Guntersville, AL – As far as anyone knew Wednesday, this week’s Elite Series stop on the famed Alabama fish factory known as Lake Guntersville was going to be a great tournament. In fact, during The BASS ZONE’s preview story the word “Awesome” even appeared in print to describe how practice had been.
No one could’ve guessed that weights this week would press the century mark. In fact, some of the more optimistic anglers we spoke to thought that, on the high side, you might see a winning average of around 22 pounds a day. That was until Day One leader, Todd Faircloth, train-wrecked early prognostications by weighing over 30 pounds to set the bar.
(Photos by Mark Jeffreys and Matt Pangrac
)
That first day, everyone caught them – and things haven’t really slowed down substantially since then. Fishing rocks, ledges, or grass mats, it seems that a 20-pound bag is all but guaranteed. Sadly, a 20-pound average would, at this point in the week, have you heading down the highway as 25 pounds was the mark to meet in order to be working Sunday.
Faircloth was unable to keep the mojo working, and Aaron Martens was able to take over the top spot Friday. A lack of current Saturday slowed some of the field down, while others, included Marty Stone, found that the slack water forced them into adjustment mode.
After stumbling around a little Saturday, Stone was able to mix the right recipe and catch a 30-pound stringer, chipping away at Martens’ lead, and proving that there’s still a 30-pound stringer in Guntersville awaiting Sunday’s final round.
With seven pounds of cushion leaving Sunday’s launch, all Aaron Martens would need for the win is to just hang around the 23-pound mark to stave off any come-from-behind heroics. Sunday almost seemed like déjà vu all over again for Martens, only this time it wasn’t in Zapata, TX.
While he wasn’t able to boat the 23-pound buffer bag, Martens was at least able to scrounge up 19 pounds and 15 ounces to boost his four-day total weight to 107 pounds and 8 ounces, giving the Alabamian-by-way-of-California his fifth BASS win, and new life in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year race.
Ending the week in second place was Skeet Reese who amassed a staggering 104 pounds, 4 ounces over four days of fishing to pull up a little over three pounds shy of victory. Reese kept Martens honest by bringing a five-bass limit to the scales Sunday weighing 27 pounds, 11 ounces.
Kevin Wirth made a final day charge by weighing 29 pounds, 3 ounces to move up the leader board nine places into third place with a total weight of 102 pounds, 3 ounces. Making his fourth appearance on the final day of the 2009 season was Mike Iaconelli, who ended the week in fourth place with 101 pounds, 1 ounce, after weighing 20 pounds, 15 ounces in Sunday’s finally.
In fifth was Marty Stone, who ended the week just shy of the century mark with 99 pounds, 5 ounces. Stone wasn’t able to recapture Saturday’s magic and struggled to bring in a limit weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces.
Rounding out the Super Six was red-hot Kentucky pro Mark Menendez, who weighed a five-bass tournament limit going 20 pounds, 14 ounces, to move up three spots with a total combined weight of 96 pounds, 1 ounce.
1st Place: Aaron Martens
With a secure lead in 2008 at Falcon Lake, Aaron Martens was unable to maintain the frenzied pace he’d set the first three days of the tournament and dropped to fourth place by the end of the day. That was in the back of his mind as he headed to his starting spot Sunday, once again with a secure lead – but one still prone to misfortune.
“I really struggled today,” he said. “We’ve talked and talked about the challenges we’ve had this week with spectators and local fishermen, so that’s not anything new. But things got off on the wrong foot when I had a boat with three guys sitting on my starting spot.”
“I don’t know how long they’d been there, but I know from first-hand experience that it only takes 23 minutes to hurt (the spot) pretty good,” he said. “The guys just kind of smirked at me and said, ‘We didn’t catch anything over three pounds.’ He finally moved off of it, but it was pretty dead after that.”
Martens was able to scramble to a back-up spot and recovered from the early-morning confrontation by quickly catching a small limit. He decided to return to his best water with the hope of upgrading his catch – but was once again met with the reality of our growing sport.
“I actually left biting fish to go back to my starting spot, which was a mistake,” he said.
“The guy was still there and saw me coming. They all dropped their rods and started up the big motor and just plowed the whole spot. That pretty much ruined it right there, so I scrambled around through the rest of the day and was able to upgrade a little here and there.”
Martens revealed that almost all of his fish this week – save for “a couple” he caught on a worm – came on a DD 2.5 crankbait. “I tried to throw a worm around a little bite, but it seemed like every fish you’d catch would be smaller,” he said.
