Aaron Martens – Practice Wrapup
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Photo: B.A.S.S./Seigo Saito
I thought the fishing would've improved more than it did, but with the wind and all the water we got from the rain, it muddied up some areas that I'd thought were going to be clear. It'll just change the ways you have to fish it and it'll fish a lot smaller, but I feel good about it.
I actually did find a few spots today. I didn't catch big ones, but the places have potential. I didn't go to the stuff I really have confidence in because there was no reason to. I went to stuff I hadn't been to in 10 years and stuff I'd never been to.
It's not like it was in '09, when practice was awesome. It's a lot tougher fishing. The weather might change the bite a little bit, but it probably won't be noticeable. It can't get much worse.
Brent Chapman – Practice Wrapup
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina
I'm really kind of disappointed, to tell you the truth. I locked down to Pool 4 today, where I'd gotten a few bites Friday, and I thought I could go back today and get a lot of bites. I got four or five, but they weren't really up there like I thought they'd be.
Then I ran up here (to Pool 5) where I'd gotten nine bites on Sunday when the water was 52 or 53 degrees. Today it was almost 10 degrees warmer, but in 2 hours I never got a bite. I'm still going there in the tournament because I think it's my best chance to win.
Today doesn't really matter, but I wish I'd gotten in there and gotten more bites. The way I look at it is maybe other people didn't get the bites, either, and they won't come back during the tournament.
I'm going to rig up the few things I got bit on in practice, which was shallow pitching and flipping with a variety of baits and maybe a spinnerbait or a ChatterBait. It's pretty basic fishing and it's all about figuring out the right technique that'll get the bites.
