Steve Wright
It’s called “pluff mud,” the mixture of water and dirt that’s indigenous to the South Carolina Low Country. Davy Hite, a native of this state, knew all about it before getting his boat stuck in it yesterday. But he stepped out of his boat anyway.
“I was up to my knees, and I wasn’t even slowing down,” Hite said. “It’s like quicksand.”
Davy Hite involuntarily missed the Day 2 weigh-in at Bassmaster Elite at Winyah Bay instead spending the afternoon in a mud island working on his pedicure.
So Hite wisely pulled himself back in the boat and waited for the tide to rise. He had a limit of bass weighing “about six or seven pounds,” and was heading back for his 3:40 p.m. check-in time. But Hite knew at that point his day was lost. So he just waited out the situation.
“Luckily, it was only about another 20 minutes until dead low, then the tide started rising,” said Hite, who made it back to the check-in dock at 6:35 p.m. Hite wasn’t going to make the two-day cut. He started the day in 60th place with 7-7. Another six or seven pounds, though, would have put him in the mid to low 70s in the standings, instead of 104th place, where he finished. That could be a costly mishap when Bassmaster Classic qualifying points are tallied at the end of the season.
Hite had carefully mapped his route to the Cooper River, but followed a shortcut tip from a gas dock operator on the way down that morning, when the tide was high. It was a time-saver on high tide. Hite said he didn’t realize the shortcut wouldn’t work at low tide on the return trip, until it was too late.
So he “took lemons and made lemonade” by shooting some GoPro footage of his muddy feet and his pluff mud predicament.