Key to the Win: “Current was definitely a critical factor this week. I think what happens is that the current brings these fish together – it really groups them up.
"When it’s gone, they just scatter everywhere and get really difficult to pattern. That’s how most all of my spots where. I did have a couple of ‘school spots’ where they were there regardless of the current.”
2nd Place: Skeet Reese
The 2009 season is beginning to bear a striking resemblance to the prior two years where coming down the stretch, Skeet Reese and Kevin VanDam were neck-and-neck in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year race. To get there, Reese knows he needs more days, and tournaments, like this one.
“Today was absolutely off the hook,” he said. “I mean, right off the get-go this morning, my first limit weighed 25 pounds. It’s hard to go up from there.”
Reese estimates that he likely culled through four 25-pound limits of bass on the final day – which doesn’t include the multitude of four-pound “keepers” that didn’t even raise his heart rate. “It was just one of those days where every move I made, and everything I did, was exactly the right call,” he said.
“It would have to be five-pounds or better for me to even get excited. How sick is that? I can honestly say that I’ve never had a day of fishing like I had today.”
Fishing shallow grass lines over the final two days of the tournament, Reese used a Lucky Craft RC 2.5 in Splatter Back to amass the majority of his weight. “In practice, and during the first couple days of the tournament, I spent a lot of time in nine to 14 feet of water,” he said.
“Looking back on the week, I really kind of missed the boat the first couple of days because the better fish were up shallow. I didn’t really key in on that until Saturday.”
A second place finish this week makes the TTAOY race even tighter as current leader Kevin VanDam failed to survive Saturday’s cut. Reese, however, prefers not to look beyond the moment – and at present, he explained that he’s completely drained.
“I am absolutely smoked right now,” he said. “This week has been an absolute blast, but it’s been seven hard days of just chunking and winding. Short of winning it outright, second place is pretty damn good.”
3rd Place: Kevin Wirth
After barely squeaking into the Top 12 Saturday by two ounces over Greg Hackney, Kevin Wirth knew that his best hope was to have a miracle day. As the day’s heavyweight, the miracle almost happened.
“It was an incredible day,” he exclaimed. “My marshal had the BassTrak system, so I kept asking him what the count was. I knew that the closer I came to (catching) 100 fish, the better shot I had at catching Aaron.”
It’s impossible to know for certain, but Wirth is confident that had he been able to fish a full day, things may have been tighter at the weigh-in. “I had to come in about 45 minutes early because I had a bad battery,” he said. “I really think that if I could’ve rotated through it one more time I would’ve had more weight than I did.”
Cranking a variety of hard-plastic baits, Wirth pointed out that the deck of his Triton stayed loaded with a number of rods all week. “I would start out shallow every morning because of the shad spawn,” he revealed. “The key deal with me was that I was going to where they were going to.”
Moving around a lot forced Wirth to continually adjust his target depth – thus the need for a cluttered casting deck. “Depending on the current, or what was going on, they’d move around every day,” he said.
“I would have an assortment of rods that I could use to target between 6 and 12 foot – sometimes out to 15 feet. The whole deal was to keep the bait above the fish.”
Wirth revealed that his game plan each day was to target main-lake transition areas that were essentially “loaded” with small fish, and “wipe them out” in the hope of getting larger fish to move up. “The whole idea was to catch everything that would bite, to the point were I wasn’t getting any bites, and then let it cool off,” he said.
“After letting the spot rest for about 45 minutes, I would come back and start dredging it up and it up. More times than not, it would reload with much bigger fish.”
On the week, Wirth has no complaints and, save a lost fish or two, wouldn’t change a thing. “It was a great tournament,” he said. “Getting to break the 100-pound mark is pretty special. I have absolutely no regrets about anything.”
4th Place: Mike Iaconelli
Having won here before, Mike Iaconelli was a lock to turn in another solid performance. With back-to-back 26-pound days to start the week, Ike was in position to be a potential spoiler Sunday. That’s when the proverbial wheels came off his wagon though.
“I just had a terrible day, I really did,” he said. “In a four-day tournament, you have to fish to win every single day. I fished three perfect days and had great execution, but today it just fell apart.”
Ike pointed out that he never was in position to win, but certainly lost enough fish over the course of the final day that he gave up a position or two at the least. “I lost every big fish that I had hooked except one today,” he said.
