Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Friday, October 10, 2025
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By Clay Gaillard, Mercury Report
Aaron Martens
It’s tempting to think of Aaron Martens as an unlucky guy.
The Mercury Pro Team member has finished second in the Bassmaster Classic a record four times, after all, and has never walked away with the crown. Once he missed it by the weight of a modest hamburger patty.
Then, of course, he had a massive seizure while fishing in the spring of 2020, which revealed the presence of two brain tumors. Since then, Martens has had two brain surgeries and has endured almost constant chemotherapy for a year and a half.
Yeah, he’s had some hard days.
But if that’s all you see, you’re most assuredly missing a lot.
By any measure, Martens, 49, of Leeds, Alabama, is among the most accomplished bass anglers of this or just about any generation. True, he’s famously come up just short at one of the sport’s single biggest tournaments four times, but that also means four times he’s traded blows with the other giants of the sport atop the Classic leaderboard, a spot most elite anglers dream of being in just once in a career. And if you’re concerned about a lack of titles, rest assured he’s got those, too. Besides being a three-time champion of the prestigious WON BASS U.S. Open tournament, he also earned the title of Bassmaster Angler of the Year in 2005, 2013 and 2015.
If that makes him lucky, so be it. But Martens has the kind of luck that comes from putting in the work, and one could argue that it’s that kind of fortitude that makes him uniquely positioned to conquer glioblastoma, one of the toughest-to-fight cancers that’s ever cursed our species.
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By Al McGuckin
Aquatic vegetation coontail, eel grass, milfoil, and hydrilla
For anglers not used to picking apart coontail, eel grass, milfoil, and hydrilla, as shown from left to right in the attached photo, approaching massive acres of aquatic vegetation can be as intimidating as a high school quarterback walking into an NFL stadium full of fired-up fans.
Team Toyota’s Brandon Lester has made a detailed study of how to pluck bass from grass en route to winning $800,000 thus far in his short pro career. And he graciously shares a look at his playbook in timely fashion as early fall often begins the best ‘grass fishing’ of the year.
A garden variety is best
To the casual observer with an untrained eye, expansive acres of matted vegetation might all look the same. Look closer at a place like iconic Lake Guntersville and you’ll see coontail, eel grass, milfoil, and hydrilla often mixed together like Olive Garden’s famous house salad.
“Anytime you see three or four species of vegetation growing together, I can almost assure you that’s going to be a great place to get bites. In fact, you need to look for places where one kind of grass marries up against the other to form a sort of a transition, that’s the juice,” grins Lester.
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By Josh Lantz, Traditions Media
Fisherman with largemouth bass
Two primary factors combine to make late-summer largemouth bass challenging to catch in many water bodies. First is that they’re often widely dispersed because they’re keying in on different forage. Bass can be suspended over deep water targeting schools of suspended baitfish; in dense, shallow, oxygen-rich weeds making a living on bluegills, shiners and frogs; or found relating to offshore structure like humps, points, and ledges, often at or near the depth where the thermocline intersects the structure. Second is that bass have been pressured all summer long. Success in late-summer bass fishing often means finding more active fish that are willing to play. That requires focusing your efforts on areas with the highest concentrations of bass and showing your bait to as many as possible.
THICK VEGETATION FISHING
By late August, weeds may either be submerged or top out on the surface. Find dense, healthy, green vegetation and you’ll likely find concentrations of bass. These areas have abundant oxygen and shade, which are good for both bass and baitfish. Three-time Junior Division National Champion, Trey McKinney of Goresville, Illinois advises starting your shallow bass hunt by working a topwater frog in the thickest green stuff you can find.