Aaron Martens was naturally disappointed that he missed the inaugural Bassmaster Elite Series postseason last September. When summer arrived, he was on a nice roll and seemed to be a shoo-in for the two additional tournaments in Alabama that featured the Top 12 from the final regular-season points list in a shootout for the Angler of the Year award.
The last two events on the regular schedule proved to be a couple of doozies, though. He gave some ground with a 75th-place finish at the Mississippi River in Iowa, then fell out of the Top 12 with his worst Elite finish to date (93rd at Oneida).
At least there was one positive to him sitting out those two additional derbies in his adopted home state. It allowed him to return to his native California and visit his 94-year-old grandfather, Ed Heinmiller.
"He died 3 weeks after I got back home (to Alabama)," he said. "If I'd have been fishing (the postseason), I'd have missed seeing him that one last time."
"But I still should've made those tournaments."
Targeted Wrong Species
Martens was on a hot streak before the tour made its initial visit to Iowa in mid-June. He'd notched four straight Top 20s, including a win at Guntersville and a 5th at Smith Mountain, and was 4th on the AOY list – 128 points behind leader and eventual winner Kevin VanDam.
He didn't pre-practice for the Mississippi and the only fish he found during official practice were in community holes that other competitors beat him to. At Oneida, he deviated from his custom of fishing for smallmouth (which had produced finishes of 27th, 14th and 14th on his last three trips) and went for largemouth instead. This proved to be the wrong year to make such a switch.
"I thought Oneida would be no problem, but then the smallies bit real good this year and, on average, they were bigger than the largemouths," he said. "I eventually started fishing for them, but it was too late.
"It was one of those tournaments where nothing went right. I caught some fish, but they weren't the right size, and one guy who was near me caught them real good.
"I went from 5th to 17th (in the points) at that one tournament," he added. "At Iowa I let everybody get closer, and then I blew that cushion."
Martens says he made the mistake of fishing largemouths at Oneida – by the time he switched to brown fish, it was too late.
Promising Road Ahead
When Martens looks ahead to the 2010 schedule, he likes what he sees. The Bassmaster Classic will take place at Lay Lake (just 45 minutes from his home in Leeds, Ala.) and the Elite Series campaign will launch with two California events in March (he picked up his first Elite win at the California Delta in 2007).
He finished a lackluster 25th in his previous Classic appearance at Lay in '07, but vows to be better prepared this time. He spent about 14 days there this fall before it went off-limits this week.
"My first goal is to try to win the Classic and I've really tried to learn the lake a lot better," he said. "I've got all my tackle organized already, which is amazing for me. I'm more organized than I've ever been in my life.
"Then goal No. 2 is the Angler of the Year, of course, and third is maybe try to win another event. Winning one a year is awesome – it brings your pay up, and that's important when you've got kids in school."
He's on a 3-week trip to California right now to spend the holidays with family, and he plans to fish a handful of times for trophy bass at renowned hawg Meccas Lake Casitas and Lake Castaic, where he guided before beginning his tour career. He said he once had an extremely memorable day at Casitas at this time of year – he caught a 13-pounder, an 11, a 10 and an 8.
"We didn't have a camera with us," he lamented. "If that happens again, I'll have some pictures."
Notable
> Martens will get some pre-Classic tournament experience by competing in the Okeechobee Southern Open in January.
> Missing bonus tournaments is nothing new for him – he also failed to qualify for the inaugural Bassmaster Elite 50s in 2004. "It seems like the first year they have something like that, I don't make it," he said.
