By BassFan Staff
There've been a lot of great days in Aaron Martens' stellar fishing career, but Sunday had to rank right up there with the best.
The West Coast native caught a 19-05 stringer on the final day at Arizona's Lake Havasu – a lake he calls his favorite in the country – to win a full-field Elite Series event for the first time since 2009. His 68-09 total over 4 days held off home-state ace Clifford Pirch by 2 pounds.
The drought-busting victory was extra-special because it occurred on Mother's Day with his mom, Carol, in attendance. Those familiar with Martens' history know that Carol, who immersed herself in tournament fishing after her son caught "the bug" and became a high-level competitor herself, has been extremely influential in Aaron's progression to the top of the sport. Some may also be aware that Jerry Martens, Aaron's father and Carol's husband, died on the eve of this year's Bassmaster Classic after a long battle with a nerve disease.
Martens' victory ended a streak of five 2nd-place finishes since his last Elite triumph (the limited-field 2012 All-Star Championship notwithstanding). The most recent of those runner-up showings came the previous week at the Sacramento River.
He employed a unique pattern, flipping to big largemouths that he said were eating blackbirds in the thick shoreline vegetation up the Colorado River. He added that he'd found feathers in his livewell on Saturday.
"It's crazy that more people don't know about that (pattern)," he said. "I can't believe how many people think I was kidding about it. To me, it's common sense."
Pirch, like Martens a three-time winner of the prestigious WON Bass U.S. Open just up the Colorado at Nevada's Lake Mead, led after days 2 and 3, but didn't catch the massive bag that he knew he'd need on day 4. His 14-14 stringer gave him a 66-09 total.
Edwin Evers secured the No. 3 spot he'd held since day 2 with a 14-10 sack for a 65-00 aggregate. Takahiro Omori caught 13-13 and slipped from 2nd to 4th with 64-09.
Elite Series rookie David Williams completed the Top 5 as his 15-10 stringer pushed his total to 62-14.
Here are the final totals for the remainder of the Top 12:
6. Dean Rojas: 61-07
7. Casey Ashley: 61-04
8. Justin Lucas: 60-14
9. Jonathan VanDam: 60-14
10. Brandon Palaniuk: 60-08
11. Gary Klein: 60-00
12. John Murray: 51-03
The Western swing marked the end of the season's first half and the four anglers with roots in the region who notched Top 12s in both events sit atop the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) race. Rojas occupies the No. 1 spot, followed by Lucas (the winner at the Sacramento River), Martens and Pirch. Alabama's Greg Vinson (5th) ranks highest among competitors born east of the Rockies.
Martens pulled his winning fish from deep among the reeds along the Colorado River.
The latter half of the campaign will get under way June 3-7 with the second annual BASSFest, which takes place at Kentucky Lake this year. Unlike the inaugural edition in 2014, it'll be a points event this time.
Martens Felt Jinxed
> Day 4: 5, 19-05 (20, 68-09)
Martens, who grew up in Southern California and now resides in Alabama, said that after his 2nd-place showing in Sacramento he'd begun to feel like he'd never taste victory again.
"I even asked Kevin (VanDam) what he thought the deal was – why I had so many 2nds (13 in B.A.S.S. events) and so few firsts (six prior to Sunday). He said it was all mental.
"When I got to Havasu, I felt like I couldn't win, but it's a lake that holds a special place in my heart. I remembered all those tournaments here when I was young and I ended up doing the same thing I used to do."
Although the event was dominated by dropshot rigs and he's one of the world's top practitioners of that technique, he used it sparingly throughout the week. Most of his fish were hoisted into his boat via a flipping stick.
His final-day bag contained largemouths that weighed 4-14, 4-10 and 4-08.
"When I caught those big ones I knew I was onto something special and I really picked that place apart. I didn't get a lot of bites, but some of the ones I did get were magnificent.
Several quality bites that got away doomed Edwin Evers' prospects of victory.
"I really wanted to win this one for my wife (Lesley), who's back home, and for my mom, who was there in person."
Details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published in the coming days.
2nd: Bit of a Downer for Pirch
> Day 4: 5, 14-14 (20, 66-09)
Pirch failed to crack the 15-pound mark on either weekend day and thus couldn't hold off Martens.
"I'm a little disappointed, but it was a good week," he said. "I knew I needed another good bag either today or yesterday, and it just didn't happen."
He thinks he made a mistake in leaving his primary deeper-water area on day 3, as it surrendered big bags to both Omori and Lucas.
"It made me think, gosh dang it, I could've done that. I was afraid to leave it all today.
"I got a great big one in practice out of a little pocket in the river on one of my jigs and an Uncle Josh met trailer and it was in my head all day to run up there, but I just couldn't do it. The lake was high all week and didn't fluctuate, and it's unusual for it to stay that high for that long.
