Elite

Elite Man Caves: Will Davis Jr.

Posted on
Photography by
Chase Sansom
Captions by
Chase Sansom
Welcome to the Man Cave of Bassmaster Elite Series pro Will Davis Jr. from Sylacauga, Ala. Davis Jr. lives in Sylacauga with his wife, Megan, and daughter, Chandler.
The Man Cave is where the back-to-back B.A.S.S. Nation Champion stores his Nitro Z20, a corner full of tackle, a collection of old trophies, his “fun” boat, a golf cart and much more. And of course it’s home to this bottle of champagne popped in Davis’ driveway after his Elite Series win on Lay Lake just right down the road. The bottle of champagne was brought by his friend who owns Circle B Whitetails.
First up is this wall full of old trophies and plaques won by both Will and his father, William Davis. This is just a few of them.
Davis’ father has been fishing and winning tournaments since he was old enough to drive at the age of 16.
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“I told my dad there is no way I am bringing all of his trophies and plaques here.”
The trophies range all the way back to the 1980s.
Over in the bottom right hand corner you will find Will Davis Jr.’s plaques from his high school and college fishing days.
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In one corner of the shop is Davis Jr.’s coyote traps. When he is not on the water, he spends his time hunting and trapping.
These ones need a little rewaxing.
Davis Jr. is an avid deer hunter, and there is plenty of hunting equipment found around the shop.
Directly above his climbing tree stand is one of his many deer mounts. As a matter of fact, before being an Elite Series pro, Davis Jr. was a taxidermist.
We took a peek inside one cabinet and found some of the new KastKing reels he’ll be using in 2024.
Here’s a wide-angle view of his tackle collection he leaves in the corner. Everything from soft plastics and crankbaits to rods and reels.
A cabinet full of reels ready to use is at his disposal.
Then we shift over to the soft plastics where he has a shelf lined full of Big Bite Baits bulk packs.
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Umbrella rigs hang on the top shelf to keep them mess free.
More soft plastics are tossed around in boxes.
Plenty of Big Bite Bait packs are sitting around.
A little further down is about every crankbait you could want along with various jerkbaits, topwaters and more.
Hanging high in the cave is a Davis Bait Company sign that was hung at some of the tournaments the company put on.
Another view of the hard baits…
Shift a little further down and we find his collection of jigheads assorted across his peg board.
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Tucked in underneath his baits is a spare lower unit Davis keeps around at all times when traveling.
Underneath of all his crankbaits and jigheads are some shotgun shells. Davis Jr. also spends a lot of time duck hunting.
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On shelves in the rear of the shop is an assortment of extra parts and electronics.
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Here is a big carpet sticker from STR8 UP MOUNTS. “He has the best graph mounts around,” Davis Jr. says.
More of his mounts. On one of the mounts, a mouse got ahold of the nose. The mount on the far left had been sitting in an old house for awhile…
This was his number placed on his windshield in 2022 at the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship which he won.
On another shelf we found some his patches and pins from his skeet shooting days.
Davis Jr. was a part of the NSSA Sub Junior All-American Skeet Team.
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Wedged between his skeet shooting trophies is a photo of Tom Mann with the largest 10 fish stringer ever.
Over in one of the final corners you can find a selection of gardening tools as Davis does a little bit of gardening. Other items here came from his father’s bait shop.
Speaking of his father, here is a collection old hats he has stored on the shelf.
Davis Jr. collects these old hats, and the one he is holding is his father’s Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation Regional tournament hat.
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But these aren’t just any hats. This is a hat his father had made to promote the very first spinnerbait he ever created — the Flexx Spinnerbait. What made the Flexx Spinnerbait unique was the hook swiveled inside the head.
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He later came out with the Let Go Performance Lure Retriever, and of course, made some hats for it.
Parked next to his Nitro Z20 is Davis Jr.’s “fun” boat he uses when he is not in the Z20. It’s a G3 he spends a lot time in around on the Jordan Dam.
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One thing he notes though is the skeg is gone.
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Parked nearby his golf cart was a tote full of road neccessities he takes when traveling.
Various items like Pop-Tarts, mayonnaise, a small grill, dish washing liquid, napkins, plates and more are on hand.
And this golf cart is Will Jr.’s pride and joy. He frequently rides around and picks up cans.
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“I don’t let money go to waste,” said Davis. “I pick ’em all up.”
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And he threw a couple of stickers on the front.
We wrap it up with one more thing Davis Jr. always takes with him everywhere he goes — a note his dad wrote before Davis Jr.’s Elite Series debut in 2023 at Lake Okeechobee.
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Bonus content: We slid down the road to the Davis Bait Company to take a look around the bait shop as well where Davis Jr. spends some time.
Inside is where a majority of production happens for the Davis Bait Company. The space used to be a hospital laundromat.
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We started in the back of the shop with the casters where all of the heads are poured.
The molds are placed inside and when the lid is shut they spin. This is how the lead is poured and shaped.
The hot lead goes in the top, funnels down to the spinning mold and the caster spins it into shape.
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And these are all of the molds.
There is a bunch of them…
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This is what the inside of one looks like. This is the “School Bus” — or as most know it — an umbrella rig mold.
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Also next to the circular molds are some hand molds.
Nearly everything the Davis family needs to build any bait is stored on these shelves.
Boxes and boxes of hooks.
Davis estimates hundreds of thousands of hooks are stored here and around the shop.
Collections of eyes.
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This is just some of the skirts on the shelves.
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Boxes of Fishco flat-sided crankbaits.
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Also on the shelves are some FishCo Poppers.
Can’t forget about the Davis Shaky Fish…
Spinnerbait necessities are stored on this table.
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Will inspects a few spinnerbaits.
Just some of the finished products.
And of course Davis Sr. wanted to show us the durability and strength of his spinnerbait wires.
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This table is what is considered as the junk table. There seems to be a lot going on here. Seems like a little bit of everything lives here or will live here one day.
This where a bunch of special orders lay at rest.
A special order.
This is where all the soft plastics are stored before packaging them.
There is a bunch of them stored inside each box.
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Here is just a small collection of finished products that the Davis Bait Company has to offer. Everything from their popular shaky heads and Shaky Worm to buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and more.
Next we walked over to check out Davis Sr.’s office that has pretty much everything.
One of the first things I noticed when walking in was this photo of Clay Dyer. Davis Bait Company was one of Dyer’s first sponsors.
This is William Davis’ 32-pound stringer of crappie.
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Lots of photos of big bass…
An old B.A.S.S. member hat hung inside the office. Good touch.
When headed back out and saw a few of the employees working on baits.
Davis Sr. needed to put together a few spinnerbaits for his son before the 2023 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship.
He took those spinnerbaits and put them to work to win the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship becoming the first angler ever to win it back-to-back.

This wraps up the Man Cave tour — and bonus bait shop tour — with Will Davis Jr. Thanks for checking it out!

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