Davis Vows To Work Hard To Bounce Back In 2010

Mark Davis has had a lot of good years in a pro fishing career spanning nearly a quarter of a century. The 2009 campaign wasn't one of them.

The three-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY) and 1995 Bassmaster Classic champion finished no higher than 37th in any of the eight Elite Series events and ended up a dismal 67th in the points race – a full 30 places south of the Classic cutoff. His year got off to a bad start with a house deal that went awry and he admitted that he lacked some of the resolve that it takes to be competitive at the sport's highest level.

"It was just an off-year, plain and simple," he said. "I had a really hard time staying motivated, and you've got to be highly motivated to do well. It's hard to put my finger on all of it, but I'm sure age and a lot of days on the water had something to do with it.

"Little things compounded, one on top of the other. There were so many tournaments when one fish or two at a particular time could've completely altered those events. Catching-wise, it was the worst year I've ever had. Nothing went right."

Recapturing the Magic

Had everything gone according to plan, the big Arkansan would be an Alabamian right now. Last offseason, he put a lot of work into acquiring a house at Lake Guntersville, but the agreement fell apart just as he was in the final stages of selling his home in Mount Ida.

"That started a snowball effect – things going on either in my personal life or my career," Davis said. "I'll be really glad when the New Year gets here and I can put 2009 behind me.

"It wouldn't be fair to say that fishing was unimportant, but it was somewhat less important than it had been in the past. It wasn't as high of a priority and I didn't have that same burning desire to excel. Now, that's not to say I'm not going do everything I can to get it back."

He realized that one area in which he'd been sloughing on in recent years was pre-practice. He'd just about stopped visiting tournament venues prior to the off-limits period.

"In '95 (when he became the only angler to win the AOY and the Classic in the same year) and those other years way back there, I was pre-fishing every lake. That kind of thing paid off then, and it still pays off now. But for the past few years, I've just been getting my maps and going to (official) practice for 3 days, and I'm haven't been finding as many fish that other people weren't finding."

A Ride in the Back Seat

Davis started working his way back to a more diligent pre-practice routine this fall, when he traveled out West to compete in the California Delta Western FLW Series as a co-angler. He practiced for 4 days with old pal Jay Yelas and basically rode around in the back seat with other pros for 3 competition days.

He finished 29th at the Delta when the Bassmaster Tour stopped there in 2003, but he was fishing the FLW Tour when it went back in '07. He wanted to re-familiarize himself with the immense maze of channels in preparation for next year's Elite Series event.

As luck would have it, one of the pros who drew him was fellow Elite competitor and Delta ace Ish Monroe, who was defending his 2008 title in that event.

"That whole thing was a humbling experience, but it was fun," he said. "Ish wasn't too happy to have drawn me, because of course he didn't want to show me anything, and I finally had to tell him, 'Ish, don't worry about me. Just go and do your thing.'''

Monroe went on to finish 14th. Davis ended up 37th on the co-angler side, catching just three fish over the first 2 days before finally putting together a small limit on day 3.

"I mostly just sat in the back of the boat and watched guys fish. I didn't feel like I needed to compete (against the other co-anglers) – I didn't feel right about doing that. I was just along for the ride and I got to see the whole Delta during that week. I learned a lot that should end up being very valuable."

More Modest Goal

Winning the AOY has been Davis' annual goal for just about as long as he can remember. That won't be the case in 2010.

"When you have a year like I had this past year, your first priority is just to get back into the Classic, and then the second would be contending for the Angler of the Year again," he said. "Last year I was a long ways from doing that.

"But at the same time, I've been around long enough to know how fishing is. I could get right back in the groove real easy and have everything going my way again."

Notable

> Davis' tough year dropped him from 19th to 78th in the BassFan World Rankings.

> In addition to the California Delta, he's also visited the Arkansas River in Oklahoma in preparation for the Elite event there next June.