"It made the shallow bite really stable and I'm surprised it held up as well as it did."
3rd: Evers has Some Regrets
> Day 4: 5, 14-10 (20, 65-00)
Evers said he got the bites he needed to win the event, but his execution wasn't up to the job.
"It's kind of a catch-22," he said. "I'm glad to have the good finish and get the points, but I had a great chance to win the event and I didn't get it done. I had lots of opportunities, but I'm not going to dwell on it – everybody loses fish."
A 3 1/2-pounder was the biggest fish he caught on day 4.
"I tried quite a few different things today, trying to catch some big ones, but I didn't catch what I needed."
4th: Omori had Fun
> Day 4: 5, 13-13 (20, 64-09)
Omori was unable to come anywhere close to duplicating his 20-pound sack from day 3, but he'll leave Arizona with a good taste in his mouth.
"Overall, I had a great time here," he said. "I'd never fished here before and it's a fun lake. All I could think about was a desert lake was going to be tough fishing for me, but I ended up having a really good tournament."
The deep-water areas that had been so good to him for 5 days (including the two practice days) was way off on day 4.
Takahiro Omori was unable to get his deep bite going on day 4.
"I had one fish at noon and I had to leave just to get a limit," he said. "I was disappointed with that, but this lake is fun because you can catch them so many ways.
"I did the best I could and I thought I had a chance to win after yesterday, but it just didn't work out."
5th: Williams' Fears Unfounded
> Day 4: 5, 15-10 (20, 62-14)
Williams was extremely pleased with his Top-5 finish.
"It's pretty awesome," he said. "This was probably the tournament that I was most intimidated by because I didn't really know anything about the lake except it has super-clear water.
"All I kept hearing about was dropshotting and stuff like that, and that's not really my cup of tea. But it turned out the stuff I do worked out pretty good."
He flipped and threw a swimbait throughout the week. The fish he caught were on a different type of cover each day.
His long drive back to North Carolina will go by a little quicker after getting some vindication for an 81st at Sacramento.
"I felt like I was on the fish to win at the California Delta, but those fish just got too far along (in the spawning progression). To come here and make up for it feels pretty good. Now I just hope I can keep it going at Kentucky Lake."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 11 limits, 1 three.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, AL -- 20, 68-09 -- 100 $100,000
Day 1: 5, 15-04 -- Day 2: 5, 16-06 -- Day 3: 5, 17-10 -- Day 4: 5, 19-05
2. Clifford Pirch -- Payson, AZ -- 20, 66-09 -- 99 -- $25,500
Day 1: 5, 17-08 -- Day 2: 5, 19-04 -- Day 3: 5, 14-15 -- Day 4: 5, 14-14
3. Edwin Evers -- Talala, OK -- 20, 65-00 -- 98 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 20-07 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 15-14 -- Day 4: 5, 14-10
4. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, TX -- 20, 64-09 -- 97 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 15-04 -- Day 2: 5, 15-08 -- Day 3: 5, 20-00 -- Day 4: 5, 13-13
5. David Williams -- Maiden, NC -- 20, 62-14 -- 96 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-08 -- Day 2: 5, 11-04 -- Day 3: 5, 19-08 -- Day 4: 5, 15-10
6. Dean Rojas -- Lake Havasu City, AZ -- 20, 61-07 -- 95 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 14-01 -- Day 2: 5, 13-07 -- Day 3: 5, 19-09 -- Day 4: 5, 14-06
7. Casey Ashley -- Donalds, SC -- 20, 61-04 -- 94 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 15-06 -- Day 2: 5, 14-11 -- Day 3: 5, 17-08 -- Day 4: 5, 13-11
8. Justin Lucas -- Guntersville, AL -- 20, 60-14 -- 93 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 15-15 -- Day 2: 5, 13-14 -- Day 3: 5, 18-12 -- Day 4: 5, 12-05
9. Jonathon VanDam -- Kalamazoo, MI -- 20, 60-14 -- 92 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 11-15 -- Day 2: 5, 15-08 -- Day 3: 5, 18-08 -- Day 4: 5, 14-15
10. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 20, 60-08 -- 91 -- $11,500
Day 1: 5, 14-06 -- Day 2: 5, 18-08 -- Day 3: 5, 13-15 -- Day 4: 5, 13-11
11. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, TX -- 20, 60-00 -- 90 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 13-10 -- Day 2: 5, 14-09 -- Day 3: 5, 18-01 -- Day 4: 5, 13-12
12. John Murray -- Phoenix, AZ -- 18, 51-03 -- 89 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 19-08 -- Day 2: 5, 16-01 -- Day 3: 5, 11-07 -- Day 4: 3, 04-03