“I wish I knew why, I really do. It was just one of those days where nothing worked right.”
90% of Ike’s fish came on crankbaits this week – either a Strike King Series 5 in chartreuse/blue back or Lazer Lure medium diver in shad – that he used to target key transition areas near the main river channel.
“The key was targeting transition areas in spawning coves and the main river ledge,” he explained. “Really, finding little hard corners within the transitions was critical – whether it was a stump, or rocks, or a shell bed. That’s basically all I did.”
Ike makes a point that he doesn’t question anything about his performance this week; however, it’s hard no to considering the lost opportunity the final day offered. “Outside of today, I had a great week,” he said. “I should’ve had a second-place finish this week, but what are you gonna do? It’s great points, and another solid finish.”
5th Place: Marty Stone
With his highest finish since 2004 this week, Marty Stone pointed out that while he’s not quite in Classic contention, he’s definitely heading in the right direction, and with couple more events like this one could see him in his first Classic in three years.
“This morning I just had a ball,” he said. “I probably caught 60 fish in the first three hours of the morning, but I sort of knew that I was in trouble because they were all three- to three-and-a-half-pounders when I was needing fours and fives.”
Stone commented that he fished a near-flawless event – losing only two fish all week; however, on the final day a lost opportunity and the lack of quality forced him down the leader board. “I jumped one off that was close five pounds, but I never had a big bite,” he said.
“So my frustration is that after the morning flurry stopped I ran around and did everything I could to catch them but I just couldn’t. I could’ve come on in at 9:00 and been done.”
Marty spent the week cranking a BDS 4 around mussel beds on transition corners. “With as much current as we had the first couple of days, if you could find the right corner the fish were just piled in there,” he said. “You could sit there for 30 minutes and catch a fish on every cast.”
With a Herculean effort on Saturday, Stone was able to catch the second-heaviest limit of the tournament. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to repeat that performance on the final day. “I tried to duplicate what I did yesterday to catch 30 pounds, but they were all small and wouldn’t help me,” he said.
“In hindsight, I wish that I would’ve went out to the grass and just threw a crank bait or a big spinner bait. That’s what happens though – you get wrapped up in what worked the day before.”
Marty pointed out that over four days of fishing he only lost two fish that would have helped him, and combined they may have accounted for two pounds – enough to cross the century mark. “That’s my only regret this whole week,” he said. “To have the fish on that would get me over the 100-pound mark and not be able to get it done.
“You don’t get this opportunity too often, but I did catch 30 pounds yesterday. That’s the first time I’ve done that in my career.”
6th Place: Mark Menendez
To say that Mark Menendez is on a tear would be an understatement. With his first Elite Series win, and three other Top 10 appearances (two Elites and one Open)in the same season, he’s having a career year to say the least. “I don’t really know what the difference for me is,” he said.
“I’m just fishing with so much more confidence, which breeds good decisions. This week is another instance of that.”
Menendez pointed out that with the current fluctuations Guntersville underwent this week, he was forced to alternate between a Strike King Series 5 and a Strike King square bill – both in Sexy Shad – to stay on his fish. “You had to adjust everyday this week,” he explained.
“Some days they would be in three feet, and the next they would be in 12.”
Everyday of the tournament was another opportunity to practice for the following day, and Menendez took full advantage. “I practiced everyday of the tournament, and about the only thing I didn’t do was go out into the 18- to 25-foot range,” he said.
“Looking back, maybe I should’ve spent a little more time out there, but I just didn’t see that as being a way to catch the numbers of fish that I thought I would need.”
With a dream season fully underway, Menendez has his sites set on being in the final two “bonus” events at the end of the regular season. “I’ve just about got a Classic slot locked up, so my sites right now are set on making it to the two-tournament fish-off here in Alabama,” he said.
“That’s going to be a super-neat deal, and I so badly want to be a part of it.”
7th Place: Mike McClelland
Final-Day Thoughts: “I started off thinking it was going to be a pretty good day. I caught three pretty quick, and then it just died off from there. I was forced to scramble around and pick up a fish here and there. I wound up running new water.”
Bait of Choice: ¾-ounce War Eagle spinner bait; unnamed swimbait; assortment of crank baits
Biggest
Challenge: “The biggest mistake I
made this week is not adjusting when
the current left. The current was
definitely the success for my early
success, but I just didn’t make the
right adjustments.”
