There is no easy way to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic and the Bassmaster Elite Series. Will Davis Jr. of Sylacauga, Ala., did both in November of 2022 by winning the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Pickwick Lake. He also was awarded $20,000 cash and the use of a fully-rigged Nation’s Best boat for 2023.
Running the B.A.S.S. Nation gauntlet may be the most challenging route of all to the Classic and the Elite Series. The field consists of more than 30,000 members from more than 2,100 B.A.S.S. Nation clubs in 47 states and 10 countries.
“Everybody has to walk out on a limb to get where they want to be,” Davis said. “I’m hoping the Elite pros don’t cut it off behind me.”
Davis credits his father, William Davis, for his success. The elder Davis started the Davis Bait Company 40 years ago, 10 years prior to the birth of Davis Jr. The company produces popular lines of jigs, hooks, worms and spinnerbaits.
“My dad started me fishing for bream as soon as I was old enough to hold a rod,” said Davis Jr.
At age 8 Davis began fishing local tournaments with his father on the Coosa Chain and Lake Martin, which they continue to do. In 2022 they competed in 25 such events. When Davis was 16, he joined his father as a member of the Proline Bassmasters, a B.A.S.S. Nation club.
That year Davis’ father bought him his first bass boat, a 19-foot Nitro sporting a 200 hp Mercury outboard.
“He wanted me to get out by myself and learn how to find and catch bass on my own,” Davis said. “I was free to tow the boat and go fishing as long as I had money for gas.”
He earned gas money by working at his father’s bait company. He put swivels on spinnerbait blades, inserted weed guards in jigs, stacked lures on painting racks and did countless other chores. Over the past five years he has been a quail hunting guide, but he still does some work at the bait company. He also mounts deer heads for additional income, taxidermy work that he has been doing since high school.
Davis fished the BFLs for two years as a nonboater, even though he had a boat. This introduced him to new techniques and how to find bass on lakes he wasn’t familiar with.
“That was very helpful,” Davis said. “I learned that tournament fishing isn’t easy and that I didn’t like fishing from the back of the boat.”
When he switched to fishing as a boater, Davis began showing promise. A major leap in his angling skill and knowledge took place when he attended Bethel University in 2011 and competed on their collegiate team over the next two years. He learned a great deal from his teammates about finesse fishing and how to take advantage of Side Imaging, which was just becoming a factor at that time.
“Those college guys know what they’re doing,” Davis said. “I’m a power fisherman. Whenever we had to fish slow, methodical presentations, those guys would whip my butt.”
After college Davis continued to fish B.A.S.S. Nation events and other tournaments. In 2017 he fished the Bassmaster Southern Opens to get a sense of what it’s like to do battle at a high level. He held his own, finishing in the top 20 of the AOY standings. That experience should help him cope with the pressure of fishing against the world’s best bass anglers on the Elite Series tour.
He has dreamed of being an Elite Series pro since the series began in 2006. Now that he’s there, he hopes to make his livelihood by fishing professionally. Davis is also a professional father for the first time, as he and wife, Megan, were blessed with their first child on June 14, 2022, their daughter Chandler.
As elated as Davis is to be fishing the Elite Series, he is concerned about the first two events on the 2023 schedule, Okeechobee and Seminole. The bass in these waters typically demand a slow presentation.
“It’s not good for me to have to slow down,” Davis said. “But I’m really excited about the Classic on the Tennessee River. It’s right up my ally because I grew up fishing in the current on the Coosa River.”
His sponsors include the Davis Bait Company, MMA Fishing, PowerHouse Lithium, Str 8up Mounts, Frogg Toggs, Big Bite Baits, Z-Man, Gamakatsu, Spro, Seaguar, Daiwa reels, Mercury Marine, Humminbird, Minn Kota, Fish Life Fish Care Products, Marks Outdoors, Reeson and America First Credit Union.