with depth perception, but I've been driving a vehicle and I feel pretty normal. I think I'll be fine.

"I'm getting used to these glasses, but pitching to a small target will be pretty hectic. Other than that, I'll be fine."

Notable

> Fritts said other anglers at the E50 felt the effect of the lightning. "I think David Wharton got knocked down. And I think a couple of other anglers felt a little bit of it."

> He plans to fish the Bassmaster Tour, but has only entered one FLW event. That means he probably won't requalify to fish the FLW Tour in 2006. He said if that's the case, he'll try to get back in through the EverStarts.

> His three strong finishes in 2004 came on lakes with bites built for his fishing style. Cochran won Guntersville on a jerkbait, and Brauer flipped at Eufaula. But Eufaula is a structure lake and deep fish were available. Plus, it's Fritts' favorite lake to fish. At the Kentucky Lake FLW, where he finished 4th, he cranked, as did the winner Gagliardi.

- End of part 1 (of 2) -