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For real now – if you're young enough to NOT remember Davy's fishing career, he's one of the best to ever hold a fishing rod. Period. The awards tell it (check Q #1). He's done a lot, seen a lot and is still in the mix so away we go:
1. First of all, do any of the young'ns on the Elites know that you have wins in 3 different decades, won a couple AOYs, a Classic and had a 2nd and a few more Classic top 10s – or at least that you fished professionally before you did what you do now??
> "I think the 'at least' part is the only part that I can say yes to. I don't think a lot of the younger guys know anything about my career. A fair amount of them know that I fished B.A.S.S. a few years.
> "But hey – it shocked me a few years ago...for some reason I got it in my head...'have you ever met Ray Scott? Has he ever weighed a fish in for you?' The majority [of Elites] said no. That is crazy."
[I get it since we just lost Ray. Wonderin' when the whole "a student of the sport" deal changed?]
2. Since you fished for so long, you saw all kinds of new tech and other stuff come into the sport. In view of that, is FFS just another similar thing or is it a completely new type of deal?
> "A completely new type of deal. It impacts the sport more than anything I've ever seen in my 30 years of participating in bass tournaments or...in my role now.
> "It's surprising to me to hear people say, 'They said this about the Alabama Rig' or refer to other things that are not anywhere near as impactful to our sport as live sonar."
3. Seems like every once in a while we get this new wave of young fishermen coming into the sport, like we have now. Do you think this bunch of new guys is different? Or are they just like you all were back in the day – eat/sleep/fish?
> "I think both. I think they are just like I was in my first few years fishing B.A.S.S. tournaments and I could name others. I think they're hungry and eat/sleep/fish.
> "But the big thing that separates the rookie classes the last few years in particular is we have high school fishing, college fishing, the EQ [Opens] fishing being 9 events. [So rookies] are much more seasoned when they get to the top level of Bassmaster tournaments than they've ever been.
> "There are some anglers that are older that are a little envious of the younger guys...but it's really what we have created. ...high school and college fishing, and BASS Live, being able to see and learn form the best in the business at a very young age."
4. If you were coming up now, other than FFS what part of the game would you make sure you were real good at?
> "The obvious answer is FF Live sonar. [He thought for a bit.] I actually did take a few college courses before I quit my job with the Army National Guard [to fish full-time]...public speaking and business. I think that that is more important now than ever.
> "Our sport has changed, B.A.S.S. has changed, our world has changed. But I think it's always been the case that not only do you have to catch fish to be very successful in our sport, you have to build relationships and have a savvy business mind...because of the cost of things, it's so important.
> "If you look at the history of our sport and the top 10 money winners of all time, if you divide the number of years you fish and calculate the the number of events...very few have been able to make a living with fishing winnings alone.
> "...so important to understand...those tournament trails, they provide you that platform. So it's important to not only be successful fishing, but also to have a good business sense...it's probably more important now than ever."
5. Be honest – who's funnier, Sanders or Zona?
> "[Laughs] Only a few people would know to even ask that question because just at first glance, Zona is the definite answer, you would think. But Tommy Sanders has such a dry wit about him. Often if you don't really know about the story...you don't even realize what he's doing and what he's saying [meaning he's low key messing with you]."
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