Mark Davis’ passion, drive still burning as he embarks on 40th season

He heard about Bobby Murray winning $10,000 at the first ever Bassmaster Classic, and he decided he wanted to fish tournaments for cash, too.

“That kind of sparked the dream in me,” Davis said. “I didn’t know how I was going to do it. Everybody thought I was crazy.” 

Fast-forward more than 50 years, and Davis not only made that dream a reality, he’s still living it. The 2026 Bass Pro Tour season will mark his 40th year competing on a national tour, the longest career going among BPT pros.

“Not many people get to have any kind of a career that’s that long,” Davis said. “So, I’m fairly happy and proud that it worked out that way for me.”

During that time, Davis has won his own Bassmaster Classic, amassed six total national-level victories and three Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles – a résumé that earned him induction into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2019. And he’s not done yet. Even though advancements in technology and the emergence of more polished young pros have made it harder than ever, Davis is hungry to keep competing in year 40.

A longstanding love of the game

Photo by Brett Carlson

Davis has actually been fishing for a living a lot longer than 40 years. He started guiding on Lakes Hamilton and Ouachita near his Mt. Ida, Arkansas, home when he was just 13.

The key to a career that long? Davis said it’s simply his obsession with fishing, which still burns as bright now as it did when he was a teenager.

“Above all, it’s just the love and a passion I’ve always had for fishing,” he said. “I’m the guy that fishes just about every day, whether it’s a tournament or not. Tournament fishing and all that was always just a way for me to make a living doing something that I love.”

That passion has kept Davis going even when it would have been easy to retire. Davis has battled through a long list of injuries through the years. He’s undergone surgeries to repair multiple torn labrums, a torn rotator cuff, a torn ligament in his elbow, a hip replacement and a spinal fusion. He said the thing he’s most proud of about his career is the fact that he always made it back onto the water.

“I’m not whining, and I’m not complaining, but I’ve had so many health issues,” Davis said. “A lot of guys would have probably thrown in the towel. And I just kept trying to rehab on this, make this try to work better and just kind of keep at it.” 

Davis has managed to maintain his love of fishing and avoid burnout by striking the right balance between spending time on the water with industry demands and family life off it. He learned that lesson after his breakthrough 1995 season, which saw him win the Bassmaster Classic on North Carolina’s High Rock Lake in August, then claim Angler of the Year honors a few months later.

On one hand, those two titles legitimized the tournament-fishing career Davis had long dreamed of and gave him the financial flexibility to stop guiding on the side. However, that came at a cost, as a gauntlet of sponsor and media requests ate up all his spare time.

“The year after I won the Bassmaster Classic, that was the first opportunity I ever had to make big money, and I didn’t say no to any engagement,” Davis recalled. “And we’re in a different era now with social media. In those days, the guy that won Angler of the Year and the Classic was in high demand. Well, that was me – I won them both. That put a lot of demand on me, and I just said yes to everything. And I found myself extremely unhappy with where I was at. It was a grind. I wasn’t fishing, and when I was fishing, I was so tired, and my mind wasn’t right. I was so scattered.

“Looking back on it, that was a blessing,” he said. “You can’t do every engagement.”

Still hungry for another win

Photo by Tyler Brinks

Davis doesn’t like getting asked when he’s going to retire. The 62-year-old gets why people are curious, but the thing is, he doesn’t know the answer. His mindset is as long as he’s healthy and competitive, he wants to keep fishing at the highest level.

And while he admitted it’s gotten harder in recent years, Davis has clearly stayed competitive. He qualified for both REDCREST and Heavy Hitters in 2026, marking his fifth REDCREST berth in the past six years. He also nearly won Stage 2 on the Harris Chain in 2025, finishing second to Bobby Lane.

That marked Davis’ second near-miss in the Sunshine State over the past three seasons – in 2023, he had a big lead entering the final day on the Kissimmee Chain, but Chris Lane came back to beat him by 9 ounces. Those close calls have stung. Davis knows how hard it is to win a national event, and he wants to hoist a Bass Pro Tour trophy before he retires.

“Those last two stingers I’ve had in Florida over the last three years have hurt,” Davis said. “To have the fish found and to have everything dialed and then the weather take you out of it – and there’s not a thing you can do about it. It happened to me twice. … But yeah, I need to win one. It’s been a while.” 

Davis has consistently caught ’em on the Bass Pro Tour while continuing to fish his way – namely, finding areas with populations of bass and methodically picking them apart. While he called forward-facing sonar the most powerful technological advancement he’s seen during his career, he’s not willing to set aside 40-plus years of expertise to start chasing suspended bass.

“I’m not doing it the same way most of my competition is doing it,” he acknowledged.

Davis knows that puts him at a disadvantage at times, but he’s embracing the challenge. He’s also proven that, between the BPT’s rule limiting anglers to one period per day with forward-facing sonar and the fact that the technology doesn’t dominate in all situations, he can still find opportunities to win.

“Everything’s got to happen just right doing it the way I’m doing it,” he said. “And it’s going to get harder for me, because every year there are more young anglers in the field that are pretty good with forward-facing. The last few years, not using it, I’ve just got to beat all the guys that aren’t using it and a few of the guys that are, and I can do well. But, as time goes on, it’s going to be less and less guys aren’t using it. It’s going to get harder. I know that.”

Still, Davis is optimistic about his prospects in 2026. He’s excited about the schedule – he won’t have to drive quite as many miles as usual, and outside of the first two events (at Guntersville in January and Hartwell in February), he doesn’t expect forward-facing sonar to dominate. He’s especially excited about REDCREST on Table Rock Lake in April, a fishery where he’s won before.

“I’m really looking forward to REDCREST,” he said. “Love the lake, love the time of year we’re going to be there.”

Davis has journeyed a long way since he first heard about the Bassmaster Classic as an 8-year-old and started guiding at 13. Then again, he’s not too different today. He can still be often be found on Hamilton or Ouachita when he has free time. More important, his passion for fishing remains, and he’s shown he can still consistently catch bass. As long as that remains the case, expect to see him competing at the highest level and doing it his way.