The Cast

The Cast: Aaron Martens through the years

Watch FS1 Sunday, Jan. 25 at noon, when B.A.S.S. Superstar: Aaron Martens airs with a 30-minute episode honoring one of the most accomplished and influential anglers in B.A.S.S. history. The show reflects on Martens’ career, legacy and lasting impact on the sport.

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Aaron Martens will long be remembered as a bass fishing legend. A-Mart was among his monikers, as was “The Natural” for his innate ability to find and catch fish. Logging long hours prepping, Martens built one of the most successful careers in tournament bass fishing. Following are images of the life and times of the 49-year-old who on November 4, 2021 succumbed to brain cancer.
Martens grew up fishing in Southern California with the likes of friend David Racusin on Lake Castaic. Racusin recalled Martens’ mother, Carol, was trying to get them to leave when they doubled up for these fish.
Martens competed with Carol in his first tournament, and the results were rough. “We got a lot better pretty fast and won Angler of the Year honors the next year in the A.B.A. ‘Super Team,’ a three-tournament series on those same lakes,” Martens wrote in a post.
Martens also wrote how his mother always liked to remind him of their fishing exploits, including him hooking and losing a monster 16-pounder on Lake Casitas. The two bonded through fishing, and she was a regular at Elite Series events. This photo is from 1997, when Martens began fishing B.A.S.S.
Martens qualified for his first of 20 Bassmaster Classics in 1999, when he finished 24th on the Louisiana Delta. He won his first B.A.S.S. tournament months later in the California Western Invitational on Lake Oroville. He was later featured on the cover of BASS West Magazine, one of many.
The 2004 Classic on Lake Wylie was Martens’ second runner-up finish in the championship. He had four in all — 2002 on Lay Lake, 2005 on Three Rivers and 2011 on the Louisiana Delta — to hold the record. He never won a Classic but finished in the Top 10 nine times.
Leslie, his wife of 23 years, and daughter, Jordan, pose for a photo early in his career.
The Martens, shown in 2005, were well-known road warriors on the Elite circuit, camping with and befriending fellow competitors. The family eventually moved to Leeds, Ala., to get closer to the venues, where Martens was known to spend late nights at campgrounds working on tackle.
In 2005, Martens won his first of three Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles, handed to him by Marty Stone after the Table Rock Lake event. Martens is one of only five anglers who have won more than two AOYs.
In the 2005 Classic on Three Rivers out of Pittsburgh, Martens had his third consecutive runner-up finish, losing to Kevin VanDam by 6 ounces in the stingiest championship on record.
Martens was in the original field for the first Elite season in 2006. In the Santee Cooper Showdown, Martens finished second with 108 pounds, 4 ounces, his first of three Century Belts awarded to those eclipsing 100 pounds.
Here he shows his grit while fishing with a co-angler at Grand Lake in 2006. Martens was a determined angler, always thinking, tinkering and figuring out how to better catch fish.
With an easy laugh and big smile, anglers always found him a joy to be around, even when he was schooling them.
In 2007, the Elites ventured to Martens’ home state of California, where he recorded his first three B.A.S.S. wins, Oroville in 1999, Lake Shasta in 2000 and Clear Lake in 2002.
The first event of the Western swing was on the California Delta out of Stockton. Martens concentrated on a short stretch of cover, where he worked a worm in his trademark color of Aaron’s Magic on drop-shot rigs to sparse tulles.
“If there was one place on the entire Earth that I could pick to win, it would be the California Delta,” said Martens, who totaled 85-12 over four days to win by 7 pounds. “Finally winning here is an amazing feeling.”
It was his first of six Elite Series wins, and it put him in an exclusive club with 18 others who had earned more than $1 million in B.A.S.S. events. It was even more special that the Martens’ second child, son Spencer, was born that week.
In 2009, Martens scored his second Century Belt by catching 107-8 to win on Lake Guntersville.
Known as much for his finesse-fishing prowess as his stream-of-consciousness comments, Martens once said, “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.”
Martens was a fan favorite for his abilities and easy-going nature. Many pulled for him to break through and win a Classic, and many more sent prayers to him and his family during his cancer battle.
It could be said that Kevin VanDam was Martens’ nemesis, handing him his fourth runner-up finish in a Classic. While the two fished alongside each other on the Louisiana Delta in 2011, VanDam captured his fourth Classic title.
Off the water, Martens and Kevin VanDam had each other’s respect, even though Martens once mildly complained that VanDam seemed to be winning everything at the time.
… and after starting the 2013 season with an 85th on the Sabine River, Martens went eight events finishing 25th or better, including four Top 10s, to win his second AOY title.
On the eve of the 2015 Classic, Martens’ father, Jerry, died after battling a nerve disease for years. Jerry instilled Aaron’s love of the outdoors, taking the family on adventures in the California wilds. Martens finished 30th in that Classic on Lake Hartwell.
The season ended up being magical for Martens and B.A.S.S., which launched Bassmaster LIVE that year. Martens kicked things off with a third-place finish at the Sabine Elite and followed it with a second on the Sacramento River in California before heading to Lake Havasu, a first-time Elite venue.
Martens introduced the fishing world to the bird pattern, pitching deep into grass where bass awaited wayward redwing blackbirds. “I do that all the time,” he said, adding that he learned the tactic years earlier.
Carol was there for Martens’ Mother’s Day win with 68-9 on the fishery bordering Arizona and California. It was his fifth B.A.S.S. win out West, and he also won three U.S. Opens there. But he proved he could catch bass anywhere.
Three events after Havasu, Martens was in position to win in the Chesapeake Bay Elite in Maryland. Waiting for the tides to get right, Martens fell behind on BassTrakk but landed a 7-pounder in the final two hours.
With 70-2, Martens secured his fifth Elite title and eighth B.AS.S. tournament win, and he was well on his way to another AOY.
With a sixth-place finish at Lake St. Clair, Martens secured his third AOY title, joining Bill Dance and Mark Davis. Only Roland Martin (9) and Kevin VanDam (7) have more. Martens was happy to have his family there when he received the crown, something he was not afforded in 2013.
The Furious Hog Snatcher, another of his nicknames, was back with a vengeance.
Aaron and Lesley pose during the 2017 Night of Champions at the Lake Conroe Classic in Texas.
In 2017 at Lake Champlain, Martens delivered what many consider the greatest come-from-behind win in Elite Series history, one that may never be broken. With weather canceling a day, 51 anglers competed on the final day. Martens began the day in 19th place, 3-1 out of the lead, and sealed the victory with the event’s biggest bag, 23-5, finishing with 58-12.
Martens finished his B.A.S.S. career with nine wins, which is tied with Shaw Grigsby for seventh all-time. In 241 B.A.S.S. entries, Martens was in the money 183 times, had 13 second-place finishes and 10 thirds. He weighed in 8,547 pounds and topped $3 million in earnings. Photographer James Overstreet said this shot illustrates how fierce a competitor Martens was.
Like his parents, Martens was a true family man.
… who imparted his love of the outdoors to his children …
…and was a loving husband and father.
Martens, shown in a hospital with wife, Lesley, suffered a massive seizure while fishing in 2020. He woke to doctors informing him he had brain tumors, specifically fast-growing glioblastoma, that required surgeries and chemotherapy treatments. Lesley posted Thursday even that he died after a valiant, 19-month battle. “We are heartbroken beyond words,” she wrote. “I can’t imagine life without him, but we take solace in knowing that he’s walked into glory … “
Aaron Martens will always be an inspiration to anglers who followed his career. He accomplished more than most ever will, not only as a competitor, but as a husband, father and son. He will be missed.

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