A Day On The Water With The Bassmaster Angler Of The Year

By his early teenage years, Aaron Martens had become enthralled with the idea of participating in bass tournaments and becoming a professional bass angler, which his mother Carol encouraged as his tournament partner during the 1980s and into the early 1990s. Together they teamed to win many tournaments across the West.

As his curiosity about the ways of the largemouth bass intensified, he studied In-Fisherman magazine and was influenced by In-Fisherman’s mantra of “Fish+Location+Presentation=Success.” In-Fisherman’s multispecies approach to angling, as well as its emphasis on versatility, left an indelible mark on Martens’ psyche, allowing him to boldly try such unorthodox lures as ice jigs and tiny crappie baits for bass.

Normally, Martens doesn’t let journalists witness his practice session; but at the CITGO Bassmaster Pro Tour event at Table Rock Lake in Missouri, he made an exception to that rule, allowing me to observe his every move and report lure choices, presentations, and locations he plied along the reservoir’s 857 miles of shoreline last March.

At first light on his first day of practice, air temperatures hovered around 33°F, and the lake’s water level was steadily dropping on the third day after a full moon. As the day unfolded, the sun shone brilliantly and the wind was virtually nil; so temperatures rose into the low 60°F range, with water temperatures 47°F to 51°F. Water clarity reached 10 feet at some locales, provoking Martens to note that a day devoid of wind and clouds at Table Rock might make bass fishing a confounding endeavor. Confronted with such conditions, he said, it’s difficult to elicit enough bites to determine the most productive spots.

His plan was to dissect several areas, in hopes of finding productive lures and to learn what kinds of structure were holding concentrations of catchable bass. He planned to spend the final two practice days trying to replicate what he found on Day One at similar locations.

From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Martens explored Schooner and Mill creeks, also quickly probing a main-lake bluff, part of a cove near the mouth of the James River arm, and two large, flat, gravelly main-lake points. His versatility was reflected in his tackle repertoire: He used seven casting outfits and one spinning outfit, rigged with a crankbait, spinnerbait, jerkbait, spider jig, horse-head jig, drop-shot rig, topwater lure, and Texas-rigged worm.

Martens’ Tackle and Lures

Martens prefers casting outfits, and all rods sported a Team Daiwa Z 105 reel, spooled with Sunline Flourocarbon. He credited Japanese anglers for teaching him about the value of using a double uni-knot with fluorocarbon. From Martens’ experience, the second-best knot for fluorocarbon line is a double improved clinch-knot, or a “San Diego Knot.” He observed that some anglers are reluctant to use fluorocarbon, complaining that it’s a high-maintenance line, meaning knots must be made carefully and retied regularly after line stress. But Martens contends its sensitivity and low visibility can’t be matched by monofilament.

Crankbaits: Throughout the day, Martens worked with several crankbaits, but primarily an old Storm Wiggle Wart in a crayfish hue, rigged on a 7-foot Megabass Tomahawk rod. Most of the crankbaits sported a pair of # 4 red Gamakatsu round-bend treble hooks. A double uni-knot attached the crankbait to 10-pound-test Sunline Fluorocarbon.

Texas Rig: His Texas rig was a 51⁄2-inch Margarita Mutilator Shakin Zipper Roboworm on a 1/0 offset-shank Gamakatsu worm hook, rigged on 10-pound-test fluorocarbon. The sinker was a brown 3/16-ounce lead slipsinker—he opted for lead rather than tungsten because his tungsten sinkers snagged too readily on Table Rock’s craggy bottom. He cast the rig with a Megabass F4-610 XDTI Elseil casting rod. Occasionally, he substituted a 1/4-ounce slipsinker and a Zoom Brush Hog.