By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Don’t expect to see Scott Martin’s name on the growing list of FLW Tour anglers who are making their way to the Bassmaster Elite Series via the Bassmaster Opens anytime soon.
The 2012 Forrest Wood Cup champion is perfectly content where he’s at and he believes he’s not that far off from achieving one of his career goals – winning an Angler of the Year title. His father, Roland, won a record nine B.A.S.S. AOY titles during his career.
“Not right now,” he said. “That’s not in my future. I have had a great experience fishing the FLW Tour and it’s helped me in a lot of ways. I’m sure Bassmaster would’ve treated me the same, though. For me, I’ve got four kids at home and a TV show so I have a lot on my plate. Traveling the country and fishing two tours is not exciting to me. I’m going to stick with FLW because at end of the day it’s about making money and providing a living for my family.”
While he wasn’t much of a threat in the 2014 AOY race due to the sheer dominance displayed by Andy Morgan and Cody Meyer, Martin cashed checks in each tournament and wound up 9th in points. It’s the third time in the last 4 seasons he’s placed among the Top 18 in points and it was his highest finish since 2006 when he was 5th. Since the start of the 2012 season, he’s only missed the money twice at the Tour level.
With Brent Ehrler, Brett Hite and Jason Christie, all of whom finished ahead of Martin in points last year, committed to only fish the Elite Series next year, there will be three fewer road blocks for him to contend with.
“I want to win AOY really bad,” he said. “I’m not complacent about how I finished, but at the end of the day, it’s about winning tournaments, making cuts and being consistent. Here’s the deal with me: I always want to win AOY and I’ve have had a couple of high finishes, but I’ve never been a big threat. That’s a bit on purpose because I fish to win. A lot of guys fish for points. I fish to make cuts and win and it doesn’t always work all the time.”
No More Catch-Up
Living in Florida as he does, Martin says it’s taken him a bit longer over his career to develop the skills and perfect the techniques that are effective elsewhere in the country. Over the last year or so, though, he thinks he’s starting to close the gap.
“It’s just taken me longer to figure things out than it would have if I was living somewhere else where other patterns are in play,” he said. “We don’t dropshot or crank much down here. It’s been a sink or swim thing and it’s taken me years to develop those other techniques.”
Judging by the success he’s had on Tour at a variety of fisheries in different regions, he doesn’t seem to be lagging in any particular area.
“I’m not the best at any of them, but I got darn good at all of them,” he said. “Last year, this year and going forward, I feel like I’m developing into someone who’s got a lot of bases covered. That really helps me make adjustments. There were tournaments last year where I caught them different each day whereas before I would’ve stuck to one thing and probably not finished as high as I did.
“Looking back, I threw buzzbaits, dropshots, jerkbaits and everything in between this year. When you get to the end of the year, it makes a difference. I’m still learning, too. People ask how long I’ll (fish tournaments). I tell them, ‘I keep fishing because I’m still learning.’”
Favorable Schedule
Martin’s AOY hopes could be higher than ever in 2015 based on the FLW Tour schedule, which includes several venues where he’s tasted success in the past, including Lake Ouachita, site of his 2011 Cup triumph. Ouachita is hosting the Cup again in 2015.
While the schedule doesn’t include Okeechobee, his home lake, he has a win at Lake Toho, which will host the season opener in March. Historically, he’s struggled at Beaver Lake, but logged an 8th at the White River impoundment last year.
Two years ago, he made the Top-10 cut at Lake Eufaula, which is back on the schedule this year. He was 13th at Chickamauga in 2013 and will get a shot to improve on that in mid June before the season wraps up at the Potomac River, scene of his last Tour win in May 2012.
“My confidence level at those lakes is high and that’s to my advantage,” he said. “I’m not going to be like, ‘I’m going to catch them in the same places,’ because I know the conditions change, but I’m looking forward to that schedule. I like them all.”
Except for maybe one.
“The hardest one might be Smith Lake, but honestly that might be one I want to win the most,” he added, referencing his 93rd-place finish there in 2013.
Notable
> Martin said he supports the move by FLW to cap the Tour field at 150 boats in 2015. “At the end of the day, it’s about making money, so when you can have less boats, it increases the chances of making cuts and Top 10s and winning,” he said. “I think it’ll also be good for the fisheries because there will be a little less pressure and we’ll be able to expand on patterns more.”
