Hite Hoping His ‘delta Magic’ Continues In Elite Series Opener On Sabine River

On the first day of the 1999 Bassmaster Classic on the Louisiana Delta, Davy Hite discovered the fish had changed in the spot he had located during practice, but he did not panic.

“I had to figure those fish out and it all worked out,” said Hite who won that Classic, weighing in a total of more than 55 pounds of bass, just a fraction of an ounce under 10 pounds ahead of his nearest competitor.

The long-time pro from Ninety Six, S.C., is hoping that experience will serve him well in the Bassmaster Elite Series season opener, the Sabine River Challenge, along the Texas-Louisiana border this week.

“We’ve never been here. I don’t know of any of the Elite anglers who ever fished a tournament here, so we don’t know what to expect,” he said. “But I like my chances on a delta like this because I have had some success on bodies of water like this.”

The water around Orange, Texas, he noted, is a delta, with a lot of shallow water, cuts, rivers and canals running through it.

“I’ve been successful in canals and shallow water, flipping and cranking, so this area kind of plays to my strengths. I am excited about getting the new year started on a new place and excited about going to try to pattern these fish,” he said.

He’s also excited about a new lure that he plans to use extensively this week, the Rapala Scatter Rap,which features a balsa body with a curved or ‘Scatter Lip’ that, according to Rapala, “creates the most evasive, erratic, aggressive sweeping action ever seen.”

“It’s got a different action than any other crankbait I’ve ever seen,” Hite said. “Instead of coming straight back to you on a retrieve, it darts to the left and right like a baitfish being chased. I think it is going to change shallow water cranking.”

Several factors could weigh heavily in the tournament this week, Elite anglers say. Most expect the spawn to be on, so a lot of fish could be caught. But the size limit is 14 inches minimum,, so that could make it tough to get a quality limit.

“From the research I’ve done it doesn’t appear that a lot of big largemouths are caught here, so I don’t think the weights will be very high,” Hite said.

Whatever the outcome, however, Hite said he had already enjoyed being down on the delta this week.

“We’ve met some very hospitable people here who have been very good to us,” he said. “A couple of guys went and caught some redfish and flounder and Kevin VanDam is filleting them, and we are boiling up some crawfish so we are going to have a good time.”

Bassmaster Elite Series Sabine River Challenge

Mar 14-17, 2013

Sabine River – near Orange, TX

City of Orange Boat Ramp

www.bassmaster.com