Casey Martin Smashed 40 Pound Limit to Win by 20 pounds.

Mega bag wins Guntersville Tournament

by FLW Communications

Casey Martin of New Hope, Alabama, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 40 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the first T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division event of 2017 on Lake Guntersville. Martin’s catch was the second-largest single-day limit to ever be weighed in at a BFL event, and the third-largest all-time across all FLW tournament circuits.

Casey Martin claims big win on G-Ville.
(Photo: FLW)

“It was pretty insane to weigh in those bass,” said Martin, who took home $6,859 for his win. “I’m still in disbelief. It happened so fast that it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

Martin said he started out targeting both largemouth and smallmouth bass in different areas, and was able to put together a limit fairly quick.

“At that point, I figured I had enough weight to earn my entry fee back,” said Martin. “So, I decided to swing for the fence at that point and run to some deeper water, near causeways. They can be good this time of year.

“I came across a school of fish at one point, looked at my graph and it was lighting up,” continued Martin. “I caught one bass that was close to 7 pounds, and within 10 minutes I had three more in the boat – a 9-pounder, and two in the 8-pound range.

Martin said he used a Picasso Double Barrel ½-ounce underspin with a 4-inch Smoky Shad-colored Z-Man DieZel Minnowz to catch all but the 9-pounder. For that, he said he used a swimbait on a 3/4-ounce Freedom Tackle Hydra Hybrid Jig.

“Later on I made a run to an area near Goose Pond and caught another 7-pounder out of some grass on a Rat-L-Trap,” said Martin. “I didn’t think I had 40 pounds, I thought I only had 33 or 34. I’ve seen those kinds of limits come in at BFL tournaments before.”

2014 ICAST Z MAN Finesse T.R.D. Ned Rig Soft Plastic worm with Casey Ma...

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The innovative Midwest finesse style of fishing, more commonly known as the "Ned Rig," has been gaining momentum throughout the country as a subtle and easy-to-master, yet amazingly effective, presentation. While anglers have long been crafting their own jigs and carving up ElaZtech baits to create the perfect finesse offerings, Z-Man has worked with some of the nation's best finesse fishermen to develop a complete, ready-to-use Midwest finesse system that will produce on lakes, rivers, creeks and ponds everywhere.

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Casey Martins Wins 2013 Walmart FLW Lake Chickamauga Day by 20 Pound Margin!

By Brett Carlson
FLW Press Release
DAYTON, Tenn. – Casey Martin led the opening day of the 2013 Walmart FLW Tour season with a 26-pound, 12-ounce Lake Okeechobee stringer. Fittingly, he closed the regular season by winning with a 30-pound final-day stringer. Between the bookends was a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. The ride ended Sunday at Lake Chickamauga with one of the most dominating victories in FLW Tour history.

Casey finished the win scoring over 100 lbs of bass and
surpassing second place Strader by 20lbs!
(Photos: FLW)

When Martin arrived in Dayton, he was solely focused on trying to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup. The odds were against him as the New Market, Ala., pro entered the tournament 54th in the standings. That meant Martin would have to make the top-10 and receive some help from others above him.
On day three of practice he located three schools of bass, one of which was loaded with fish and completely lit up his Lowrance unit with white dots (which indicate fish). The spot was a shell-ridden ledge with 15 feet of water on top and 25 feet on the bottom. But as boat No. 76, Martin was beaten to the spot the first morning by Mark Rose. With Rose’s permission, Martin fished alongside as the two whacked giant stringers. Two other anglers joined, but only Martin made the top-20 cutoff. That third day was the pivotal one.
“I thought the mega-school was gone and I almost left,” recalled Martin. “Then I idled around one more time to see if they were still on the graph and they were. So I adjusted and switched to a spinning rod and a drop-shot.”

Monsters like this ensured Martins first place.

Not only did Martin re-ignite the school, he was able to lay off his big-fish spot and have something in his back pocket for the final day. In the weeks leading up to the event, the Canadian-born pro practiced on Lake Guntersville near his house. The two TVA lakes fish similarly and Martin was prepared for the day-three curveball.
“Not only did I look for the same stuff, but I checked on how the schools reacted to different baits on consecutive days. I knew about the drop-shot coming in because my girlfriend Lindsey would throw one out of the back of the boat.”
Martin’s patience with the big-fish spot paid dividends Sunday as he was fishless on his primary area an hour into the day.
“Both spots were within sight of each other in Harrison Bay. I was struggling on the mega-school and I saw a local start to go over to the big-fish spot. I was thinking about leaving anyway, but that really forced my hand.”