If you’re part of today’s tournament bass fishing world, you absolutely know the name David Fritts.
The only question is, what do you know him for?
If you’re under the age of 35, chances are you know him more for the selection of multicolored Berkley Frittside crankbaits you have in your tacklebox. Those baits, which were invented by and named after the soft-spoken North Carolina native, have been among the most popular in the world the past few years.
But if you’re more in line with my age, you remember that Fritts was so much more than just a lure designer. For the entire decade of the 1990s, he was no doubt one of the best anglers in the world — and for at least part of that time frame, he was the absolute best.
I met him for the first time in 1993 when I covered the Bassmaster Classic on Logan Martin Lake as a 20-year-old journalist with The Birmingham News. He raised the Classic trophy that week, beginning a nasty tear through the bass fishing world like few we’ve seen since.
With his Classic trophy still in the truck, he won his very next event — the Virginia Invitational on Buggs Island Reservoir — and then finished third at the Maryland Bassmaster Top 100 on the Potomac River.
From there, his next 20 tournaments included one victory, three second-place finishes, two thirds and one fourth. During that 20-event span, he made the Top 20 nine times — or basically, every other tournament he fished.
As a result of that run, Fritts earned the 1994 Bassmaster Angler of the Year award, and he showed no signs of slowing down.
Fritts came within 8 ounces of winning a second Classic in 1997, back on Logan Martin. That same year, he won the FLW tour’s Forrest Wood Cup on Mississippi’s Lake Ferguson, making him one of the few to ever win a Classic, an AOY title and the Cup.
Folks, he was the definition of a hammer — and he did it all with a Lowrance flasher that most of today’s young pros would consider a museum piece.
Sadly, time waits for no man — and neither does fishing.
With changes in technology, other anglers began finding things that Fritts had been able to keep largely to himself for years. As they caught up, he wore down.
Finally, last November at the age of 66, Fritts decided to call it a career with B.A.S.S. It’s a career that spanned parts of five decades and accounted for more than $1 million in earnings — incredible when you consider he dominated at a time when winning the Classic “only” paid $50,000.
If you’re a youngster who only knows Fritts for designing a fine flat-sided crankbait, do some research.
You’ll find out he also designed incredible lures like the Poe’s Series and the Rapala DT Series before he ever sided with Berkley.
You’ll find out that his recent run of high-number finishes with B.A.S.S. came after he had already lapped the field a couple of times.
Hopefully, you’ll come to realize Fritts is one of the sport’s true superstars — as much for the work he did on the water as he is for the lures he put in your tacklebox.