I recently attended the “East Coast” memorial service for Aaron Martens. It was a wonderful tribute to an amazing person. While I did not speak, there are many things I can say having known him for so long.
Aaron was an amazing angler to say the least. My favorite memory of his angling achievements has to be figuring out the baby blackbird pattern for his 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series win at Lake Havasu. That was incredible as was his win at the Chesapeake Bay and his domination of the year winning his third Angler of the Year title going away.
There were many memorable moments of Aaron on stage and the quirky things he might say. While some anglers might get long-winded or redundant mentioning sponsors, you never knew what you would get from Aaron. I remember one time he was talking about drop shotting for smallmouth, and in the next breath he is fishing in the blue waters off the California coast. He was entertaining because he was Aaron, he was different, and you never knew what was coming out.
But my best memory of Aaron is personal. When I got my cancer diagnosis, with all of the struggles he was going through, Aaron reached out to me to see how I was doing. That is who he was. He loved people and he cared about me.
Midway through my chemo treatments, I got a text from Aaron that went something like this, “Hey bro, what day to do you get your treatments? Maybe we can get them at the same time and hang out together.” He did not realize I was being treated in Montgomery while he was going in Birmingham. Oh how I wish we could have made that happen. Aaron, through all of his pain and struggling, loved me enough to reach out and see how I was doing.
In closing I say this: All who knew him miss him immensely. But we rest in the assurance he is with Jesus. And we all know our lives are better because of one Aaron Martens.
Rest in peace, Serious Hog Snatcher.