Four-time Bassmaster Classic champion Rick Clunn has long proclaimed the WON Bass U.S. Open, which he's won twice, the toughest tournament in the country. He won't get any argument from four-time Classic runner-up Aaron Martens.

Martens moved into a tie with Western legend Mike Folkestad for most career Open victories last week as he claimed his third title at Nevada's Lake Mead.



"I feel very fortunate – I didn't think I had a chance," he said. "There were a lot of locals in the field who fish Mead every week, and the way it's fishing right now, the more time you have on it, the better.

"Every year there are 20 guys in (the Open) who could fish the (Bassmaster Elite Series) right now, but they're guys with families and jobs, and it's the most challenging lake in the U.S. I know some people will read that and say, 'No, our lake is more challenging,' but I haven't seen that.

"Each year I go, it makes be a better angler from that point on," he continued. "It builds your tolerance and your ability to make decisions, and everything after that seems easier."

He grabbed the lead on day 1, dropped to 3rd on day 2, then climbed back to the top of the heap on the final day. His 33.12-pound total that was comprised of 11 smallmouths and four largemouths outdistanced runner-up David Peltier by a little less than 2 pounds.

Here's how he did it:

Practice

Martens, who also won the Open in 2004 and again the following year, got in 4 full days of practice for this year's edition, plus a few other partial days while fulfilling his duties at the ICAST show.

"The last three Opens I've fished, it's been a completely new lake each time," he said. "There was a lot more water this year – it was 15 feet higher than last year.

"I just searched and threw reaction baits the whole time – not trying to catch fish, but just trying to find them. The goal is to cover as much bank as you can because one out of every 15 pockets might have fish in them and you can fish a worm and end up not covering any water. Even though there's salt cedars, willows and reeds all over in 10 to 12 feet of water, it's still like a desert because the fish are so spread out."

He looked at much of the lake over the course of a week, and eventually settled on the Virgin Basin and Boulder Basin areas on the lower end.

"You can see the bottom in 20 feet of water and you can go 2 or 3 miles without seeing a bass. There are a lot of 2- to 3-inch largemouths and smallmouths and lots of bait – the health of the lake is incredible. There's shad in there like I never dreamed there could be.

"At some point in the next few years it's going to be one of the funnest lakes in America to fish. But for the next year or 2, it's still going to be a tough one."

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 12.98
> Day 2: 5, 9.62
> Day 3: 5, 10.51
> Total = 15, 33.11

Some wind, clouds and even a few showers offered a bit of a respite from the oppressive desert heat on day 1, and Martens and his co-angler (the Open is a shared-weigh event) took full advantage to catch a bag that was just shy of 13 pounds.

"(The fish) were chewing," he said. "We caught them on points, in pockets, on the banks – the bait was up shallow and everything was real active because of the weather. We only had one keeper at 11:00, but we ended up catching nine or 10."

The action was much slower on day 2 and he fell two positions in the standings with a sack that didn't reach double digits. He found himself trailing new leader Chris Bozarth by more than half a pound.

Day 3 started out like the 2 previous days – he didn't catch his first keeper for several hours.

"I could've gone places to catch a limit, but it would've weighed 4 or 5 pounds. I went for the fences the whole time. On the week of and the week after a full moon, the worst time to fish is usually the early part of the day. I knew it was going to be bad, and it was.



Tom Leogrande
Photo: Tom Leogrande

Martens used a run-and-gun approach on the scattered bass at Lake Mead.

"You get a little bit nervous, but you have to just keep fishing. Then usually in the last 3 hours you can cull all your fish."

Day 3, like day 2, was completely cloudless, but the wind created a bit of a ripple on the surface from about 11:00 on. Things picked up from there.

He caught a smallmouth and a largemouth during the final part of the day that each pushed 3 pounds on his way to a 10 1/2-pound stringer.

"I told myself I'd probably be in the Top 3, but I didn't think I'd win. I thought I only had about 9 1/2 pounds and I thought I needed one more 2-pounder to get rid of a 1 1/2.

"I lost two fish that were 2-plus and I thought sure that was going to cost me. I lost two of these (Opens) by nothing before I won one, so I had some training for my four 2nds in the Classic."

Winning Gear Notes

Martens caught the majority of his fish on a spinnerbait on cloudy day 1, then relied on a dropshot and a jig under the bright sun of the final 2 days.

> Spinnerbait gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Megabass Racing Condition rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel (6.2:1 ratio), 12- and 14-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1/2- or 3/4-ounce Davis Baits spinnerbait (various colors, "all natural and subtle").

> Dropshot gear: 6'10" Megabass Hedgehog dropshot rod, Shimano Stella 3000 casting reel, 6-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 3/16-ounce tungsten weight, size 1 Gamakatsu splitshot hook, 4 1/2" Roboworm ST (Aaron's magic or cinnamon/blue crawler).

Jim Crowley
Photo: Jim Crowley

All three baits that Martens used to catch weigh-in fish were attached to Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon.

> Jig gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Megabass Aaron Martens Signature Series rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel, 10-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Davis Baits football jig (brown/green), Yamamoto Double Tail grub trailer (green-pumpkin).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "It's the most grueling week ever and the only thing that saved me is my diet. I was drinking close to 3 gallons of liquid every day – a lot of fruit juices and protein blends. And I kept myself totally covered on some days to stay out of the sun. My partners felt the heat a lot more than I did."

> Performance edge – "I ran and gunned a lot and fished a lot of spots and the wind every day in the afternoon made it a rough ride back, but my (Phoenix) boat and (Mercury) motor performed extremely well. Also the Lithionics batteries – it's ridiculous how fast the hole-shot is. I feel bad for people who don't have them."

Notable

> For the complete final standings, click here.

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