Key to the Week: “The shad spawn was
critical to the morning bite. As the
day would wear on, I’d get out on
the river and crank ledges.”
Week in Review: “Early in practice, and on the first day, I tried to drag a jig around a little. It’s still early enough that moving baits and covering water are really the deals. I tried to stay a little deeper than I should have looking back.”
8th Place: Byron Velvick
Final-Day Thoughts: “We didn’t have any current, but I fished hard. I lost a couple of key fish, but didn’t really get the kind of bites that I needed beyond that. That’s just the way it went.”
Bait of Choice: BassTrix 5” Swimbait; Berkley Hollow Belly Swimbait
Biggest Challenge: “If I would’ve slowed down like I did Saturday, I think it might have wound up differently. I really wished that I would’ve fished smarter sooner.”
Key to the Week: “I would slow-roll either swimbait along rocky areas that were scattered with grass. What saved me more than anything was mixing it up Saturday with a 10-inch Power Worm.”
Week in Review: “I beat up on my spot pretty good this week. There’s still fish sitting there, you can graph it and still see tons of bass. I really think if the current was still running it would be as awesome as it was the first two days. I just didn’t adjust soon enough.”
9th Place: Jami Fralick
Final-Day Thoughts: “This is the best tournament I’ve ever had. I don’t really even know how better to describe it than that. It was just an amazing week.”
Bait of Choice: ¾-ounce XCalibur XR175
Biggest Challenge: “I wish that I would’ve found some ledge fish. That’s about the only thing that I would change.”
Key to the Week: “I spent 100% of my time this week fishing shell beds in front of grass lines. I would catch a couple up on the grass with a spinner bait, but most everything I weighed was relating to the shell beds.”
Week in Review: “This is the most fun I’ve ever had in a tournament. You’re not catching the seven- and eight-pounders like you will at Falcon, but to pull up on a spot and catch a fish on every cast for 30 minutes is just unreal.”
10th Place: Matt Reed
Final-Day Thoughts: “Today was a struggle for me. I did some different things this morning, and started in a different area, and it really didn’t pay off. As a result, I wasted the first two hours of the day. You just can’t afford to that here when it’s this hot.”
Bait of Choice: ¾-ounce XCalibur XR175
Biggest
Challenge: “When they cut the water
off, it changed my whole thing. I knew
that they would probably do that, so
when they did I fished a little more
offshore, but I wasn’t able to get
another big bite.”
Key to the Week: “Most of my fish
were on the outside edge of the grass,
and it was something that I found
right before the storms (on Tuesday).
Everything I’d found up to that
point was pretty good, but that was
the deal that got me this far in the
tournament.”
Week in Review: “I really think I fished about as well as I could – about the way that my practice told me that I should, anyway. Looking back on my practice, it all boils down to Tuesday when I was only able to practice for about two hours because of the storms. That was the most important practice I had right there.”
11th Place: Todd Faircloth
Final-Day Thoughts: “I had to fish the grass after I lost the school that I was on the first day. I was around a lot of fish, but I just wasn’t able to get the kind of bites that I needed. Today I never even caught a four pounder today.”
Bait of Choice: Sebile Flat Shad; Yamamoto Senko
Biggest Challenge: “Not being able to relocate that school of fish from the first day. It’s still driving me crazy how they were there one day and gone the next!”
Key to the Week: “Without a doubt, the key was that first day. That’s what kept me in the Top 12.”
Week in Review: “The week started off really good, I just sort of slid down the slide I guess you’d say. They were pulling the current really hard the first two days and I just got on the Mother Load and wrecked them that first day. I should’ve done something different the last couple of days, but what it would’ve been I can’t tell you.”
12th Place: Alton Jones
Final-Day Thoughts: “I went back to my primary water today, naturally, which had been giving up 20 or more pounds on the first pass. When I made the first pass this morning and never had a strike I knew that it was going to be one of those days.”
Bait of Choice: ¾-ounce XCalibur XR175 in Foxy Mamma
Biggest Challenge: “Looking back I would like to have had the final day to do over. I think the shad spawn changed or something. The lack of current really hurt me too.”
Key to the Week: “I caught almost 90 pounds of bass off one 100-yard stretch of river ledge that was about four-feet deep up on top and fell straight off to around 10-feet deep.”
Week in Review: “I had three really good days and caught the majority of my fish off one river ledge that was about 100-yards long. It was a fantastic week!”
