2012 Aaron Marens is the All-Star Champ!

Aaron displayed great fishing ability to win the
super difficult All-Star Championship.
(Photo: BASS)

By Ken Duke
BASS Press Release
This one had it all — long runs, risky strategies, run-and-gun fishing and a dramatic save of a stranded competitor. In the end, Alabama’s Aaron Martens edged out Oklahoma’s Edwin Evers to win the 2012 Toyota Trucks All-Star Week championship. Martens’ strategy of staying close to the launch area to increase his fishing time bested Evers’ choice of making a long, difficult run up the Sangamon River. Martens’ win was the culmination of four days of fishing featuring 12 of the best anglers in the sport on two lakes that presented some of the most challenging fishing in B.A.S.S. tournament history. In the end, Martens’ final day catch of 13 pounds, 8 ounces on Lake Decatur was enough to outpace Evers by 1-4. Martens total was the heaviest catch of the week.

2012 Bass All-Star Week Bracket

2012 Elite Series - Evan Williams Bourbon All-Star Championship

It’s down to Evers, Martens

One-day matchup will determine 2012 All-Star champion

By Ken Duke

BASS Press Release

DECATUR, Ill. — Ten superstar bass anglers have been eliminated, but one more must go before the 2012 Toyota Trucks All-Star Week champion is crowned.

Last year’s All-Star runner-up Edwin Evers and 2005 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Aaron Martens advanced to the fourth and final round of the Evan Williams Bourbon All-Star championship on Lake Decatur. They eliminated 2004 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle and defending All-Star champ Ott DeFoe, respectively.

2012 Bass All-Star Week Day1: Evers and DeFoe Battle it Out!

Déjà vu with Evers, DeFoe

Last year’s All-Star finalists pick up where they left off

Seigo Saito

Edwin Evers holds the lead in the All-Star Semi-FInal.

By Ken Duke

Bass Press ReleaseDECATUR, Ill. — The second annual Toyota Trucks All-Star Week is shaping up a lot like the first one ended, with Oklahoma’s Edwin Evers and Tennessee’s Ott DeFoe sitting atop the leaderboard.

After finishing second and first, respectively, at the inaugural All-Star Week in 2012, the two are poised to advance yet again. With one day to go before the 12-angler field is cut to the Top 4, Evers’ limit of five Lake Shelbyville bass weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce looks like it will propel him to the semifinals with ease.
DeFoe, last year’s All-Star champion, is in second place with four bass weighing 11-3. No other angler has more than 7-7.
Evers was the only angler in the field to catch a limit in the first round. He caught a total of seven keepers, culling down to the tournament limit of five. He’s working two patterns — one that’s “fairly shallow” and another offshore. Though he’s in great shape to finish in the Top 4 and advance, he wasn’t ready to talk about the details of his methods just yet.
“I’m doing something that I don’t think anyone else is doing,” Evers said. “If I can catch five more keepers tomorrow that weigh 7 or 8 pounds, I’ll feel really good about my chances.”
Though DeFoe managed the second-best total of the day, he fell one short of a limit. Like Evers, he was predictably reserved in his comments, but did offer a few details. “I caught my three biggest bass in about a 15-minute span — all on the same bait — and I lost another in the same area. I’m fishing shallow, less than 5 feet deep.”