First cast
The legend of Aaron Martens grew when he pulled a youth from a fishing dock right after winning on The Chesapeake. Check out the story.
Pete Robbins furthered the storyline by surmising Martens’ next moves.
“Probably skip practice next week to cure cancer, run a marathon, solve the Middle East peace process and find a way to make brussel sprouts appeal to kids — and then win St. Clair.”
C’mon, Pete, Martens has done half that already. He deserves some Pecos Bill tall tale stuff, like:
- Martens lassoed a waterspout with some braided line and directed it away from frightened children on the beach.
- He filibustered Congress for four days to stop an anti-fishing bill, speaking only of his cat.
- He once solved a rubik’s cube.
(Submit your best Martens tall tale below.)
Take two on Martens. He’s said some memorable things over the years, and on The Chesapeake had some awesome Aaronisms (That’s like a Yogism).
- “I have patience, but I hate patience.”
- “I wonder if people believe drop shotting is my least favorite technique. I’ve hated it since it came out. I hate it, but it’s so effective.”
- “That’s why I run. It keeps my reflexes. It’s speed,” he said after hawg snatching his 7-pounder that spit the lure at the boat.
- “Yeah, you ate it,” he told one bass after numerous short strikes.
Take three. During the last Bassmaster LIVE, Dave Mercer reported that Aaron Martens can indeed wrap up his third Toyota Angler of the Year title during this week’s Plano Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair.
“If nobody moves with 50 points of Aaron, nobody can catch him,” Mercer said.
The top 50 anglers in the season-long points race move on to Sturgeon Bay for the AOY Championship. Martens owns a 69-point lead over Justin Lucas, who’s four ahead of Dean Rojas.
If Martens simply holds serve – he would really have to double fault — he might head to Sturgeon Bay with the title sewn up. The question of how he should approach Lake St. Clair began right after he won on The Chesapeake.
“Do I play it safe at Lake St. Clair just to protect the lead, or do I just try to go for another win?” he said for this story.
Mark Zona contemplated what he will do, and both he and Tommy Sanders said, almost in unison, “He’s going to Erie.”
Martens is approaching rarified air. He could exit the crowd with two AOY titles and tie Bill Dance and Mark Davis with three. Only Roland Martin (9) and Kevin VanDam (7) have more.
Stay tuned, we’re gearing up for LIVE on Friday.
Two in the well
Way back when, Steve Bowman handed me and the deputy sports editor at our newspaper a 12-gauge shotgun shell with our names written on them.
Intimidating? Not really.
It was his funny way of showing how important it was to publish the Tuesday night team fishing results. He took his job as outdoors editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette seriously, but he also liked to have fun.
Either that or he didn’t like calls at 6 a.m. asking him why the results weren’t in the newspaper. Anyway, we knew Bowman was just making a point, in his unique fashion.
There’s a lot unique about Bowman, like how he spent much of his college days on probation after being caught cleaning deer in the dormitory shower. Hey, it had running water, and he cleaned up after the others.
“Glad they caught me on the last day of the season, not the first,” he said.
I met Bowman shortly after being hired as assistant sports editor. Once upon a time I was outdoor editor at my first newspaper stop in Hannibal, Mo., so I gladly accepted designing his pages. Twice a week he’d hand off his column, news stories and photos and I’d put it all together. Sometimes he drew my wrath. Other times I drew his.
But his stories and pages were well-received. He won awards and was often the most-read columnist in the state. Why? He was invested in the topics concerning his hunting/angling brethren and was conscientious about covering his beat.
That earned him induction in the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame this past week. One day I think he’ll be in the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
It won’t be as an angler, although he’s still trying to qualify for a Classic. It’s for how he’s committed to and grown the tournament coverage on Bassmaster.com. He continues to innovate and push. Example: He came back from The Chesapeake thinking about ways to better showcase videos like Aaron Martens’ knockout punch.
Bowman wears a lot of hats at JM. He’s conferred with on a lot of projects, and his expertise is valued.
