New Orleans, LA, July 30, 1999 - With one day remaining in the 29th annual BASS Masters Classic world championship, South Carolina pro Davy Hite has found the Louisiana Delta to be The Big Easy when it comes to consistently catching the bass residing in its shallow, marshy habitat. Hite is definitely one of the "have's", as in: he has found fish ... lots of big ones. Hite pulled in a terrific stringer of five bass weighing 19-pounds 3-ounces Friday, to take the lead in the Bassmasters Classic. It is getting tense out there.
Louisiana hasn't gotten any cooler and the Mississippi Delta hasn't gotten any smaller. Classic contenders are still baking in the heat and traveling as much as a hundred miles in search of big bass .... the kind it will take to win this hundred thousand dollar tournament.
Jack Wade from Knoxville, who lead day one, found some nice big bass again, but had trouble getting them into the boat. He did catch some, but they weren't big enough to keep him in the top spot. That belonged to Davey Hite on Friday, who has a two day total of 35 pounds 12 ounces.
"It feels great to be in this position," said Hite, a former B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year. "I've got an area that I have been fishing that has a lot of big fish in it, and I haven't seen another boat anywhere near it the last two days. That's a real luxury in a tournament like this.
"I feel confident that I can catch another big string (Saturday). I only fished about half of the area today that I feel is the best part. So I should be in good shape."
Arkansas' Ron Shuffield, who weighed in 16 pounds Friday, jumped from sixth to second with a total of 30 pounds. Mickey Bruce of Georgia is third with 28-11, followed by Arkansas' Larry Nixon (28-8) and Gary Klein of Texas (28-3).
Shuffield, a 43-year-old former steel worker, was pessimistic about his chances of overtaking Hite on the final day.
"That lead is pretty insurmountable," he said. "I say that because it will take some big bass to catch up, and I've only seen two fish in the 4-pound range since I got here. But I will stay after it."
Nixon was the surprise of Friday's weigh-in festivities, bringing an 18 1/2-pound catch to the scales and climbing from 16th to fourth. "After messing up yesterday and catching only 10 pounds, that pretty much took me out of the running unless a lot of people ahead of me stumbled," he said. "But not enough people stumbled."
The Classic, the crowning event of the Tournament Trail, concludes Saturday. Of the top-five contestants, only Nixon has ever won the Classic.
There is a good chance the lead could change yet again in the final round. The Delta is a plentiful fishery, the anglers will have two more hours to fish Saturday thanks to a rule change, and this IS the biggest fishing tournament in the country, and no one is giving up.