Davis Does Well in Shotgun Round 2, Hopes to Continue Surge Towards Sudden Death

“Mark Davis, that’s who.”

That’s the answer I got from Kelly Jordon the other day prior to the start of Round One action on Lake Naconiche as the week’s second bracket of anglers prepared to go out on the 692-acre timber and grass choked lake just to the north of Nacogdoches.

“He has experience in his angling past on lakes like this and he’ll know what to do in all of this flooded timber,” added KJ.

As it turns out, Jordon’s guess was spot on as Davis figured things out quickly and surged up towards the top of the leaderboard as the 2017 Major League Fishing General Tire World Championship event continues in the Pineywoods of East Texas.

When the first day was over, Davis was in the top three, only a short distance from the lead that was held by Major League Fishing co-founder Boyd Duckett.

“I landed right on them,” smiled Davis in agreement when I asked about his superb first round effort in a small lake full of big fish.

“On these types of lakes, even one as well known as this 700-acre one is for big fish, to get to the really good bites, typically, you have to go where most guys don’t go,” he added. “And I’m talking about local fishermen.”

And that’s pretty much what Davis did the other day, locating a couple of key places that he was able to plumb the depths of until he found enough cooperating bass.

“It’s frustrating (though),” he admitted. “It was probably the most frustrating day I’ve ever spent on the water, fighting that stuff all day long. The boat is hung up (on submerged timber), the fish are hung up (when you catch them), and you’re hung up (just reeling your lure in).

“It’s on and on and on. But I had a good day although I had to exercise a lot of patience.”

Patience was – and will be again today as the shotgun round commences – a prime consideration on Naconiche since it takes a long time to move around in certain areas, even though the lake is small and serpentine in nature.

“It all looks good (here),” said Davis “(But if you change areas and go into an area where there isn’t any fish), then you waste an hour and a half real quickly.”

Because of that, Davis is hopeful that today’s second day of Round One action on Naconiche will leave him with at least the right starting area correctly figured out.

“I’m going to bet that those fish are going to be like they were (on Tuesday),” grinned Davis. “If they are, then we’ll be good. And if they are not, then we’ll be struggling.”

Since Naconiche is basically a flooded forest of East Texas oaks and pines – with some grass mixed in – I asked Davis how you decipher one area from another.

“You really can’t,” he said. “You’ve just got to move around until you get on fish because it all looks the same.

“When I rode around on the lake (before the first day began), it’s all the same, except for the lower end where (the timber) has been cut,” he added. “Other than that, it all looks identical.

“Because of that, you really can’t distinguish (one thing from another) with the eye, you have to do it all with the rod and the lure.”

Given the small lake’s reputation for producing big bass, Davis did admit that he was somewhat surprised that the first day’s biggest bass checked in at under five-pounds.

“My theory is that obviously, with our format, you’ve got to go right to the bite, whether they be big ones or little bites,” said Davis. “Most of these fish haven’t spawned (in my opinion) and I don’t think that they are up shallow where (most of us were fishing).”

But Davis noted that things could change in a hurry considering the early March full moon arriving by the end of this upcoming weekend, along with water temperatures in the 60s and the fact that this MLF World Championship is being contested in the big bass rich region near Nacogdoches. 

“Someone who is kind of out of it – say four, five or six pounds – they can go out (during the second day) and slow down and start picking apart that deeper water and find those bigger fish,” he said.

“That is something that I’m very, very aware of,” he added. “We could see everything change if that proves to be the case.

“Time will tell – and that’s not my plan today – but it could happen. But other than that, I’m pretty confident that most of us will fish shallow (today).”

While Davis feels that way after considering how his first day of action went, he does caution that such an idea is subject to change.

“This is prime – it’s three days before the full moon in March and you can’t get it any more prime than that,” he said.

Meaning that Davis doesn’t anticipate any big changes ahead today in terms of what he’s doing.

“I’m not going to say that all of my eggs are in one basket, but to a certain extent, they are,” smiled one of the sport’s all-time legends. “I’m pretty much dialed in. I’m not saying that half-way in (today) though that I might not have to change what I’m doing or change where I’m at.”

And the reason, of course, is the presence of MLF’s revolutionary SCORETRACKER LIVE! leaderboard.

“SCORETRACKER tells you a lot,” said Davis. “It can tell you a lot since you know your competitor’s tendencies and their fishing styles. If you see a guy making a big move, you can make an educated guess (about what he’s figured out).”

But odds are, if someone else has figured something out, then Davis probably has too.

Because he’s got one of the sport’s all-time best resumes, not to mention a vote of confidence from an on looking fellow MLF pro.

And that makes Mark Davis one of the pros to beat, even if it’s hard to get around on Lake Naconiche.