‘Head case’ to trophy case
While Greg Hackney was producing another big bag to maintain the event lead, he had some time to talk on LIVE about 2015 AOY champion Aaron Martens.
Hackney, who passed the AOY torch, said Martens is the same great guy he met years ago, but he’s a scarier opponent nowadays. Martens has matured as an angler, to where he no longer spins out.
“Aaron is one of those guys that anything he does never surprises me,” Hackney said, adding could be somewhat of a “head case in the past, but I think he’s grown out of that. He proved that over at the Chesapeake where he used to, if he broke the line, his day was done.
“He’d have something happen and he might squirrel a little bit.”
Tommy Sanders jumped on that acorn.
“If you can use squirrel as a verb, you’re on your game,” he said.
Hackney went on to say Martens’ fishing ability is impressive, and that he always finds how to get the most bites at each venue. He said if Martens had his current maturity years ago, he would have won more AOYs and turned many of his 13 runner-up finishes, including four in Classics, into victories.
“I honestly don’t think he’s won his last Angler of the Year,” Hackney said. “I expect him to do it again.”
Now, for Martens’ next trick
With Aaron finalizing the 2015 AOY at the last second at St. Clair, Lesley Martens couldn’t make the drive to be there when he mathematically clinched, unlike in 2013.
She and children Jordan and Spencer did get their family celebration Friday on the Sturgeon Bay stage.
“He’s had such an amazing year. I think it’s safe to say a third AOY title completely erases his 13 second-place finishes,” Lesley told Thomas Allen for Martens finally crowned story.
“I kinda feel bad,” Martens said of wrapping up the title early, “but I don’t. I worked really hard.”
He said it was nice not having to catch a fish this event.
“I worked 50 percent and it showed. I was just enjoying everything” he said.
But he’ll soon be back to work, putting all his focus on next year’s Classic on Grand Lake.
“I just went there last week. I’m getting serious about that one,” he said. “Four days last week and another 4 or 5 before the cutoff. You got to know that’s next on my agenda, my goal list. I’ll be working hard for that one.”
Sweating out the bubble
Another day to contemplate their fate. That’s what awaits those close to the 40th spot, the last man into the 2016 Classic.
After two days of fishing, Ott DeFoe, Mike Iaconelli and Gerald Swindle have climbed inside the bubble, while Brandon Card, Brandon Coulter and Scott Rook have fallen out. They get Saturday off for Bassmaster University to mull over their situations.
The first two out are Ish Monroe and Mark Menendez at 41st and 42nd, respectively, but both are close to accomplishing a miraculous jump. Monroe was last man in at 50th and Menendez was one point ahead in 49th.
“I felt a top 5 in this event would get me in the Classic,” Monroe said. “The door is still wide open until the last fish is weighed on the last day.”
At seventh in the event, Monroe might have less room to climb than 11th-place Menendez, but he knows he’ll need a hefty bag Sunday and some help from others.
“The guys on the bubble, they just didn’t catch them yesterday. It helped me move up,” Monroe said. “Who knows? This is fishing. Anything’s possible.”
“Mark, it’s good to see him back. He’s always been a good dude in my book. For him to make the Classic, that would be great. I’d like to make it, too. It’s left to the fish gods where we’re all going to end up.”
See Steve Wright’s rundown as six anglers are separated by five points in what is a Classic cliffhanger.
Sweet dreams gone sour
Greg Hackney reported experiencing awful nightmares last year at Bays de Noc before he wrapped up his AOY. On the first of three wind postponement days, he napped and said he went to “sleep sleep.”
“I woke up in a mad rush that I had missed the tournament,” he said. “I jumped up, it’s like 3 o’clock, what happened? It was freakish.”
He reported another dream that the event was canceled because of the wind, and he and Martens had a fishoff.
“It’s vivid,” he said. “We go out there and we have an hour to fish, and it’s down to him and I and I need to catch one … and I never catch one.”
Ahhhhhh!!!
Fish used to be dumb
Sturgeon Bay was last year’s No. 1 in Bassmaster’s Best 100 Bass Lakes. The question of how that affects a fishery was posed by fans on the LIVE chat.
“I do not think it hurts the fishing,” Zona said. “I think the pressure that that article brings, I think that educated the fish.
Before the article, Sturgeon fish were dumb, he said.
“They’re still pretty dumb,” Zona said. “I think the pressure educates the fish. It hurts how easy they were to catch.”
Culling
- Photo of the day goes to James Overstreet for capturing the above image of Gerald Swindle … umm, doing … umm … that. Swindle is last man into the Classic cut, but has room to climb as he stands 28th on Sturgeon Bay.
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The top five missed catches of the year played on LIVE, with Sanders and Zona debating Classic misses — Hank Cherry at Grand Lake and Randall Tharp at Guntersville – that had the most impact. “Hands down, the Hank Cherry,” Zona said. “Tharp had already had success. He was already in the mix. Cherry, that was a Classic winning bite. The fish could have propelled him to instant stardom. That one bite right there changes the history of your life.” “It would have changed Tharp, but not as much,” Sanders said. - Kevin VanDam thought it was odd he was asked to be on LIVE. Zona called him Thursday night, asking what’s happening on the fishery and giving him a heads up on a cameraman coming. “I’m not catching crap. You might want to rethink that.”
- “There’s nothing normal about Aaron,” Skeet Reese said of Martens. “He’s like the fish whisperer. He can like talk to the fish, read the fish. What he did is not surprising at all. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t challenge Kevin with AOYs over the next few years.”
- The 2016 Elite Series schedule was released last week, and Zona gave his early AOY nod to Jacob Powroznik. “That is a shallow water dream season next year. He is going to be in bull in a China shop.”
- Taping a Zona show last year, KVD called Zona’s A-rig the stupidest thing on earth. Zona was catching fish and tempted VanDam to throw it. Catching one on his first cast changed KVD’s tune a bit. “That is the most addicting thing on earth.”