Mount Ida’s Davis leads at Dardanelle

RUSSELLVILLE — Professional angler Mark Davis finally enjoyed a good round on Lake Dardanelle Saturday, taking the lead in the second round of the GoPro Bassmaster Elite tournament.

The Mount Ida veteran caught 19 pounds, 4 ounces of bass from what is traditionally one of his toughest fisheries. The 1995 Bassmaster Classic winner and three-time Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year has a two-day total of 33-9.

“Dardanelle has been my career nemesis,” Davis said. “I live only an hour and a half from here, and I’ve always struggled. I’d have a good practice and be excited about getting the tournament started, then have a hard time even catching a limit.”

The 54-year-old angler said it “would be huge to win this tournament. This place has whipped me down so many times, it feels good just to do well. I would love to finally conquer these bass, and I think I am on the right fish to make it happen.”

Davis said he has a few productive spots, and is burning quite a bit of gas running between them.

“I’m making a pretty long run up the river, and one of my most productive spots is very small,” he said. “So small, in fact, it takes just one easy cast to effectively cover it. But I keep catching fish off it, so there’s something special going on there.”

He believes an average of 16 to 17 pounds per day will keep an angler in the hunt.

“It’s very easy not to catch them on this lake,” he said. “But, I’m fishing where the right fish are, and this is the kind of fishery where you can’t force it. These bass are experienced; they’ve seen it all and can be hard to fool them from time to time. But by slowing down and letting it happen, I feel like I’m making good decisions. Hopefully I can stay consistent and it’ll finally pay off for me at Dardanelle.”

First-round leader Kevin VanDam (Kalamazoo, Mich.) went in reverse, fishing more than six hours Saturday without catching a single keeper. A

12-pound, 8-ounce catch left VanDam second, at 3111, by 2 ounces over Jamie Hartman (Newport, N.Y.) “Painful,” VanDam said when asked to define his second day. “Everything I did this morning was wrong. At this level you can’t make bad decisions and expect to win.

“The lake is changing by the minute, which means the bass are repositioning just as often. Staying on active fish requires moving around a lot and trying multiple presentations.”

Benton’s Stetson Blaylock is eighth at 29-13, immediately behind Ava, Mo., fishing legend Rick Clunn. Bella Vista’s Mike McClelland is 16th at 27-11, Little Rock’s Scott Rook 34th at 25-3 and Pope County angler Fred Roumbanis (London) 51st at 21-10.

The top 51 compete in the semifinal round today with a 6:15 a.m. take-off and 3:15 p.m. weigh-in, both at Lake Dardanelle State Park.