When BASS introduced the Elite 50 series of tournaments for 2004, the goal was to create additional excitement for the already-exciting BASS Tour. Team Skeeter pros felt that excitement so much so that team members Mark Davis and Alton Jones won three of the four Elite 50 tournaments.
Skeeter’s Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., won back-to-back tournaments by taking top honors at the Elite 50’s second and third tour stops. At the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway stop in Mississippi, Davis led the tournament wire-to-wire in his win. Davis said, “I’ve led lots of tournaments, but I’ve never won this way. I’ve never led wire-to-wire and won before.”
At the next Elite 50 stop on the Alabama River, Davis won again, completing one of his best regular seasons ever. In 2004, Davis won three tour events in a single season after a 19-year career of professional fishing without a regular-season win.
Davis is currently ranked number one in the world according to BassFan’s World Rankings, making him only the second angler to maintain a number one ranking headed into the Bassmaster Classic. Other honors that Davis holds include three-time BASS Angler of the Year and former Bassmaster Classic Champion. Davis will be competing at this summer’s Bassmaster Classic on North Carolina’s Lake Wylie.
Skeeter teammate Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, won the final Elite 50 tour stop at the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers in Kentucky. With this win, Jones took 2nd place in the Elite 50 series points to walk away with a $100,000 purse. In addition to winning the tournament and claiming 2nd place in the series points, Jones also had big bass honors for the day with a 3-5 fish, which netted him an additional $1,000.
Jones is currently ranked number four in the world according to BassFan’s World Rankings. He will also be fishing at this summer’s Classic in North Carolina. In addition, Jones will be making an additional post-season appearance at the FLW Championship on Alabama’s Lake Logan Martin. Jones placed 8th in FLW’s Angler of the Year points race.
2004 Top 20 Appearances
Mark Davis
1st BASS Tour Table Rock Lake
8th BASS Tour Lake Eufaula
1st BASS Elite 50 Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterways
1st BASS Elite 50 Alabama River
Alton Jones
12th FLW Tour Lake Okeechobee
7th BASS Tour Harris Chain of Lakes
9th BASS Tour Lake Eufaula
9th FLW Kentucky Lake
4th BASS Elite 50 Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterways
1st BASS Elite 50 Ohio, Cumberland & Tennessee Rivers
By: Walker Agency
