After two Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year awards and a Bassmaster Classic championship, Davy Hite has more than "made it" as a BASS pro. In 2009 he'll be fishing his 13th Classic on a body of water he's only competed on once before … and won. Here's how he answered his 20 questions:
1. Where are you from, originally?
Columbia, S.C.
2. How did you get started in bass fishing?
I started with my dad and granddad when I was a kid.
3. Who were some of your earliest fishing heroes?
My granddad. He had one of the original bass boats like the one built by Skeeter, and he fished a few tournaments.
4. When did you realize you had made it in the bass fishing industry?
When I won the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year award in 1997. It brought some security and longevity to my career.
5. What's the biggest bass you've ever caught?
11 pounds, 7 ounces. I got it in 2000 while I was filming an instructional video on a small lake here in South Carolina. Talk about good timing!
6. What do you love most about bass fishing?
I'm competitive by nature, and I love fishing, so being able to fish against the best bass fishermen in the world in a competitive setting is great.
7. What is your greatest strength as a bass angler?
Power fishing and fishing to win. Winning 7 events in 14 years is testament to that, but it has also affected me negatively. Sometimes in the dog days of summer I don't know how to catch a small limit to stay alive. I always go for broke.
8. What is your greatest weakness as a bass angler?
Finesse fishing. In the same way I can't fish for anything else but first, it's hard for me to slow down and settle for a small limit.
9. Where is your favorite place to fish for bass and why?
Lake Murray right here in South Carolina. I was raised around there.
10. What question do you get asked most by fans and how do you answer it?
Probably, "How do I become a bass pro?" My answer is always "Time on the water."
11. What's the biggest mistake you see from casual anglers?
Probably that they don't understand that being a pro is about more than being able to catch fish. There's a business side to it. You need to represent your sponsors in a positive way. You really need to understand both sides of it.
12. Do you have any fishing superstitions?
My most famous one is my lucky underwear. I had a pair I was wearing when I won my first Angler of the Year title — a certain pair I wore a lot. I eventually wore the elastic out of them, "rebuilt" them with more elastic, then when the second elastic wore out, I had a piece of them on me when I won my second title in 2002.
13. How big a part does luck play in fishing?
It's funny that I'd say this when you consider I have a lucky pair or underwear, but I don't believe in luck. I really don't. I think that good and bad things happen in our lives, and what you make of them is your luck.
14. What has been your greatest accomplishment in the fishing industry?
Winning the Bassmaster Classic in 1999. However, winning Angler of the Year means more to me personally. But when I'm introduced, it's always as Classic champ.
15. What goals have you yet to accomplish in your bass fishing career?
Winning another Classic. I told my boys that when I'm dead and gone, there'd be a Classic champ ring for each of them.
16. What keeps you motivated to reach those goals?
Having made that promise to them. When I came in second in 1996, I vowed I'd win another one so I don't break their hearts.
17. What has been the greatest regret of your fishing career?
I don't really have any. There's a few tournaments I wish went differently, but I don't have any real regrets.
18. When you're not bass fishing, how do you like to spend your time?
Outdoors. I'm either hunting or fishing … just being outdoors.
19. What profession (other than your own) would you like to have tried?
I've always loved football, and I think being a high school football coach would be a great experience. You get to influence young men's lives and be around the game.
20. When it's all over, how do you want people to remember you?
I want to be remembered as a straight-shooting, honest guy who always tried his hardest. More importantly, I want people to see I'm a guy who came from a middle-class raising at best, had a dream, and lived it.