Yesterday I was thinking and writing about Bryan Kerchal. Today I had Aaron Martens on my mind.
I hope that doesn’t come off as morbid. To me, it feels celebratory. We had those two bright lights in the sport for brief periods of time, but they shone brightly and their influence lingers.
Martens, who was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame posthumously last year, had a tremendous influence on the way the sport progressed at a pivotal time in its history. When he entered, it was possible to enter a major event without a spinning rod in your possession and do well; today, that’s a non-starter. You only need to view how these past few tournaments have played out. Brandon Palaniuk, a western native, came in second this week with spinning gear. Yesterday Jason Christie caught what will likely be the big fish of the Elite Series season using one, too. Brandon Cobb’s amazing first-half run has been accomplished largely with light line techniques. That’s not entirely due to AMart’s influence, but he definitely sped up the process, even if this week’s stalwarts weren’t using 5-pound line.
Lay Lake champion Will Davis, too, was directly influenced by “The Natural.” In fact, the lure that helped propel him to his hometown victory and first Elite Series win was a Davis Baits Shaky Fish, a version of the “Scrounger” that Martens popularized, this one developed via a collaboration between Will’s dad and Aaron himself.
The Elite Series has been blessed by a tremendous influx of remarkably talented, personable and innovative anglers over the past few years, and it’s easy to see them as divorced from the sport’s history. That’s a false paradigm – they’re building their own legacies, for sure, but it’s as part of a continuum rather than as a standalone chapter.
They’re riding on the backs of Aaron and others.
Miss ya, bro.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there. A special shout out to Carol and Lesley Martens. The fishing world doesn’t forget.
Speaking of motherhood – AMart won a 2007 Elite Series tournament on the California Delta the same week that his son Spencer was born. During that tournament he caught quite a few fish flipping, but his main technique was dropshotting with 8- and 10-pound fluorocarbon. He used it to catch one fish that weighed 11-2. When was the last time we had a “baby pattern” winner? Palaniuk tried to make it work last year at Pickwick but ultimately fell a bit short. Furthermore, what are older guys who are unlikely to have more kids, like Matt Herren and Bernie Schultz, supposed to do to jumpstart a win? Is there a “grandbaby pattern”?
Late heroics – Remember when mom told you that “Nothing good ever happens after 2am?” She was pretty much spot-on, but the same cannot be said of what happens after 2pm. Davis won by 2 ounces over Palaniuk, a legendary closer, with another hammer in the form of Jason Christie next in line. To achieve that feat, Davis made his final cull at 2:07pm. With all that had gone on, including the failure of his main area to fire, it would have been easy to phone it in after that point, but he kept digging. All week long we’ve heard the word “grind” used as a noun as a pejorative word. As in, “It was an awful grind out there.” Flip it around, though, and as a verb “grind” can have a positive meaning. When things got tough, Davis decided not to give up, but rather to grind out the win.
Mercer’s homework – Davis needs a nickname, pronto.
A Non-Megabucks form of Megabucks – In the old Bassmaster Megabucks format, anglers plied a “hole course,” usually ten distinct zones within the confines of a given creek or area, to force them to adapt and to allow spectators to watch. If that format is ever resurrected, Beeswax Creek might be the ideal venue. Palaniuk did his damage there. Bryan New said that he caught his fish within a mile of the ramp. Przekurat fished a mile and a half away. I’m sure that we could count on the support of “Mr. Megabucks” Larry Nixon.
How bad do you want it? – In a late-season NFL game in 1985, San Francisco 49ers safety Ronnie Lott shattered his pinky, and was told that if he had surgery to fix it he’d have to miss the playoffs. Instead, he chose to have a portion of that finger amputated so that he could play. I thought of that when Davis stuck a jerkbait in his finger late today. He had a limit, but also had no idea where he was in the standings. What if the line trick doesn’t work? What if you can’t cut the hook off in the right place? Do you take a set of pliers and yank it out? Head back to weigh-in, calling it a day? I would never expect amputation (all or part) to be an option – either in 1985 or today – but $100,000 and, more importantly, a big blue trophy, likely increase any angler’s pain tolerance. For the record, Lott reportedly later regretted the decision to go down to 9 ½ fingers, but it became a huge part of the Hall of Famer’s legend. In a similar vein (sorry, bad pun), that perilous fish landing will become part of the story of young Will’s career.
Bereft of big bags – Clearly the bite got tough for most of our top 10 today. It took an average of at least 13 pounds 11 ounces to make the cut after Day Three. Davis, Bryan New and Jay Przekurat were the only anglers who exceeded that amount today. New and Przekurat started the day in 10th and 9th, respectively, and gained valuable points and dollars by moving up to 4th and 5th.
Eighty-percent – The Davis victory means that four of five Elite events this year have been won by first-time Bassmaster winners. The lone exception was Drew Benton at Murray. He was trailed by Hunter Shryock and Kyoya Fujita, either of whom would have made it five for five.
Super Snack – Today BP taught us that the competition-time precursor for “Cut Day ice cream” is “Power Burritos.”
Music to your ears – If you watched Bass Live all day, you’re almost certainly still hearing the zinging noise of Jason Christie’s braid. I know that I said above he’s adopted spinning gear – indeed, he’s won a Classic on light line techniques – but still gravitates to the Oklahoma well rope whenever possible.
All-In early – Jason Christie in the morning: “I’m 100 percent confident for one reason – because I’ve got no other place to go.”
Patrick Walters knows what he likes — “I had eight jerkbaits tied on.”
Identity crisis – Bryan New weighed in fish on a Brandon Cobb jig and a Brandon Cobb rod. “It’s the Brandon Cobb show,” he said of the current AOY race leader.
Lee Livesay on Jason Christie — “He acts like he’s not good at everything, but he’s good at everything.”
Perhaps flowers or a Whitman’s Sampler next time — “Mama, that one’s for you,” said Patrick Walters as he wrenched a fish out of a brushpile this morning. “Just the words every mother wants to hear,” Bassmaster emcee Dave Mercer added.
