Four rats and a fatty

The formula for both success and failure on the St. Johns

PALATKA, Fla. — Aaron Martens’ five-bass limit included “four rats and a fatty,” which left him wound tight in frustration. Edwin Evers had four rats and a fatty, and he was all smiles.

That’s how thin the line is between anguish and elation in the Bassmaster Elite at the St. Johns River presented by Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels.

Evers’ four rats, which weighed about 2 ½ pounds each, were a little bigger than Martens’, which weighed about 2 pounds apiece, and his fatty – the 9-pound, 13-ounce big bass of the day – was considerably bigger than Martens’ 6-pounder. That’s the difference between 12th place, where Evers is in the Day 1 standings with 20-5, and 60th place, where Martens sits with 14-6.

“It’s so random,” said Martens, who was fishing in a section of Lake George where several other anglers caught 18- to 20-pound bags nearby. “We’re all throwing the same bait. You can’t see the fish. You’re just casting. There were lots of 4- and 5-pounders caught right where I was. It’s so frustrating.”

There were 14 bags of at least 20 pounds caught Thursday, another eight of at least 19 pounds, and eight more of at least 18 pounds. The only angler in the 110-man field who didn’t catch a limit was Paul Mueller, and that’s because he left the lake in a rush at 10:30 a.m. because his pregnant wife had gone into labor.

But many of those five-bass limits included only rats, as the pros not so fondly refer to small keepers.

Evers, the recently crowned 2016 Bassmaster Classic champion, was the best example of the difference one big bite can make. At the St. Johns on Thursday, a big bite was a 9-pounder. Tournament leader Brandon Lester had a 9-3 in his 23-13 limit. Mark Menendez had a 9-5 in his 7th-place bag of 21-6.

When it’s cloudy like it was most of the day, and you know where the spawning beds are but you can’t see exactly what’s on that bed, the “luck” factor becomes greater than usual.

“It kind of is,” Evers said of luck, with a smile. “You can go ahead and say it.”

That’s why Martens and so many other anglers left the river frustrated Thursday. And that’s why the standings could turn upside down after Friday’s weigh-in.

Lester knew exactly where the 9-3 was, he went straight to it Thursday morning, there was a lack of cloud cover early, and he still needed some luck to catch that big female. There were two smaller males with the female largemouth when he got there. His first pitch was with a stiff baitcasting rod and braided line spooled on the reel.

“I flipped in there and she wouldn’t touch it,” Lester said. “I knew I needed to get those males out of there, so I picked up a spinning rod with a little wacky rig. A male grabbed it and I missed him twice.”

Lester flipped in there again with the spinning rig that had 12-pound test line as a leader. The line started moving and he set the hook.

“It’s her,” said Lester, noting that a spinning rod and 12-pound test isn’t his preferred setup for landing a 9-pound bass. “It was chaos for a minute, but it worked out.”

Whether it will work out two days in a row for any of the leaders is a question that will be answered Friday. More clouds and rain are in the forecast.

“I don’t think 20 pounds a day for four days will be real easy to do with this weather,” said Randy Howell, who is in 13th-place tie with Billy McCaghren with 20-1. “It might be more of a fishing day than a sight-fishing day (Friday).”