Saturday's "turf battle" with Rick Morris now looks like a blessing for Aaron Martens. Martens left the spot where Morris was crowding him early Saturday morning, after having caught one 3 1/2-pounder. As it turned out, that may have been the only bass caught from that spot Saturday. Morris eventually abandoned it around noon and finished the day with only three fish that totaled 6-8, which left him in 42nd place.
Martens started running spots he'd found in practice but hadn't yet needed in the tournament. It paid off for him; he salvaged a tough start Saturday to finish with 16-1.
BASSTrakk currently shows Martens in the lead. He's got a limit and has a lot of time to build on it.
"I've got a hundred spots," Martens said at Saturday's weigh-in.
Of course, he can't hit a 100 spots today, but he can rotate through quite a few. Smallmouth bass are notorious for being in one place one day and another place the next.
"It's possible their fish could move," Martens said of the other contenders. "My fish could move, too. But I've got a ton of spots."