By BassFan Staff
Wasn't it just earlier this year that Aaron Martens was lamenting his long string of near-misses since his last Bassmaster Elite Series victory and talking about how he sometimes felt as if he'd never win again? It seems like it had to be much longer ago than that.
Martens, who won two regular-season events in the first 9 seasons of the circuit, claimed his second blue trophy in just a little over 3 months on Sunday as he closed out a wire-to-wire triumph at the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. After a sluggish morning that saw him fall well behind Bill Lowen in the unofficial BASSTrakk standings, he erupted in the latter half of the day to catch a 21-05 stringer that was the biggest of the derby by nearly 3 pounds.
His bag, topped by a 7-02 monster that was well over a pound heavier than any other fish that came to the scale over 4 days, gave him a 70-02 total that left runner-up Lowen nearly 8 pounds in arrears and the remainder of the Top 12 much farther back than that.
"It feels awesome," he said. "Now it feels like I can win three."
He'll take a whopping 69-point advantage in the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) race into the regular-season finale at Lake St. Clair, which gets under way in 10 days. He won the AOY in 2005 and 2013.
The two anglers who finished right behind him caught stout sacks too, but they weren't nearly enough.
Lowen, who had to hold back tears on the weigh-in stage when discussing how much an initial tour-level victory would mean to him, finished with a 62-03 total after boxing 18-05 on day 4. Chad Pipkens caught 18-07 for a 57-15 aggregate that gave him a career-best 3rd-place showing.
Gerald Swindle ended up 4th with 54-10 (14-11 on Sunday). Davy Hite, who came in off a 105th-place showing at the St. Lawrence River that was his worst ever on the Elites, completed the Top 5 with 52-04 (12-07).
Here are the totals for the remainder of the Top 12:
6. Bernie Schultz: 51-07
7. Russ Lane: 51-05
8. Greg Hackney: 51-04
9. Mark Menendez: 48-04
10. Carl Jocumsen: 44-15
11. Brent Chapman: 44-06
12. Andy Montgomery: 38-13
Martens began the Northern swing in a tight AOY battle with Dean Rojas and Justin Lucas, but finishes of 13th (St. Lawrence) and 1st have put him in a dominant position. Lucas, Rojas, Brent Ehrler and Jacob Powroznik now the only competitors within 100 points of his lofty total, and if he's still ahead by 50-plus points after St. Clair, he could conceivably skip September's AOY Championship event entirely, since there'd be no way anybody could catch him.
Martens caught most of his fish by flipping to hard cover in Middle Creek.
Martens and Edwin Evers have combined to win four of the seven Elite events this year. It initially appeared as if Evers would contend for a third consecutive victory at the Chesapeake, but a zero on day 2 sent him packing with a 52nd-place finish.
Martens Pulled it Together
> Day 4: 5, 21-05 (20, 70-02)
Martens fished for nearly 4 hours on day 4 without catching a keeper. He had several quality fish hooked up during that period, but none made it to his boat.
He finally caught a 12-incher that went into his livewell, followed by a 2-pounder. He had a limit that totaled 13 or 14 pounds when he connected with the bruiser, which came unbuttoned at the same moment he grasped its jaw.
"I felt like I had a good chance before that, but I was really feeling good afterward," he said. "After catching that one, I was pretty jacked."
Bill Lowen's runner-up finish was his third 2nd-place showing on the Elite Series.
He spent the entire event targeting hard cover in the Middle River and a ChatterBait was his primary offering on Sunday. He also caught weigh-in fish on a spinnerbait, a jig and a dropshot rig during the course of the tournament.
Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be posted soon.
2nd: No Gripes from Lowen
> Day 4: 5, 18-05 (20, 62-03)
Lowen's runner-up finish was his third on the Elites; he also achieved that placement in 2008 at Old Hickory and 2010 at Clear Lake.
“I can’t complain,” he said. “I had a perfect tournament. I found the most perfect spot where I could catch fish on every cycle of the tide.
"The only time I couldn’t catch them was when the tide got slack. I went out there and left it all on the lake. I have no regrets.”
His finish bumped him up from 24th to 12th in the AOY race.
3rd: Pipkens Happy
> Day 4: 5, 18-07 (18, 57-15)
Pipkens, a 4th-year pro from Michigan, easily exceeded his career-best placement of 10th at the St. Lawrence River in 2013.
