Delaware River Elite Series

Competition Wrapup
Friday, August 8, 2014

Aaron Martens

> Day 1: 3, 7-12
> Day 2: 3, 7-09
> Day 3: 2, 3-13
> Total = 8, 19-02 (28th place)

This place is exhausting. It's really weird with the big tide swing and the fish are strange.

I caught one on a Chatterbait, one on a crankbait, one on a dropshot and the rest on a Texas rig. I ran out of fish the last day and a half and I probably should have gone somewhere else, but I really didn't know where else to go.

Scott Rook and some of those guys are in these big school and catching like 11 fish in an hour, and that just doesn't make sense. It's a very local-oriented place or a place you have to know really well.

I predicted when I came here a month and a half ago that Iaconelli was going to win – it was a no-brainer unless he broke down or something. I knew I was going to have to get really lucky to have a chance. Waypoints and info definitely would've helped big-time.

I like the fishery, but I'd have to spend a lot more time on it to really figure anything out.

Brent Chapman

> Day 1: 2, 2-10
> Day 2: 1, 1-12
> Total = 3, 4-06 (89th place)

I don't know what to say – I'm leaving here clueless. Somewhere along the line you have to have something clue you in to get things going but every time I got a bite – the few bites I got – I could never duplicate it. I'm really scratching my head.

Today I caught one from a place I hadn't even fished before and yesterday I got one on a wacky worm, just throwing it around. I hadn't planned on doing that.

I talked to a guy who did decent and asked him how he was doing it, and it was basically the same thing I was doing – flipping and pitching and throwing square-bill crankbaits. I did it for almost the entire day today and caught one fish.

Today I fished new water and I had a creek all to myself and I was thinking it was perfect, and then I never had a bite. I don't know how to explain it. Usually by the end of the second day you at least have an idea of what you'd do if you were going out again tomorrow, but I have no idea.

I've been hearing rumors that we're going to the Chesapeake (Bay) next year, so maybe I'll go up there this next week and practice. I need to catch a fish.

Practice Wrapup
Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Brent Chapman
For the longest time I've thought the toughest place I'd ever fished was the Ohio River, but I'd give anything to be there right now. I got two bites on the first day of practice, three (on Tuesday) and one (on Wednesday).

The way I look at it, there's a few places where I'm just going to have to put my head down and fish. I'll try to pick them apart and not run around a lot so hopefully I can be there when they turn on.

I'm done trying to speculate on what it's going to take to do will. I've heard some guys say it'll only take 5 pounds a day to make it to Saturday, so who knows?

I'll probably focus on the main river. It's so critical for me to have a good finish and I'm going to go out and try my hardest, but you can't beat yourself up too much at a place like this.

There'll be fish caught – there always is – and I just hope I'm one of the people catching them.

Aaron Martens
I don't think there's that much to figure out – it's about the same every day unless you know a bunch of good spots or get a little lucky here. I hate it when it comes down to luck, but that's how it is.

It's hard fishing and I don't think there's very many fish. The bites are very random. I've gotten some in up creeks and some on the main river and it seems like there was no reason for that fish to be there. I've tried to finesse them, but it's just not happening.

I normally do well in tournaments like this, but in this one it's hard to find the right area. I know when the tournament starts a lot of guys are going to be fishing the same water. There are fish, but very few. If I had it all to myself I could probably do okay, but there'll probably be a dozen other people fishing the same areas.

There'll be a fish caught here and then one over there, and then that's all of them.

Day 1 Practice Report
Monday, August 4, 2014

Aaron Martens
There's quite a bit of water here and I probably won't see half of it. It's big and it takes a while to fish because. It's not an easy place to practice – you can't just haul butt through it because there's so many targets.

I wouldn't say I got a lot of bites today. I could've had a limit, but just barely. I came here ahead of time, though, and I knew how it was going to be.

Most of them are pretty decent when you catch them, like 2 1/2 pounds. Trying to find good areas is tough to do, though. I'm just winging it and trying not to think too much. This is the kind of place where you just need to go fishing.

The weather's nice and the water's clear – when I was here before for 3 days it was really muddy. Conditions are about as good as they can get here, but the word of the week is going to be "random."

Brent Chapman
Fishing this place really makes you appreciate all the other places we go to. Certainly guys will catch some here, but I went at it pretty hard today and got one keeper bite.

I came up and spent 3 days before the cutoff and thought I found something I could build on, but I didn't get a bite on any of those places today. I don't know if it's a timing thing or what. I'll just keep on fishing and hoping and praying. I have a feeling that a lot of it's going to be a timing deal. It's going to be interesting, that's for sure.

I didn't move around a whole lot – I did most of that when I was here before the cutoff and I knew what I wanted to focus on. I'll definitely be looking at a lot more stuff tomorrow.