Martin On Retirement: Skills Slipped A Little

(Editor's note: This is part 1 of a 2-part Q&A with BASS legend Roland Martin.)

Roland Martin may have passed his torch of dominance many years ago, but it continued to smolder in his grasp. The last flame was finally extinguished 3 weeks ago, when it was reported that the BASS legend – one of the sport's all-time greats – had retired from BASS competition.

If the history of professional bass fishing is marked by steep inclines, Martin's flag is fixed firmly upon the first plateau. Further up the mountain one encounters the Rick Clunn era and the Kevin VanDam era,

but Martin was clearly the pathfinder – the one who wrote the recordbooks.

His career began Jan. 29, 1970 at the Toledo Bend Invitational. In his first-ever professional tournament, he finished 2nd. He went on to either win, or finish 2nd, in 15 of the next 23 BASS events he fished.

Among his records that may never be broken are staggering benchmarks such as: nine Angler of the Year (AOY) titles, 19 BASS wins and 19 2nd-place finishes. He previously held the record of three consecutive BASS wins, which was tied this year by Kevin VanDam. Another record: Martin has fished the most Bassmaster Classics without a win (25).

So what was behind his decision to retire now? How does he feel about stepping out of competition, for a second time? What about the Classic he never won? BassFan spoke with him to find out.

BassFan: About your retirement, is this something you've been thinking about for a while?

It's really not a retirement. That's kind of an inappropriate word for it, because what I'm doing, I'm shifting gears to the saltwater arena mainly. I'm dropping off the 11 BASS (Elite Series) events. That's going to free my spring up for more production and more film work – I'm heavily involved in that – and then more promotions and boat shows and stuff.

And then, in the summer, starting in June, we're going to do a six-tournament sweep of the Redfish Nation's Redfish Cup. With the championship there's seven tournaments.

It's a little bit less of a load, but it's a new arena, and it's a new challenge, to be honest with you. I know that bass has been my bread and butter – don't get me wrong – but another bread and butter, for example, is I've been asked by Triton and Mercury particularly, those two companies, to step up my presence in saltwater. They want the exposure. They want the market. So there's some business reasons to do that as well.

And you live in Florida and do quite a bit of salt already.

That's right. My show, Fishing with Roland Martin on the Outdoor Life Network, normally shows about 30% saltwater fishing. I'm stepping it up this next year closer to 40% saltwater. I'll still be doing a number of bass shows – about 30% bass, pretty much like I've always done. So we're still getting a good mix.

So to rephrase the first question, how long had you been thinking about retiring from BASS?

I actually did retire from BASS about 12 years ago, back in '92, and I stayed off the trail for almost 2 years. By doing so, I missed the camaraderie with all my friends. But one year I won $60,000 fishing one of those little celebrity tournaments, fishing at Disney World. I had a really great year just fishing celebrity tournaments. And I won a lot of money as well.

I was beating the same guys I've always beat – the Nixons, the Brauers, the Clunns – so it was the same crowd. And so I figured, heck, this is a lot of fun, and this is pretty profitable too. So I'll just come back on the Tour.

So I came back in '94, and won a couple of tournaments. I won the Connecticut River (Top 100) that year, then a couple years later I won a tournament up at Champlain (Top 100), but then I kind of stagnated a little bit. I'm not really on my game as much as I should be.

Champlain was your last win, then you mention you 'stagnated.' Could you be more specific about what happened toward the end of your BASS career?

I had a golden opportunity at the Classic a couple of years ago at New Orleans – the one that (Mike) Iaconelli won. I had some good fish, and I lost a couple good fish, and that's a long story. But I guess we all look at things like that in retrospect and say, 'If a bullfrog had wings.'

But I really felt like that was a great opportunity. And I missed out on it. I'm just not on top of my game to the point where I can capitalize. And I used to be able to take kind of crummy water – a crummy area – and capitalize on it. I'd catch every fish there and do pretty well in the tournaments – maybe not win the tournament, but place really high.

And that was one of my secrets to success in being AOY, that I could go to about any lake, in any situation, on about any pattern, and catch a fair amount of fish – enough to place high, and consequently win AOY.

My gameplan's been falling apart. What was a great gameplan 25 years ago isn't so hot anymore.

You were close at Table Rock last year – you finished 2nd.

That was another big disappointment. Why I let that thing slip – that was so stupid. I went in there, had a great couple 3 days, then that last day I missed a couple key bites. And instead of going back on them, which I should have done, I just got panicked and ran all over the lake just like an idiot.

I should have just eased back on those same fish and caught 'em, because I knew they were there. I shouldn't have let that bother me. I should have just gone back in.

About your gameplan falling apart, does that have anything to do with field size, or the waters you fish? Or does it say something about the competition out there today?

The competition's always been good, at least on the levels that we fish, because the competition's grown with the sport. But it's all relative. Back 30 years ago, we weren't anywhere near as good either. The competition's one thing, but the bass, they've been just messing me up.

And then, efficiency on setting the hook and catching nine out of 10 fish should be what you're aiming at. And so that's kind of fallen back a little bit – my efficiency.

And with my age, I get to where my hand and eye coordination's not as good. I can remember making better casts when I was a little younger. I could stand up and balance myself on the boat and run my trolling motor on one foot really quickly. Now, I kind of half sit down or prop myself up.

So there's some physical ability (issues). Now, I can get up early in the morning, and I can fish hard all day like the other guys. I can do that. And I can cast without getting too many backlashes. I'm still a professional, and I still do things extremely well. In a casting or flipping contest right now, I'd be in the top 10%. So I can still do the mechanical things.

It's just a percent here and percent there separating the very top cream of the crop from the rest of the field. It's just a percent or two.

You previously hinted that watching Mike Iaconelli played a role in your decision to move on from BASS. Is that true?

Well, it was a situation at the last tournament I fished (the Wissota Bassmaster Elite 50) that was just characteristic (of my mentality). I'd already made my mind up (to retire from BASS) at that point. But what was apparent was – it was just disappointing because I've done this to all these young anglers.

I went into this area first and fished this log and didn't catch anything, then I fished this little patch of wood and didn't catch anything, and then I fished this point and didn't catch anything. I fished those three spots and I felt like there were fish there, because on the warm-up (practice) I had a couple that I shook off.

And here comes Iaconelli right behind me, and he catches those three fish. Of course he was using ultra-light tackle and more finesse, and looking at it in retrospect, I could have done the same thing, but I didn't. It just bothered me a lot. Why couldn't I have figured that out?

In other words, I was using a little bit too heavy of tackle, and he was using much lighter stuff, like 1/16-ounce lead weights and finesse worms. I should have thought of that. Why didn't I do that?

It was very humbling. That's just characteristic of what this young, enthusiastic crowd can do. There's many Iaconellis out there that, on any given day, can come in behind somebody else. And I've done the same thing dozens of times, and just about everyone else on the tournament trail will tell you, 'Yes, Roland did that to me.' So it's been on both feet as well.

– End of part 1 (of 2) –