"It feels really, really good," he said. "I'm glad Aaron smoked them today because now I know I couldn't have won even if I'd caught all the bites I had (he weighed just three fish on day 3).
"I'm not going to second-guess anything because I put myself in position to get the bites. It felt good to catch them today."
Chad Pipkens' 3rd-place finish was the best of his 4-year career.
His final-day bag contained three fish in the 4-pound class – he also broke on off and lost another bite of that same caliber.
"I got nine good bites today, mainly because I switched up my rotation to take better advantage of the tide."
5th: Hite Bounces Back
> Day 4: 5, 12-07 (20, 52-04)
Hite thought his chance to make the 2016 Classic might've been doomed by his bomb at the St. Lawrence, but this finish put him at No. 39 in the points – just inside where the cutoff should eventually fall.
"I feel real good about it," he said. "It was a tough practice for me and the tournament was certainly a grind, as it was for just about everyone. I felt like I did the best I could do in the area I fished the tournament in."
"I'll take this and go on to the next one and if I can have a good tournament at St. Clair, it'll all be good."
He caught six keepers on day 4, but none exceeded 3 pounds.
"I just didn't have the bites to have a chance to win."
11th: Chapman Relieved
> Day 4: 5, 6-13 (20, 44-06)
Chapman had to settle for a miniscule limit on the final day, but the points he garnered from his first final-day appearance of the season kept his Bassmaster Classic hopes alive.
He started the event at No. 62 on the AOY lists, but now resides in 43rd (just below the projected cut mark).
"What a relief this was," he said. "After the way practice went, never in a million years did I think I'd end up in the Top 12. It's just one more reminder of how things can play out in this sport."
He said he junk-fished throughout the event and often had to retreat to an area that harbored nothing better than 12-inch smallmouths. A 100-yard stretch of eelgrass produced some of his best quality and he caught several of those fish on a frog.
"I had about four different ways that I caught them. I was just doing what I had to do to survive."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 10 limits, 1 two, 1 one.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, AL -- 20, 70-02 -- 100 -- $104,000
Day 1: 5, 17-08 -- Day 2: 5, 15-00 -- Day 3: 5, 16-05 -- Day 4: 5, 21-05
2. Bill Lowen -- Brookville, IN -- 20, 62-03 -- 99 -- $26,000
Day 1: 5, 12-06 -- Day 2: 5, 15-13 -- Day 3: 5, 15-11 -- Day 4: 5, 18-05
3. Chad Pipkens -- Holt, MI -- 18, 57-15 -- 98 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 16-14 -- Day 2: 5, 14-15 -- Day 3: 3, 07-11 -- Day 4: 5, 18-07
4. Gerald Swindle -- Warrior, AL -- 20, 54-10 -- 97 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 11-07 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12 -- Day 4: 5, 14-11
5. Davy Hite -- Ninety Six, SC -- 20, 52-04 -- 96 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 10-12 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 5, 13-01 -- Day 4: 5, 12-07
6. Bernie Schultz -- Gainesville, FL -- 16, 51-07 -- 95 -- $13,500
Day 1: 4, 10-11 -- Day 2: 4, 14-12 -- Day 3: 3, 10-02 -- Day 4: 5, 15-14
7. Russ Lane -- Prattville, AL -- 20, 51-05 -- 94 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 12-00 -- Day 2: 5, 14-15 -- Day 3: 5, 14-13 -- Day 4: 5, 09-09
8. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 18, 51-04 -- 93 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 14-06 -- Day 2: 5, 15-15 -- Day 3: 3, 07-04 -- Day 4: 5, 13-11
9. Mark Menendez -- Paducah, KY -- 19, 48-04 -- 92 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 10-03 -- Day 2: 4, 12-06 -- Day 3: 5, 13-10 -- Day 4: 5, 12-01
10. Carl Jocumsen -- Queensland, Australia -- 13, 44-15 -- 91 -- $11,500
Day 1: 4, 14-07 -- Day 2: 5, 17-05 -- Day 3: 2, 06-03 -- Day 4: 2, 07-00
11. Brent Chapman -- Lake Quivira, KS -- 20, 44-06 -- 90 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 11-15 -- Day 2: 5, 11-00 -- Day 3: 5, 14-10 -- Day 4: 5, 06-13
12. Andy Montgomery -- Blacksburg, SC -- 16, 38-13 -- 89 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 14-04 -- Day 2: 5, 09-09 -- Day 3: 5, 12-01 -- Day 4: 1, 02-15
