Aaron Martens thinks, that in another couple weeks, the smallmouth fishing in the St. Lawrence River will be markedly better than it was for last week’s Elite Series tournament. He estimated he caught one-fifth the number of fish that he caught 2 years ago.
“The fish were more scattered on weird stuff,” he said after posting a 13th-place finish, his fourth straight Top-15 result and fifth of the season. They were a little funny. There were not as many fish where you’d think they’d be.”
Still, he managed to trigger enough bites, mostly on a dropshot in less than 10 feet of water, to overtake Dean Rojas for the lead in the Angler of the Year points standings.
“I did find some deeper stuff but it petered out,” he said.
His one regret was not spending more time on an area he’d found in 2013. He stopped there with less than 30 minutes left on day 3 and caught two 3-pounders, but had to throw one back because it was not hooked inside the mouth.
“If I’d have gone to it, I think I could’ve had 18 pounds Saturday,” he said. “If I’d spent an hour or two there, I’m almost 100 percent positive I’d have made the cut. That’s the part that gets me. I actually might’ve had a chance to win it at that point. You never know the potential of a spot like that.”
He said he started on the same spot on day 1 and caught about 13 pounds in 90 minutes, but nothing was over 3 pounds. He fished a jerkbait some early on, but became wary of it because of the rule governing fish needing to be hooked in the mouth in order to be kept.
He weighed in two largemouth on day 1, but the rest of his stringers were all smallmouth.
He’s excited to be leading the AOY race as he seeks to win his third career AOY title and second in the last 3 years, but he’s keenly aware of the competitors that are immediately behind him, especially Edwin Evers.
“I have to be on my game to beat him in the AOY,” he said. “I know he’s going to perform well over the next three events. I know he wants to beat me real bad.”
The Big Bite Lookback, which focuses on the angler who's first out of the final cut at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great folks at Big Bite Baits.
