He had moved in with them after his parents divorced and his mother feared he might begin running with a bad crowd in Columbia. The young Davy would come home from school, drop his books, grab his fishing rod and not come in until dinner. He fished the clear inland lake out of a 14-foot aluminum boat. His grandparents couldn't afford to send him to college, and he turned down a football scholarship from a small school. Instead, he joined the National Guard, where he worked full time as a mechanic.
Mental toughness is key.
Mentally, the cameras and the money you fish for really affect guys. I know friends who are real good fishermen, but they don't do well with all the rest of it, the media and sponsors and cameras. By 19, he knew he wanted to be a professional fisherman. So he took a public speaking course, knowing that successful pros were called on to give seminars and run workshops. In 1993 he turned pro.