Try as he might, Roland Martin just couldn't catch a fish that weighed much more than 3 pounds on day 1 of last week's Champlain FLW Tour Major. That's why he found himself in 68th place following the weigh-in.
It was a different story on day 2, however, when he boxed one of his two 20-plus-pound sacks for the event. That moved him all the way up to 8th place and he eventually finished 5th – his best placement in a tour-level derby since he was the runner-up at Table Rock in a 2004 Bassmaster tournament.
"A Senko was the big deal for me on the first day, but I just didn't catch big ones," said the nine-time B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year who made the 140-mile round trip to Ticonderoga on each of the 4 days. "I was trying to catch them off of docks, but I only got 15 pounds. The big ones just didn't bite."
He did all of his day-2 damage by pulling a frog across scummy areas.
"I'd caught a couple on frogs the first day, but nothing too big, and I missed a pretty good one. I actually started the second day on a bridge and caught one, then I went to another place and got a couple.
"I got to the frog water at about 9:00 and started catching them. I eventually culled out everything I had with bigger fish."
The Sunline Strong Performer, which focuses on the angler who makes the most significant single-day move in the standings at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great people at Sunline.
