PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (July 11, 2009) - Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to capture the lead. Martin now holds a 2-pound, 4-ounce edge over his closest competitor, Kyle Mabrey of McCalla, Ala., heading into the final day of competition in the FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on Lake Champlain. If he holds on for the win, Martin will pocket $125,000.
"It was a great day," said Martin, who has won more than $933,000 in FLW Outdoors events. "I was worried about the weather. I think everyone was with the way the wind was blowing. But I was able to fine-tune my areas and really hammer down and I got some good, quality bites today.
"I've said it from the beginning, and I'm not saying it because I'm cocky or overconfident, but I really think this spot could win the whole tournament," Martin added.
Martin said his area is able to reload with fish every day and is big enough to allow him to move around and let certain places rest. Martin said he threw a crankbait on 12-pound-test Trilene 100% Flourocarbon as well as a Berkley Chigger Craw paired with a 3/8-ounce weight on 15-pound-test Trilene 100% Flourocarbon. Martin said his key depths were between four and eight feet of water.
"Up here, when you want to find largemouth, you need to find grass," Martin said. "I'm targeting milfoil with rock. Scattered rock piles with milfoil is the key deal. It's precision casting. You have to know exactly where to throw your baits.
"I feel good about it," Martin added. "I'm at peace with the whole thing and my motivation this week has been my grandma. I want to win this tournament bad, but I want to win it for her."
Mabrey caught five fish weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces to advance to the final day of competition as the No. 2 seed.
"I've got one deal going on, and today I had to be disciplined and just stick with it," said Mabrey, who has won more than $127,000 in FLW Outdoors competition. "I only had about three hours to fish. Hopefully things will work out tomorrow where I'll have five hours to fish. If I get five hours, I'll have a legitimate shot at winning this."
Mabrey said he braved the wind and made a 75-mile run to Ticonderoga and fished a 10-mile stretch of the lake. Mabrey said he caught 10 or 15 fish off of his spot in the first 15 minutes. He left the area and returned later to cull fish. Mabrey said he used a crankbait to target grass for largemouth and caught 25 to 30 keepers throughout the course of the day.
"This is the third tournament I've fished here and every day I've gone to Ticonderoga," Mabrey said. "There's been worse days and I've still gone down there. That's where I think I can win. Why not fish the way I think I can win?"
Rounding out the top 10 pros are Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala. (five bass, 14-12); Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore. (five bass, 14-5); Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C. (four bass, 13-13); Mark Hardin of Jasper, Ga. (five bass, 13-1); Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas (five bass, 12-12); Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa. (five bass, 12-5); Mike Hawkes of Sabinal, Texas (five bass, 11-1); and Luke Clausen of Gainesville, Ga. (four bass, 7-1).
The Angler of the Year will be determined Sunday, with the title race coming down to the last day of the regular season. Wendlandt and Clausen are battling each other and Clausen must finish three places higher than Wendlandt to claim the title.
Overall there were 48 bass weighing 133 pounds, 14 ounces caught in the Pro Division Saturday. The catch included eight five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for $2 million Forrest Wood Cup and BP, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Matt Greenblatt of Tequesta, Fla., won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces followed by co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., in second place with five bass weighing 12-14 worth $9,733.
This is my first win and it feels really, really good," said Greenblatt, who is fishing in his third year on the FLW Tour. "I've accomplished it from the back of the boat. Now comes the front of the boat."
Greenblatt said he caught his bass Saturday on a Texas-rigged weightless 5-inch Yamamoto Senko laminate color that is half green pumpkin and half watermelon. Greenblatt had been throwing a drop-shot rig tipped with a Baby Bass-colored Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm the previous two days of competition. Greenblatt said he used Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line in 6-pound-test for smallmouth and 10- to 12-pound-test for largemouth.
"We were in some heavy weeds and rigging it weightless let it fall nice and slow," Greenblatt said. "We were in a pocket, so the wind wasn't affecting us that much. The fish wanted a slow fall. So I had to fish it on a slack line to allow it to fall because if I had a tight line, the wind would grab it and the Senko would ski across the top of the grass and ruin the drop. They were just grabbing it on the edge of the weeds and not shy about it."
Greenblatt opened the tournament in 10th place Thursday with five bass weighing 15-11 while fishing with Rich Lowitzki of St. Charles, Ill. On Friday he jumped into seventh place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 13-7 while fishing with Thanh Le of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Mabrey.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Jason Ober of Johnstown, Pa. (five bass, 10-1, $7,300); co-angler Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (five bass, 8-7, $4,867); Jim Sweeney of West Dover, Vt. (four bass, 7-14, $3,893); Brandon Hunter of Benton, Ky. (four bass, 7-12, $3,407); Lynn Baciuska, Jr. of Afton, N.Y. (three bass, 7-9, $2,920); Shane Lehew of Charlotte, N.C. (five bass, 5-12, $2,433); James Schneider of Watervliet, N.Y. (three bass, 4-12, $1,947); and Keith Honeycutt of Temple, Texas (three bass, 3-2, $1,460).
Overall there were 42 bass weighing 83 pounds, 8 ounces caught in the Co-angler Division Saturday. The catch included five five-bass limits.