Douglas Lake, Tenn – Day one of the Douglas Lake Bassmaster Elite Series event kicked off today in Tennessee. Following the day one weigh-in former BASS Angler of the Year Aaron Martens leads with a day one weigh to 23 pounds, 14 ounces. Martens expressed his satisfaction with the day “Today went great, I caught about 25 fish. I was looking for five pounders or bigger. I ended up with two in the five pound range and three in the four-pound range.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the event, Martens maintains his excitement, “I feel good about the rest of the event. I have about thirty good spots with schools of fish. Some of them had boats on them today, but the fish are hard to catch. There are about twenty spots with good fish, over four pounds, on them. Today I went to a few of the spots where I thought the biggest fish were and it worked out.”
With three days remaining in the event, Martens wouldn’t give any details to how he is catching the fish. He did reveal a few clues, “What I am most excited about is that the pattern I am on is good and it’s what I love doing. Anytime you are fishing the way you love to fish and it’s working pretty well you’ve got a chance to win.”
Fishing in traffic is something Martens has done well over the years. It has been reported in the past that he doesn’t prefer it, but he has seemed to do well in high traffic areas in the past. The Douglas Lake event is panning out to be that type of event, “I am running all over the lake, its not a big lake so there is a lot of traffic on some of the areas I am fishing. There were a couple areas today where I had ten or more boats around me,” Martens stated.
It’s been no secret that Martens has had a tough beginning to the 2012 season, but he thinks this might be just the spark he needs to get on a roll. “It’s been a tough season so far, but a day like today can really change the momentum of the year. My wife, Lesley, told me last night to just go out and have fun. I did that today and that’s what I am going to keep doing as the week goes on.”
