Fishing News - 8/6/00
From BASS
Mark Davis Leaves Louisiana With Lowe's W.C.F.
Victory
MONROE, La., Aug. 6, 2000 - Combining strong fishing skills with
steady but quick boat driving led professional angler Mark Davis to his first Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse World Championship Fishing (W.C.F.) title Sunday with a three-day total score of 78 points.He easily outdistanced Arizona angler Dean Rojas, who finished second with 65 points. Rojas was first overall in the boating
performance division, but finished sixth in the fishing competition. Shaw Grigsby of Florida finished third overall, followed by Jay Yelas of Texas and Davy Hite of South Carolina.The unique scoring system of the Lowe's W.C.F. awards points for
the total weight of bass caught during three half-days of angling on three different lakes, as well as for the best two of three timed runs around a special obstacle course designed by the American Power Boat Association that tests boat handling performance. Sixty percent of the total score is based on fishing, Forty percent on boating.Davis won a total of $75,000, including $50,000 for first
overall and $25,000 for capturing first place in the fishing division, while Rojas was awarded $30,000 for second overall plus an additional $25,000 for leading the boating performance division.Davis, the only angler to win both the Bass Masters Classic and the
B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year title in the same year - 1995 - finished the fishing competition with a weight of 30 pounds, 11 ounces. His best catch came during the opening day on Lake D'Arbonne where he caught more than half his final total, 15 pounds, 8 ounces. He followed with 8 pounds, 8 ounces on Caney Lake and finished with 6 pounds, 11 ounces from the Ouachita River."I knew there was a possibility of some anglers making excellent
catches the last day far up the Ouachita River in the Felsenthal region," acknowledged Davis, "but I didn't know that area so I decided to stay close in Monroe and hope I could just stay in the lead."The plan worked, for while Davis fished shallow cover in a
nearby bayou with both a Strike King spinnerbait and a tube jig for his 6 pounds, 11 ounces, Rojas, his nearest competitor for the overall title, made the 60-mile run to Felsenthal and struggled back with just one bass weighing one pound, six ounces."I know it was a gamble," said Rojas, who started the final day
just a single point behind Davis, "but these are the types of chances you have to take if you want to win in this sport. The area had the potential to produce a very big catch, but it just didn't work today. I left earlier than I had originally planned in order to beat a barge coming through the Felsenthal Lock and Dam, and then couldn't catch any other bass on my way back down the river to Monroe."Rojas did claim the boating performance title in his Yamaha
sponsored Skeeter, worth $25,000, with two sparkling runs around the challenging 3,500 foot buoy-marked obstacle course. His final run Sunday afternoon set the course record of one minute, 9.35 seconds. Overall, his two best combined times were more than four seconds quicker than those of Davis, who finished second in the boating performance category in his First USA Visa Bass Cat.Third place finisher Shaw Grigsby, who finished third in the
angling competition and seventh in the boating, won the BC Powder Headache Award, after losing a bass he estimated would weigh about seven pounds. He had actually landed the fish but it jumped back into the water. even though it was still hooked. While playing it a second time, Grigsby snapped his rod, part of which flew back into his face, broke his sunglasses, and left him with a slightly bruised cheek.From Monroe the elite field of 15 anglers heads immediately to
Rend Lake in Mt. Vernon, IL Aug. 11-13 for the second of five scheduled Lowe's Home improvement Warehouse World Championship fishing events that will award a total of more than $1.1 million.B.A.S.S. Web site: http://www.bassmaster.com.
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