If you’ve been around the bass fishing world for long, you’ve probably met or at least heard of him. It’s said he knows just about everybody. You can’t go with him to a B.A.S.S. event, or lunch in Little Rock, without someone saying hey.
Bowman has all the Elites in his phone, and they answer his calls. From 30 years of work in the outdoors, he can draw from a variety of hunting and fishing greats around the country. He’s had Phil Robertson and Knight and Hale speak for game dinners he’s cooked at his church. He brought live hunts to the internet.
The outdoors has been his life, and he’s put life into its coverage.
“What we do today in Bassmaster.com is a continuation of what I saw you and everybody else do for a Razorbacks game,” he told me. “And I wanted to do that at a Classic, and fight for the coverage.
“I thought these guys deserved having that exposure. I would write your name on a shotgun shell – that was all in fun, but part of that is pretty serious. Outdoors deserves the credit for being as strong and important as anything else does.”
So he’s why we have teams on the water, helping put you in the anglers’ boats.
Three’s Company
Jerry McKinnis loves dogs. Specifically weiner dogs. So much so his dachshunds are prominent in the title of his recently published book, Bass Fishing, Brown Dogs & Curveballs.
Just seeing Jerry’s Facebook post foretold it was time to say goodbye to another fantastic companion. It was 16 years ago Jerry went through the same thing with his first little brown dog, Norman. Archie followed in his paw prints, but a couple weeks ago broke a bone in his hip.
“We said goodbye to our office pet today, who was the source of a lot of laughs and great friendship. Jerry’s best pal – Archie,” Angie Thompson posted to an outpouring of condolences.
The pain from losing Norman made Jerry not even want to suffer like that again, but that lasted a month before Archie was found. This time it might not be that long. Angie sent feelers out for a smooth mini. We’ll keep you posted.
Four on the floor
While AOY could be decided at Lake St. Clair, the bubble boys for Classic berths know there’s ground to be won or lost over the next two events.
As of now, the top 39 in points will make it to Grand Lake next March, but that could go as high as 45 if winners of the remaining Opens are double qualifiers, or if the anglers who have already won Opens don’t finish out their circuit, which is unlikely. Figure on 40 spots, maybe 41 and possibly 42.
As of now, Davy Hite (39th) sits in the final spot into the Classic. There are anglers with hopes of climbing, so this event is critical. One of them is Stephen Browning, who is 54th in points. Hear what he had to say about his situation.
“For me, it’s a very important week coming up. To get some of the AOY money you have to finish in the top 50, so I definitely need to move up a least a few spots. My goal going in is to make a top 12 and get into that Classic cut.
“At the very worst I believe a top 30 or top 20 would also give me a chance. The good thing is I’ve had some success at St. Clair in the past, with a third-place finish being my highest there. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a top 12, so what better time than the final event of the season to get one.”
See his entire blog on this thoughts here.
That’s a limit
Giddyup, Pete Robbins, you’re the master of your domain for the George Costanza “wrong is right” fantasy advice.
It was enjoyable. Fun and funny. Now, I don’t want you to feel any shrinkage, but I think you’re actually kind of double dipping … not that there’s anything wrong with that, yada yada yada, but no soup for you!
Culling
- Who wore it better? The gratuitous big bass of the week isn’t so much for the fish. It’s about Ike being Ike with his latest ‘do. Even though Dave Mercer was first with the black death from Chesapeake, Ike is still an original.
- All us Fantasy Fishing players got a little excited when we heard the reports of Mike Iaconelli’s successful practice on The Chesapeake. Then he bombed on Day 1, ruining a lot of teams. Why? How? See in his Anatomy of a Chesapeake disaster.
- Lake St. Clair was top-ranked in Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes the last time the Elites came here in 2013. It fell to 16th last year and now stands third for this visit. Sturgeon Bay made the list at No. 1 last year but dropped down a notch as Toledo Bend took over the top spot.
- Seems a lot of folks are partaking in the free fun of Elite events. “With our year-to-date total more than 142,000 people, we’ve already exceeded our Elite Series attendance record for 2014, which was 128,600 throughout the entire season,” B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin said. “And the exciting part is we still have two huge events remaining.”