Shocking reveal from a living legend

The state of tournament fishing from one of the best in the business.

By Luigi De Rose

In a recent video, Roland Martin made two shocking reveals as he recapped his 2021 season. The first, was his acceptance to the 2021 BASS Elites. Scott Martin, his son, qualified for the 21 Elite season and the rumor was that Roland would join him. Roland applied under the legend status and was granted an invitation but he declined.

Why would the Roland decline a chance to rejoin BASS? Lack of sponsorship money and support. Simply, the fishing industry, one that has profited greatly from the industry that Roland helped developed didn’t deem him worthy enough. Even though Roland is one of the most recognized anglers in bass fishing, he couldn’t secure enough sponsorship to complete. Let that sink in.

As the story continues to permeate, scores of fans are furious. How can the fishing industry deny Martin this opportunity?  How could BASS as a business miss this golden opportunity to reward one of the true pioneers of bass fishing a come back? Imagine the publicity if Roland won the 2022 Classic at 80 years of age?

On a business level, the amount of potential viewer clicks and impression generated from this media savvy father and son team through the Elites is unfathomable. The possibility of year long media bites of Roland and Scott trying to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic would be commonplace. How many historic recaps of Roland throughout hit career would save a full day of inactivity on BASS Live coverage?

To fans of the sport, the lack of support is shocking. Roland’s 6 decades of tournament and media resume cannot be match yet he didn’t raise the funds. Roland even struck out with Bass Pro Shops. Johnny Morris is a personal friend of Roland and that couldn’t seal the deal.

View the video yourself. Roland fans will be proud as he was very upbeat and proud of the choices he made to covert a disappointment into a success.