Sunday, June 26, 2016

2016 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Champlain Day 3: Scott Martin Continues to Dominate!

Chris Johnston falls to 5th. 
FLW PRESS RELEASE

Scott working his northern spots to continue the lead.
(Photo: FLW)
Unexpected mechanical issues, complications and difficulties can easily derail a pro angler’s day – especially if that pro angler is leading a Walmart FLW Tour event.
But when tournament leader Scott Martin encountered mechanical issues this morning, forcing him to obtain an official restart from FLW Tour Tournament Director Bill Taylor, Martin never missed a beat. He took it all in stride and kept his composure. As the old saying goes, “cooler heads will prevail,” and Martin demonstrated that perfectly today.
Despite his setback of nearly two hours in fishing time, Martin salvaged his day with a 16-pound, 5-ounce catch that kept him in the lead of the Walmart FLW Tour presented by General Tire on Lake Champlain with a total of 58 pounds, 10 ounces.
“Sometimes things like that are a blessing in disguise and I really think that was the case for me today,” Martin says. “I ran up there to Missisquoi where I’ve been starting every morning, didn’t catch anything, had some technical issues and decided right then to just start the day fresh with another boat check and a restart. I had to return to Plattsburgh, switch boats, get gas and get a restart. But when I restarted, I went out with a new game plan of staying close and fishing for some decent smallmouths I found in practice and it all worked out.”
“Who knows,” he continues, “Had that not happened I might have tried to stay north and force the issue with largemouths and really got spun out. Instead, it forced me to switch gears. I had some backup smallmouth located and was able to put a decent bag together with those. I believe things happen for a reason and today was an example of that.”
Once given a restart, Martin wasted little time in plucking bedding smallmouths to get back in the game and regain his lead. From there he again tried his hot largemouth area in Missisquoi during the afternoon to no avail. He now enters the final day with a 2-pound, 3-ounce lead.
“I’m not really sure what I’m going to do tomorrow,” Martin says, still seemingly unfazed by the pressure. “I’ve used up some of my better smallmouths and I’m not sure what’s going on with those largemouths up north. But I’ll go out and make the best of what I’ve got and see how it turns out.”
Top 10 pros
1. Scott Martin – Clewiston, Fla. – 58-10 (15)
2. Bryan Schmitt – Deale, Md. – 56-7 (15)
3. Jason Meninger – Gainesville, Ga. – 55-15 (15)
4. David Dudley – Lynchburg, Va. – 55-9 (15)
5. Chris Johnston – Peterborough, Ontario – 53-13 (15)
6. Austin Felix – Eden Prairie, Minn. – 53-11 (15)
7. Shinichi Fukae – Palestine, Texas – 52-6 (15)
8. Cody Meyer – Auburn, Calif. – 52-1 (15)
9. Stetson Blaylock – Benton, Ark. – 51-12 (15)
10. Wesley Strader – Spring City, Tenn. – 51-1 (10)

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