“Nowadays I have to fish a little slower. I have to do it with my brain, what’s left of that,” said the veteran bass pro from Spring Grove, Md., with a laugh. “I have to be the tortoise in the race against the hare, but I still enjoy it. I still like getting out there.”

And he is still good at it, even if the lack of youthful stamina now forces him to fish that much smarter.

Daves is ranked 3^rd in Bassmaster Northern Open standings, thanks to a third place finish in the first Bass Pro Shops Northern Open of 2012 on the James River near Richmond last month. Daves weighed in a three-day total of 37.15 pounds, just 1 pound, 5 ounces behind the winner, Josh Wagy, who at 23 is 43 years younger than the veteran pro.

If he can hold in the top five through the rest of the Northern Open schedule – July 19-21 on the Detroit River and Aug. 16-18 on Cayuga Lake at Seneca Falls, N.Y. – he will re-qualify to fish the B.A.S.S. Elite Series. An Open win would propel Daves back to the Bassmaster Classic, the historical championship of bass tournament fishing which he last qualified for 10 years ago.

Daves is one of a small group of Bassmaster Classic Champions and his win in 2000 on Lake Michigan was a classic example of out-thinking the rest of the field. When high winds made traversing the lake impossible most anglers had to abandon the spots they had found during practice and go looking for new fish during the three-day championship.

When they all blasted out of the city marina in Chicago each morning, Daves cranked his big engine just enough to run to the buoy, then dropped his trolling motor and began slowly working the quieter water inside the seawall. He had the entire marina to himself and it paid off big as he weighed in 14 bass at 27 pounds, 13 ounces to win the 30th annual Classic.

In recent years a series of health setbacks have slowed him down and knocked him out of fishing a full schedule, but he is back in the game with renewed enthusiasm for his sunset fishing years.

“About four years ago I had prostate surgery. The year after that I broke my foot and the year after that I broke my shoulder in the fall so I could not fish the Southern Opens. By the time I got healed up it was March so I had to stick with the Northern Opens this year,” Daves said.

But now he is ready to give it one more good shot before calling it a day on the Bassmaster circuit.

“I give myself two more years,” he said. “Next year I’m going to fish both the Northern and Southern Opens.”

He is looking forward to next week’s second Northern Open on the Detroit River at Lake St. Clair.

“It is a great fishery They had a lot of 25- to 27-pound stringers caught there in the spring and I think there will be a lot of 20-pound stringers caught in the Open,” Daves said. “That is a place where if you are catching 3-pounders you are wasting your time. It’s hard to imagine for somebody who has not fished up there, but if you are catching 3-pounders and everybody else is coming in with 4-pounders you can’t win.”

Daves said the best strategy is to try to catch at least three 4-pounders each day and two 3-pounders just to have a chance at finishing in the money. Most of the tournaments recently have been won on drop-shots, he said, and that is how he plans to fish – rigging the drop-shot with a wacky worm and fishing it on very light line, 8-pound-test or even 6-pound-test.

“You are out there in deep water so they won’t break you off. You are not going to run into any structure very often and you fish down the edges of the weed beds, not in them.”

The main thing is to just go fishing and have fun, Daves said. You can tell he has mellowed as one of the true old men of the sport of tournament fishing when he talks about fishing Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River.

“It is a fun place to fish. Sometimes you go to a lake and don’t catch many fish and as a result you don’t do good in the tournament, so you are disappointed. But if you go and catch some good fish, if you catch 3- and 4-pounders, and still don’t get a check you are not as disappointed. At least you had the enjoyment of catching the fish and feeling you were that close to doing something good.”

So, don’t let Daves’ age fool you. He may have slowed down but still has that burning desire and he loves to fish.

There is a great new guard of young anglers competing in Bassmaster tournaments these days, outfitted with the latest in modern technology, but they should pay heed to one of the oldest stories known to mankind. Just remember who won the race in the Aesop’s Fable, The Tortoise and The Hare.

 

Bassmaster Bass Pro Shops Northern Open

July 19-21, 2012

Detroit River

Detroit, MI

www.bassmaster.com