Aaron Marten's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Aaron Martens had mechanical issues at the previous Sabine event and slogged to an 85th-place finish. He caught fire after that, however, and went on to capture his second Angler of the Year (AOY) title. Things went much smoother for him this time and he was just a little more than 2 pounds behind Lane when the final day began. Day 4 was by far his worst day of the derby, but it cost him only one place in the standings. His primary area was the same Taylor Bayou canal favored by Lane, Shaw Grigsby (7th) and Micah Frazier (12th). "The trick was finding water that did have bass, and that was any spawning ground," he said. "If a place had fish, it wasn't that hard to get bit. Some of the (cover) I fished was obvious and some you wouldn't think fish would be on. I did a lot of moving. "(The Taylor Bayou backwater) was the best one I found - there was a lot of bass in there. It had a lot of grass, but a lot of the other oxbows had grass. For some reason, that one was loaded with fish." He relied on a spinnerbait and a bladed jig through the first half of the tournament and did a considerable amount of flipping and dropshotting over the weekend. The lightest line he used was 16-pound fluorocarbon, which is unusual for him. "It was mostly 'Bubba fishing' with heavy stuff," he said.

Flipping gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Enigma rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel (8.5:1 ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce unnamed tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu Heavy Cover hook, Zoom Speed Craw (green-pumpkin magic).

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-heavy Enigma rod, same reel, 16-pound Sniper fluorocarbon, 1/8-ounce unnamed weight, 2/0 Gamakatsu Heavy Cover hook, 4" Roboworm Fat (Aaron's magic).

Bladed bait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Enigma rod, same reel, 20-pound Sniper fluorocarbon, 1/4- and 3/8-ounce homemade bladed jig, Yamamoto Slim Senko trailer (various colors, used only on larger bait).

Main factor: "I'd say just figuring out how to catch them quickly."

Performance edge: "Everything has to work perfectly at a place like that. If you have a problem with any of your equipment, it could be catastrophic."

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