Hite Looking To Unlock The California Delta’s Bass Mystery In Bassmaster Elite
In his 22nd year on the B.A.S.S. trail and planning to celebrate the big 5-0 in just a few weeks, Davy Hite shows no signs of slowing down as a professional angler. Even when it entails towing a bass boat almost 3,000 miles over four very long days just to fish a Bassmaster Elite tournament.
And the driving is not always easy. Saturday afternoon, Hite was driving across the Mojave Desert near the end of his arduous journey right through the teeth of a howling windstorm that blew dust against his truck so hard it sounded like sandblasting, he said.
And that followed a rainstorm in the desert.
“I said B.A.S.S. must be coming to town when it rains in the Mojave Desert,” Hite said with a laugh as he headed for Sacramento, Calif., where the Elite tournament will launch this next weekend. While the launch is well up the Sacramento River from the coast, he and most of the other pros plan to make the long boat ride downriver to the California Delta where the big bass hang out.
In 22 years of fishing B.A.S.S. tournaments Hite has won nearly $2 million – and he has won a bunch more on other circuits as well. He has experienced both ends of the spectrum in fishing delta waters at the end of a river system.
He won the 1999 Bassmaster Classic on the Louisiana Delta and placed 10th in a return to the Louisiana Delta for the 2003 Bassmaster Classic. But the bass in the California Delta have stymied him in his two previous trips to the West Coast, finishing 67th in the 2007 Elite tournament there and 89th in the 2010 Elite.
“I actually caught some big fish in practice, but was unable to put it all together in the tournament,” he said.
“I know the Delta is good fishing,” Hite said, “so that eases the pain a little bit. The Louisiana Delta and the California Delta are a little different, but they are very similar in some respects. The California Delta has such an enormous amount of water, you have to find the right area and those places are not easy to find. But maybe this time it will happen.”
Hite said he is going into his third tournament in the California Delta with a lot of confidence.
“It is definitely my type of fishing – power fishing – going for bigger fish using shallow running crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater and flipping a jig. I am looking forward to having a good practice and finding the right fish.”
Then there is the other element that could come into play – his 50th birthday May 18.
“I have done well in tournaments on my birthday. We don’t have a tournament out here on my birthday, but maybe I can have a good tournament close to my birthday.”
While Hite grew up dreaming of being a professional angler, he never expected to have a career that carried to the half-century mark.
“I never dreamed I would be doing this for 20 years-plus,” he said. “Looking back about 15 years ago there were five or six guys from South Carolina that were fishing B.A.S.S. Now, I don’t thin any of them are still fishing except me. And it’s not only the anglers from South Carolina, if you look at the rosters for tournaments overall 15 years ago, I imagine 80 percent of those anglers then are not still active on the Bassmaster trails.”
While Hite said he has no intention of fishing until he is in his 70s, he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
Having a pro angling career, he said, “has been a blessing every year since I started and it is a blessing now.”
Bassmaster Elite Series
Apr 30-May 3, 2015
Sacramento River – Sacramento, CA
Discovery Park
