Editor’s note: This story, written before Davy Hite underwent surgery for a burst appendix (see article). He’s holding true as the angler who never missed a day in 23 years of fishing and is hoping he can still make appearances on Bassmaster LIVE this week.
Davy Hite is experiencing a familiar yet different kind of excitement from when he competed on the Bassmaster Elite Series season. As the first competition approaches, the Classic champ and two-time Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year is jazzed for his second year as analyst for Bassmaster productions, but it comes with a few butterflies. And yes, he still misses fishing competitively.
“I’m excited. I really am,” Hite said, “but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed some time off and some time with my family, time to fish with my sons. Both Parker and Peyton were home during the Christmas holidays.”
That was particularly satisfying since Parker spent the past year in Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. Davy said he and the boys had a number of wonderful outings on the water around their home in South Carolina.
“Just like when I was fishing the Elite series, I enjoy that time off, but after the first of the year I start really getting that bug to fish tournaments, and now starting to want to cover the tournaments,” Hite said.
Hite will again offer his personal insights on what the pros are doing, thinking and experiencing when the season gets under way this week with the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Martin presented by Econo Lodge.
LIVE crew expands coverage
The start of the fourth season of Bassmaster LIVE brings some minor changes. There is still six hours of coverage divided into two segments each day, with some twists. Even before LIVE starts on each event’s Day 2 with its first three-hour segment, the crew will be broadcasting on the B.A.S.S. Facebook page.
“We’re going to be giving more content this year,” producer Mike McKinnis said. “On Day 2 of the tournament, in the hour lead-up to LIVE, we’ll have a bigger, beefier Facebook Live. We’ll be here in studio, with Ronnie (Moore), Tommy (Sanders) and Davy at times, and we’ll also be eavesdropping on (Dave) Mercer and digging into new stats.”
The later start runs into a shorter break, and with that, viewers will get a longer, more robust Toyota Midday Report. McKinnis said the 30- to 45-minute segment will include produced pieces, replays from the morning, live look-ins, skype chats and stat breakdowns. The Bassmaster LIVE noon-3 p.m. segment will lead to anglers checking in.
“We had an instance last year when Dustin Connell was checking in on Ross Barnett, and KVD was right on his tail and he knew it. Connell was freaking out and it really was interesting to see what was going through his mind” McKinnis said. “We’ll get a little of that drama with these guys checking in and immediately feed right into the live weigh-in.”
There will be a link on the Bassmaster LIVE page to take viewers directly to the weigh-in player.
Again, the new times for LIVE are 8-11 a.m. and noon-3 p.m. in each event’s time zone, except this week when the Lake Martin webcasts get under way at 8:30 a.m. ET and the afternoon segment begins at 12:30 p.m.
Be aware that there are three tournaments that start on a Friday, the Sabine River on April 6, Kentucky Lake on May 4 and Lake Oahe on June 29. LIVE is scheduled to finish with Championship Monday for each.
For the season opener, Hite will serve as roving reporter on-site while Mark Zona will be in studio with Tommy Sanders. They will have Ronnie Moore and Mike Suchan assisting.
“I’m going to be at the first event on the water covering and Zona will be studio,” Hite said, “and throughout the year we’re going to mix it up a bit.”
Avoiding the sophomore jinx
Zona’s recap of 2017, ‘Year of the Rookie,’ profiled a solid class led by Dustin Connell, Jamie Hartman, Mark Daniels Jr. and Jesse Wiggins. He made the analogy that Wiggins might be most likely to back it up, like Carson Wentz, and not slide, like Dak Prescott.
Both Hite and Zona said they really don’t see any of those four slipping, and Hite, digging into his mental state when he began on tour, offered how he believes they should be feeling.
“There’s some anxiety, deep down inside,” he said. “You think you’re good enough or you wouldn’t take that risk. After having a good season like the top ones did, I was more excited going into my second because I had confidence that I can really compete at this high level with these guys. You’re thinking you’re good enough, but now they’ve got to know, and now it’s if they can just maintain and keep getting better and better.”
It’s kind of the same thought behind working on LIVE, Hite admits. While he had broadcast experience on his First Look video interviews – he offered inside looks into the minds of anglers – Hite said he has a little angst as he took the seat alongside Sanders in studio.
“I was nervous last year about it, I really was,” he said. “I guess I shouldn’t have been because I worked with all the guys on First Look and at the Classic. I feel better about this season. I know I’ve still got a long way to go, but I feel better about working with everyone and hopefully I can get better and better in my sophomore season. I don’t want to be Dak Prescott, either.”
Reviews of his first year on LIVE have been glowing, but Hite said there is one thing he wants to work on – getting more comfortable looking directly into the camera lens.
“I think I got a little better as the season went on,” Hite said. “I’ve talked to cameras a lot in my career, but I’ve never really needed to focus right on the camera lens like talking directly to an audience like we do on Bassmaster LIVE so much.
“It’s not a natural thing to do. While fishing, I would be looking at the water, focusing on my rod and reel, my bait. That flows well as an angler, but being in studio or on the water, that’s one of the things I need to get better at.”
Hite said the No. 1 question people ask him is how badly he misses competitive fishing. He tells them there are some pangs and probably always will be, but he’s all in on his second career.
“After being out there 20-plus years, I’m excited about doing something different. I’m excited about trying to get better at this,” he said. “It really hit me last year at Classic takeoff and the first event takeoff. It really, really hit me hard that for the first time in a very long time, I haven’t been one of those guys.
“I’m sure it will hit me again in those first few events, and then when I’m in Little Rock and they’re catching 5-pound smallmouth in New York, and I want to be catching 5-pound smallmouth, too.
“I do feel good about the decision I made, and I just think hopefully I can get better I can be a positive influence on some young fisherman lives, and those who want to pursue being a fisherman like I did for all those years.”
