8 questions with David Walker

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David Walker turned 53 years old in May. The 12-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier is so identified with his current Sevierville, Tenn., home, near Knoxville, it’s easy to forget that Walker spent the first half of his life in Detroit, Mich. There were hunters and anglers in his family, but he didn’t compete in a bass tournament until he signed up for a local tournament with a friend from work at a Detroit tool-and-die factory. Walker has won more than $1 million in B.A.S.S. tournaments, and nearly $2 million overall. He was the 1999 FLW Angler of the Year and qualified for 10 FLW championships.
David Walker turned 53 years old in May. The 12-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier is so identified with his current Sevierville, Tenn., home, near Knoxville, it’s easy to forget that Walker spent the first half of his life in Detroit, Mich. There were hunters and anglers in his family, but he didn’t compete in a bass tournament until he signed up for a local tournament with a friend from work at a Detroit tool-and-die factory. Walker has won more than $1 million in B.A.S.S. tournaments, and nearly $2 million overall. He was the 1999 FLW Angler of the Year and qualified for 10 FLW championships.
<b> 1. What started you in tournament bass fishing? </b><p> “I fished a lot as a kid. I fished for everything. Nobody in my family tournament fished. When I was 19 or 20, I signed up for a tournament with a guy from work. I had an aluminum boat with a 15-horsepower motor. He didn’t have a boat. When you’re working 60 hours a week in a factory, you’ll try anything to have something to look forward to. I had three rods and a two-tray tackle box. We never caught a fish. It rained sideways all day. The best thing that happened is that the boat didn’t sink. Despite the fact that we did so poorly, I was determined to do it again. I was amazed at the boats that zoomed by us that day. I fished quite a few more years of club stuff.”
1. What started you in tournament bass fishing?

“I fished a lot as a kid. I fished for everything. Nobody in my family tournament fished. When I was 19 or 20, I signed up for a tournament with a guy from work. I had an aluminum boat with a 15-horsepower motor. He didn’t have a boat. When you’re working 60 hours a week in a factory, you’ll try anything to have something to look forward to. I had three rods and a two-tray tackle box. We never caught a fish. It rained sideways all day. The best thing that happened is that the boat didn’t sink. Despite the fact that we did so poorly, I was determined to do it again. I was amazed at the boats that zoomed by us that day. I fished quite a few more years of club stuff.”

