Kevin VanDam

Clarks Hill preview

April 30, 2008
(espnoutdoors.com, April 30, 2008)

Who says familiarity can’t be exciting?

Not Davy Hite, that’s for sure.

All he has to do is cast his memory back to 2006 when the Bassmaster Elite Series made a stop on Clarks Hill Lake — a 71,000 acre plus fishery that straddles the border of Georgia and South Carolina. Hite, who lives in nearby Ninety Six, S.C., won that tournament with a four-day total of 71 pounds, 12 ounces that was caught primarily on a jig.

That wasn’t the unusual part, however, as a lot of the guys were fishing jigs that weekend. What gave Hite an advantage, he said at the time, was his unique knowledge of the fishery. After all, he’d fished the system for decades and wound up employing a winning pattern that he first used at Clarks Hill more than 20 years earlier.

Talk about knowing your way around.

Now, Hite and his fellow Elites return to Clarks Hill beginning Thursday for the Pride of Georgia presented by Evan Williams Bourbon. It’s not surprising that Hite is looking forward to the opportunity.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/elite/news/story?page=b_news_Elite_2008_preview_CHill

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