By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

When Thomas Martens watched television coverage of this year's Bassmaster Classic with his 9- and 7-year-old sons, he told the boys, "Someday daddy's going to be up there (on the Classic stage)."

He couldn't have imagined that his self-fulfilling prophecy would become reality just 1 year later.

Martens (no relation to Aaron), a practicing physician from the Austin, Texas area, won Saturday's abbreviated Bassmaster Classic Fish-Off by staging a huge rally in the day's second 4-hour session. He brought four fish to the scale that combined to weigh nearly 23 pounds, giving him a 28-14 total for the day.

His performance earned him the final berth in the 2016 Classic, which will take place in early March at Oklahoma's Grand Lake. Now he'll have to rearrange his patient schedule so he can get to Grand for some pre-practice before the lake goes off-limits on Jan. 1.

"I've never been there, but from what I hear, it fishes a lot like my home lake (Travis)," he said. "There's a lot of floating docks and a lot of rock.

"That's nice to know, but I still need to spend some time there so I'll know what I'm looking at when I go back."

Following are some of the details of his victory at Guntersville.

Practice

Martens had never been to Guntersville before arriving at the beginning of last week. His partner for the Bassmaster Team Championship, former Elite Series pro Dean Alexander, visited shortly before Thanksgiving and got onto a couple of things that they could use as a foundation for that portion of the event.

They focused on grass humps for 2 days, but failed to catch much in the way of numbers and saw nothing that exceeded 2 1/2 pounds. Then late on the final practice day, Martens connected with a 7-pounder on a 7-inch Basstrix swimbait.

"That gave me the confidence to throw that bait in the tournament," he said. "When you don't catch anything on a swimbait, it's hard to keep throwing it."

They checked out a bridge on Brown's Creek that same day that was harboring a huge number of baitfish. They knew it would be fished by many of their competitors, along with a lot of local crappie anglers but there was just too much bass food available there to write it off.

Competition

> Session 1: 2, 6-02
> Session 2: 4, 22-12
> Total = 6, 28-14

Martens and Alexander, who were representing the Texas B.A.S.S. Nation, finished as the runners-up in the Team Championship to Michigan's Christopher Risner and Timothy Eaton as they compiled 46-10 over 2 days. Their best fish came from the bridge in Brown's Creek.

The Classic Fish-Off, featuring the six competitors who comprised the Top 3 teams fishing individually, was originally scheduled to be a 2-day affair. However, since day 2 of the Team Championship was canceled due to fog, it was shortened to a single day with two sessions that included both morning and afternoon weigh-ins.

Martens allowed Alexander to take his pick of locales at the bridge to begin the Fish-Off, and Alexander selected a place near the bank that dropped off to a depth of 16 feet. That spot was unproductive, however, as the Tennessee Valley Authority didn't pull current on the weekend.

Alexander departed at about 10 o'clock to try for some grass-oriented fish, and Martens moved in. He worked a jig extremely slowly and hooked two good ones, but both pulled off.

He decided he'd pull out the 7-inch swimbait and throw it for the rest of the day, hoping to pick up at least a few quality bites. He moved to the center of the bridge, to the lone passageway that wasn't occupied by a crappie anglers, and popped a 4-pounder and a 2 from 30 feet of water just minutes before he had to leave for the first weigh-in.

He started the second session facing a 6 3/4-pound deficit to Louisiana's Nickolas LeBrun, but had been slightly encouraged when LeBrun mentioned at the weigh-in that he was probably out of fish. He returned to the same passageway that had produced his two morning fish, but couldn't entice any more bites. Then he moved around the bridge, to the back side, and loaded up.

He boated a fish that exceeded 5 pounds almost immediately, followed by two more at 30-minute intervals. He missed one of similar size that he figured might cost him a chance at victory, but then picked up his fourth one with 30 minutes to go.

"I thought I had a chance after that, but (winning) was unexpected," he said. "I've fished against that kid (LeBrun) on Sam Rayburn and I knew he was good.

"All in all, the whole thing was just a great experience."

Pattern Notes

Martens said that making the proper cast with the swimbait from underneath the bridge was exceedingly difficult.

"I had to throw a 3/4-ounce head with a swimbait that probably weighed 3 ounces about 40 yards into an 8-foot area," he said. "It couldn't hit the ceiling and it had to come down soft.

"I'd spool out line and then slow-roll it. There were two places where they'd hit it – just beyond the shade marker and right at the end."

Winning Gear Notes

> Swimbait gear: 7' heavy-action Falcon Cara rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (5:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar Yellow Label fluorocarbon line, 3/4-ounce Revenge swimbait head, 7" Basstrix swimbait (ayu).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "Knowing what type of fish were around that bridge and having confidence in that swimbait. With those type of fish, you only need four or five bites."

> Performance edge – "That 17-pound Yellow Label line was a key on the final day – the water had definitely cleared up so I didn't want to throw 20, and 15 wasn't quite stout enough."

Notable

> For final results of the Fish-Off, click here.

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