Football
Aaron Martens, BASS Insider Blog 15y

Making the Cut

February 22, 2009

I went back to my spot today but it didn't produce. I didn't have a fish until about 10 a.m. It was dead. That surprised me; I thought there'd be bass in there but I think the wind was a problem. It blows really hard in there and that muddied the water and made it colder than some of the surrounding water.

That's a bad combination. The bass just shut down; they wouldn't bite no matter what I did. I knew if I stayed there I was going to die there. My backup site was the only hope I had to save my butt. I had to move.

When I arrived I quickly realized it was loaded with bass. There were a lot more of them in there than I found in practice. The water was warmer, too. It was 56 1/2 degrees by this afternoon. It's supposed to be cold tonight, though, so it'll probably be around 55 or 56 degrees by tomorrow. I hope it doesn't drop any lower than that.

Normally colder water would be a problem but I don't think that'll matter much because it's protected from the wind. That should help it. And it's a little deeper in this spot, too. The lack of wind, lack of muddy water and access to deeper water should keep them there, or at least close by. I think I can find them. They won't move far.

And when I say it was loaded I mean I caught about 20 keepers in there. Almost all of them were about the same size, though. After a while I was culling by ounces so I decided to save some for tomorrow. I didn't want to catch them all today.

I said yesterday that winning big tournaments is about making good decisions. That's an example of what I was talking about. In a multi-day tournament you have to have enough fish to last through all the days. I knew I would make the cut this afternoon so what's the point in catching fish today that I might need tomorrow. That's not smart. I wasn't gaining much by culling for a few ounces, so why do it?

I caught most of my bass today flipping. Yesterday I flipped and fished with a spinnerbait. That's pretty standard stuff for the Red River. After tomorrow I'll talk about my lures and why I fished with them the way I did. I'm sure you understand why I don't want to say too much about that right now.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the same spot and fish there all day, or at least that's my plan right now. That could change but it's not likely. I know the area's loaded with fish. I caught 3- and 3 1/2-pounders there today. And in practice I caught a big one. The winning weight's in there swimming around. All I have to do is catch it.

That's doable. I'm only 3 pounds out of first place — 2 pounds, 15 ounces to be exact. I think I could pick up that much weight if I have a good day. I'm not saying I will win or anything, only that's it's possible. I'm close enough to the leader and there are enough fish in my area to do it. It all depends on what happens.

Anyway, I'm thinking positive; I'm pleased with my Classic performance so far. Maybe tomorrow will be a big day for me.

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