If Davy Hite had never won a Bassmaster Classic, then maybe he'd be satisfied with a strong finish this week at Lake Toho. But like many tour pros, the South Carolina veteran views the Classic as a winner-take-all event. He's won it before (1999 at the Louisiana Delta), so there's no reason to be pleased with anything less.
"This is my 12th Classic, so I don't have the same goals or aspirations as when I first started," he said. "When I finished 2nd back in 1996 (at Lay Lake in Alabama), that was the highlight of my career at that time. The only thing I'd won up to that point was (one Top 100 and one Invitational), and to hang in there in the ultimate tournament and come real close to winning was pretty special.
"Then I won one just a few years later, and now anything other than that is kind of a disappointment. This Classic is definitely a swing-for-the-fences deal, and that's what I'm going to do."
Is the Mojo Still There?
Hite had a superb summer. He won an Elite 50 (Dardanelle), finished 2nd at another (Wissota) and took 12th and 17th in the other two. He followed that up with a 7th at the Classic in Pittsburgh, a soft-bite, small-fish event where he couldn't put his power-fishing prowess to use.
He hasn't made a cast in a tour-level event in nearly 7 months, but he feels like the good mojo is still with him.
"I wish I could tell you that I've found the magic formula or found the reason that I had success throughout the summer, but I really can't put a finger on it," the two-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY) said. "Fishing's like football or basketball or anything else – you can feel the momentum swinging one way or the other way, and a lot of times you can't do anything about it.
"A lot of it is just your mental frame of mind. It'd be nice to be able to keep it right all the time, but that's a lot easier said than done. If you stay in this for long enough, you're going to see both good streaks and bad ones. But I've been going good lately, and I don't see why I can't carry it into this Classic."
Some Ups and Downs
Hite's career has been marked by many peaks, but there have been some valleys as well. In addition to the Classic win and the two AOYs (1997, 2002), he also won the FLW Championship in 1998. That's the good side.
On the flip side, he's won two BassFan Comeback of the Year Awards (2002, 2004). That means there wasn't much to write home about in 2001 or 2003 – at least not by his high standards.
He doesn't particularly care for the "boom or bust" tag, and points to his 12 Classic appearances in 14 years to refute it. "I don't think my career has been as streaky as some people make it out to be," he said. "I've had years with some bad finishes and other years with awesome finishes, but the way I judge performance is making Classics.
"In that regard, I don't know too many people other than Kevin (VanDam) who've done a whole lot better in the time that I've been fishing. Twelve out of 14 – I'll take that and be proud of it."
Davy Hite says the winner of this week's Bassmaster Classic will likely need at least one 25-pound bag.
Different Kind of Classic
Hite said his 7th-place finish at the previous Classic in Pittsburgh could be attributed to a more conservative approach he developed last year. That was a critical component during his strong E50 run.
"I've probably been guilty of swinging for the fences more than anything," he said. "But Pittsburgh was similar to some of the other tournaments last summer, where I decided I didn't have to have 5- or 6-pounders every day. Just keepers. I had a Top 10 (at the Guntersville Bassmaster) because of it and in the E50s I had a big bag on a day or two, but other days I'd just go and catch some keepers and be right there as the tournament progressed."
Toho is a different sort of fishery though. He figures he'll need at least one huge bag, and he'll shoot for it on the first day.
"You can't win this thing catching 10 to 12 pounds a day," he said. "I'm going to go for 25 or 27 pounds on the first day because I think the winner is going to have to have at least one day that good.
"You won't need 3 days of unbelievable weights. If you can have one day of 25 or 30 pounds, then you can just go out and catch some fish on the other days."
Notable
> Hite holds the record for the heaviest Classic-winning weight in the five-fish limit era (55-10). "I'm a little bit afraid that one will go down this week," he said.
> He said bass are a lot like people in their reactions to weather changes. "Where I live on Lake Murray, we can still smack them when it gets cold, but these Florida fish don't get exposed to it much and when they do, it's like somebody whacked them in the head. They take it personally. It's just like somebody from Michigan doesn't think twice about 10 degrees and 6 inches of snow, but if we get that in South Carolina, a lot of us aren't going outside for awhile."
> His pre-practice was unspectacular, but that doesn't concern him. "It wasn't as good as I would have liked, but we had a lot of weather come in. I think it's going to be totally different this week. I'm not saying I'm glad I didn't catch many, but I think some of the guys who did catch them might get hung up on what was going on then and they won't be on them this week."
