Like many of you, I’m a pretty serious fan of professional fishing. If it were football, I’d be the guy who wears a team jersey over his suit to the office on Friday and can almost be mistaken for a member of the coaching staff come game time.
The funny thing is, to this day, I don’t follow any other professional sports. At times, it’s awkward while in the company of other guys; they talk SEC or NASCAR and I just glance away. Oh well.
In any case, I’m nuts for pro bass, and I scrutinize the sport regularly. Following the recent Chesapeake Bay event, highlighted by Aaron Martens' incredible performance, I took a few days to really contemplate what had just happened. And I think, sometime in the not too distant future, this event will mark a noted shift in professional fishing and how it is viewed by serious fans.
I now believe what we’re witnessing is a sport elevated to a level never seen before, played by the best overall athletes ever to enter the arena.
Let me back up a bit.
Professional bass fishermen – those who tour the country and fish tournaments for a living – have always been a cut above the rest. And through each major era of pro fishing, certain angler groups have always made us feel like we’re looking into the future, rising head-and-shoulders above all others in ability.
The old-timers always use Roland Martin as an example. Later, similar conversations brought up the names Clunn and Nixon. In more modern times, no one can argue that VanDam drives on a different road. I argue Dudley belongs there, and Ehrler will likely earn a place.
Regardless, there always seems to be a few core anglers who are simply ahead of the times. Perhaps it’s through technical skills and the betterment of a trending technique, like Denny Brauer’s flipping prowess, the Hibdons’ use of spinning gear, or David Fritts' domination during the infancy of true offshore cranking.
But eventually, the world catches up.
What we’re witnessing now is one of those true, monumental shifts in the abilities of the best. Through the last few years, they’ve become even better.
Again, going back to the most recent event, I cannot overstate how incredible Martens' day-4 catch was at the Chesapeake. I’ve fished there; even weighed a pretty nice sack in a derby once. And I’ve visited the fishery when it was “on”. To the best of my understanding, that’s never the case in August.
Martens went against the grain and uncovered an overlooked area that harbored exceptionally large fish. He did so in the typical fashion of our industry’s great ones: fishing around a bit, getting a feel for the water and the day, and sliding into the winning area midway through.
On day 4, two other anglers saved their best for last, bringing limits to the scales that were, at that point, the heaviest for the entire tournament. Surely, each thought he had won. As a fan, I had to pity them, as Martens brought an unheard-of super-sack to the scale to easily overthrow any contender.
This all occurred on the last day, after all the likely hot spots had been frothed to a fury by some of the world’s best anglers for the 3 days prior. Even Mike Iaconelli, practically regarded as a deity on the major tidal fisheries of the East, said himself that Martens' feat was unbelievable.
We’re witnessing a shift.
Another case in point: When visiting pros come to a major fishery, history finds that local anglers always predict winning weights higher than what they end up. As a rough example, if Kentucky Lake is kicking out 25-pound strings in local jackpot events, the predicted 4-day winning total is often near 100 pounds. In the past, rarely did the winner of tour events hit these lofty goals.
Now, however, we’re actually seeing a reversal at times. Again, pointing to the Chesapeake, many predicted an average of 12 pounds a day would put a competitor near the top. Martens averaged over 17.
We saw it prior at Kentucky Lake, when Edwin Evers and Kevin VanDam both pushed the hundred-pound mark despite a lake experiencing incredible fishing pressure. In some ways, I felt like we also witnessed such in Greg Hackney a few times last year, especially when he took home six figures by winning the FLW Tour event at Pickwick thanks to a 30-pound sack on day 2.
When will it end? It won’t, and I predict we’ll see more indications of this trending shift in the very near future. Perhaps it’s more visible on the B.A.S.S. side than that of FLW, as smaller field sizes, along with the absence of co-anglers, allows competitors a better chance to pull off super-human feats.
But I’d be very surprised if we didn’t get another example almost immediately on one of bass fishing’s biggest stages – the Forrest Wood Cup this week at Lake Ouachita. There’s a bunch of money on the line, and the bass fishing world will be watching.
(Joe Balog is the often-outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)