<b> 2. When did you decide to try professional bass fishing as a career? </b><p> “I’d fished a lot of tournaments by the fall of 1998. I quit my factory job after 15 years and signed up for everything I could in 1999. But I had to win enough money in the first one to pay my deposits for the next one. That’s the year I won Angler of the Year (on the FLW Tour) and was on the Wheaties (cereal) box. I’d put off what I should have done earlier, but I had no other funds besides that factory job to support this bass fishing experiment.”
2. When did you decide to try professional bass fishing as a career?
“I’d fished a lot of tournaments by the fall of 1998. I quit my factory job after 15 years and signed up for everything I could in 1999. But I had to win enough money in the first one to pay my deposits for the next one. That’s the year I won Angler of the Year (on the FLW Tour) and was on the Wheaties (cereal) box. I’d put off what I should have done earlier, but I had no other funds besides that factory job to support this bass fishing experiment.”
<b> 3. Jerry McKinnis has repeatedly said that an incident with you at the 2002 Bassmaster Classic on Alabama’s Lay Lake led to the “no landing nets rule” at every B.A.S.S. event. What happened? </b><p> “I finished third in that Classic. On the last day, I was fishing a mat. I caught a huge fish – 5 or 6 pounds, which was big for that tournament. I went to the back of the boat to land it. Every time I reached for the fish, it went the other way. McKinnis told me that after watching that video footage, we’re never going to have nets again. I’m fine with that, by the way.”
3. Jerry McKinnis has repeatedly said that an incident with you at the 2002 Bassmaster Classic on Alabama’s Lay Lake led to the “no landing nets rule” at every B.A.S.S. event. What happened?
“I finished third in that Classic. On the last day, I was fishing a mat. I caught a huge fish – 5 or 6 pounds, which was big for that tournament. I went to the back of the boat to land it. Every time I reached for the fish, it went the other way. McKinnis told me that after watching that video footage, we’re never going to have nets again. I’m fine with that, by the way.”
<b> 4. What are your go-to lures? </b><p> “The first lures I had success with were jigs. Once you get confidence in something, it tends to be your favorite. I was using jigs to fish the outside edge of grass lines in Michigan. That eventually led to pitching and flipping a jig in shallow cover. As I made the transition from fishing 400-acre lakes to 40,000-acre bodies of water, crankbaits become something I found success with. Jigs and crankbaits are still the lures I like a lot.”
4. What are your go-to lures?
“The first lures I had success with were jigs. Once you get confidence in something, it tends to be your favorite. I was using jigs to fish the outside edge of grass lines in Michigan. That eventually led to pitching and flipping a jig in shallow cover. As I made the transition from fishing 400-acre lakes to 40,000-acre bodies of water, crankbaits become something I found success with. Jigs and crankbaits are still the lures I like a lot.”
<b> 5. What’s the one thing that has changed the most in your professional bass fishing career? </b><p> “The bigger question would be what hasn’t changed? Well, the payouts are about the same,” Walker laughed. “But probably the biggest change has been the amount of knowledge that is available. It wasn’t there 20 years ago. The only information you had on techniques was in a monthly magazine or a weekly TV show. That’s why the young guys are doing so well today. There are no more specialists, like Rick Clunn with a spinnerbait or Denny Brauer flipping. I’ve got no idea of what these guys under 30 are particularly good at. You look at their front decks, and there’s a path between two bales of rods with every kind of lure imaginable tied on.”
5. What’s the one thing that has changed the most in your professional bass fishing career?
“The bigger question would be what hasn’t changed? Well, the payouts are about the same,” Walker laughed. “But probably the biggest change has been the amount of knowledge that is available. It wasn’t there 20 years ago. The only information you had on techniques was in a monthly magazine or a weekly TV show. That’s why the young guys are doing so well today. There are no more specialists, like Rick Clunn with a spinnerbait or Denny Brauer flipping. I’ve got no idea of what these guys under 30 are particularly good at. You look at their front decks, and there’s a path between two bales of rods with every kind of lure imaginable tied on.”
<b> 6. Are you as good a tournament fisherman now as you were, say, five or 10 years ago? </b><p> “I don’t know. I told Jerry McKinnis this a long time ago: It seems to be a pattern that the more tournaments you fish, the worse you get. I’ve never seen anybody at the end of their career who was the best they’ve ever been. Just go down the list. I don’t know what to attribute that to. I don’t know if it’s one thing, or it’s a cocktail of things, where you just get stuck in what you used to do and where you’ve fished before. I think you get smarter, but that doesn’t seem to translate into better performances.”
6. Are you as good a tournament fisherman now as you were, say, five or 10 years ago?
“I don’t know. I told Jerry McKinnis this a long time ago: It seems to be a pattern that the more tournaments you fish, the worse you get. I’ve never seen anybody at the end of their career who was the best they’ve ever been. Just go down the list. I don’t know what to attribute that to. I don’t know if it’s one thing, or it’s a cocktail of things, where you just get stuck in what you used to do and where you’ve fished before. I think you get smarter, but that doesn’t seem to translate into better performances.”
<b> 7. You and your wife, Misty, have two daughters, Lilly, 14, and Olivia, 10. Do you foresee the day when women are competing on the Bassmaster Elite Series? </b><p> “I don’t know why that hasn’t happened already. That’s another thing that puzzles me. I can see why it hasn’t happened in other sports, where brute strength is a factor. But that’s not the case in bass fishing. I think you’ll start to see more girls competing because of high school bass fishing. I think girls would be good at it. My daughter, Lilly, I think would be good because of her competitive nature. I’m not encouraging her to do it, but I wouldn’t discourage her either. I don’t think a woman in this sport would run up against a barrier.”
7. You and your wife, Misty, have two daughters, Lilly, 14, and Olivia, 10. Do you foresee the day when women are competing on the Bassmaster Elite Series?
“I don’t know why that hasn’t happened already. That’s another thing that puzzles me. I can see why it hasn’t happened in other sports, where brute strength is a factor. But that’s not the case in bass fishing. I think you’ll start to see more girls competing because of high school bass fishing. I think girls would be good at it. My daughter, Lilly, I think would be good because of her competitive nature. I’m not encouraging her to do it, but I wouldn’t discourage her either. I don’t think a woman in this sport would run up against a barrier.”
<b> 8. Finally, this question from Elite Series emcee Dave Mercer, a longtime admirer of your great smile: Are your teeth real?</b><p> (Laughs) “Mercer is going to have to find that one out for himself.”
8. Finally, this question from Elite Series emcee Dave Mercer, a longtime admirer of your great smile: Are your teeth real?
(Laughs) “Mercer is going to have to find that one out for himself.”