Things didn’t go exactly as Thomas Martens had hoped during Saturday’s six-man Bassmaster Classic fish-off on Lake Guntersville.
The current he had relied on all week disappeared, and that may have caused the Texas resident to lose a couple of good fish Saturday morning. He also had to share his best spot with the crowd of recreational fishermen who always flock to Guntersville on the weekends.
But none of it was enough to keep Martens from his biggest accomplishment as a tournament angler.
He caught just two fish that weighed 6-02 ounces during the morning session of the fish-off. But he rebounded with four giants that weighed 22-12 during the afternoon session and claimed the individual title with a combined weight of 28-14.
The victory earned Martens a berth in the 2016 Bassmaster Classic at Oklahoma's Grand Lake.
“We found a bridge in practice that was really good, along with about 20 other boats,” said Martens, who qualified for the fish-off by teaming with fellow Texan Dean Alexander to finish 2nd in the Bassmaster Team Championship earlier in the week. “We had to wait in line to get to it during the week, but it was worth it. Then today, there were a lot of crappie anglers there, and I had to go inside of them. But they were great about it.”
Martens used a 7-inch Basstrixx Swimbait in the ayu color pattern to catch the fish he needed to slip past Nickolas LeBrun, who finished second with 23-13. That swimbait was the same one used by California pro Skeet Reese to win the Bassmaster Elite Series event held on Guntersville back in April.
Full details of his winning pattern will be published soon.
