Tournament News | Notes and Quotes from Elite Series on West Point

5/7/2011 11:39:42 AM

A few of the interesting story lines as this professional bass fishing tournament

B.A.S.S. Communications

Run for the Roses: In 1981, Kevin Wirth rode Mythical Ruler to a 17th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

Saturday, on the 30th anniversary of his Churchill Downs ride, Wirth took the wheel of a bass boat in the Pride of Georgia for another run at glory.

Wirth, born and raised in the racing world and now living in Crestwood, Ky., keeps up with it through family and friends, and through his equine dentist practice, which he restarted last fall. He recently worked on the teeth of a 2011 Derby entrant, Shackleford.

The Run for the Roses in Lexington, Ky., will happen early Saturday evening, so Wirth can catch it if he hustles from the tournament site to the nearest TV or radio. The estimated post time for the ‘fastest two minutes in sports” is 6:24 p.m. ET; the Pride of Georgia weigh-in will begin at 3:15 p.m. ET.
 
He admits to feeling a bit left out of the celebrations at home.

“I’d like to be a part of it, maybe at least a couple of mint juleps or something,” he joked.

His racing family and friends raised an eyebrow when he decided years ago to try fishing professionally.

“They thought I was absolutely insane, and didn’t give me much respect at first,” Wirth said. “But now you can go anywhere across the country, to any race track where they’re running, and talk to trainers, owners, jockeys — most anyone — and 95 percent of them would say they know me. They follow fishing just because of me.”

The ‘flu pattern’ of Aaron Martens: Imagine competing while your head pounds and the pains in your gut make you moan out loud – especially when your head is hanging over the gunnels.

That’s what Aaron Martens has been going through for the past two Bassmaster Elite Series events.

Three weeks ago on Toledo Bend in Louisiana, Martens was feverish and queasy for days, but he finished in ninth place.

He kicked whatever bug he had, but turned up again with flulike symptoms in Georgia.

“It’s what you don’t want to get in a fishing tournament,” Martens said after two days in the Pride of Georgia competition on West Point Lake. “I hurt so bad (Thursday) that I had to lay down. I missed about five hours of fishing.”

Still, he managed 27th after two days.

“Just think how much better I could have done if I’d felt better,” said Martens, who seemed to be recovering Friday afternoon. Just off the water, he repeatedly asked his wife if they had time to pick up some sushi before the top-50 cut meeting.

“You have to keep going, you have no choice,” said Martens. “There are no sick days in tournaments. You couldn’t give up the points and risk not qualifying for the Classic.”

The point(s) of West Point: No points are awarded until the fat lady sings, but that doesn’t stop Elite anglers from calculating how many points they could collect when the West Point Lake event wraps on Sunday afternoon.

Case in point: Edwin Evers. Friday, after taking the Pride of Georgia lead for the second day in a row, he mentioned the bonus points he’d already secured — five extra points for each day he led.

“I need all the extra bonus points I can get,” he said.

True. Coming into the West Point event, Evers was 232 points behind Alton Jones, the TTBAOY leader since after the season’s second tournament.

Especially true, considering Evers is 14th in points and has a lofty goal at this midway stage of the TTBAOY game: “I want to win Angler of the Year,” he declared Friday.

There isn’t an angler who would not desire the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year trophy. It is worth $100,000, but the award’s prestige and career benchmark are just as valuable to the winner.

Points leader Jones, strong so far at West Point, would have to suffer a big reversal to relinquish his points lead.

But Terry Scroggins, No. 2 on the points list, is likely to slip. Scroggins is doing OK at West Point — 16th after two days — so his points earning potential is solid. But Kevin VanDam could crash Scroggins’ party. VanDam, red-hot at West Point, threatens to move up from No. 3 in points and knock down Scroggins.

And then it would be an interesting two-horse race: Jones vs. VanDam. Jones has never won Angler of the Year. VanDam’s a quadruple winner, including the 2010 title.

Points also count toward Bassmaster Classic qualifications. The first cutline is at No. 28, a spot currently held by Kevin Wirth. While Wirth is holding his own at West Point (41st after two days), several pros a few ticks behind him in points could end up displacing Wirth, a 12-time qualifier who hasn’t missed a Classic in 10 years.

Marshals come from near and far: Andy Paluczak came from San Diego. Joe Bolder came from northern Wisconsin. They signed on to be marshals, the official observers who ride out with Bassmaster Elite Series pros on competition days.

Why do they come from so far for the experience?

“I have a passion for the sport,” said Paluczak, a stay-at-home dad who had to call in reinforcements so he could travel to Georgia for his first marshal gig.

Bolder, a retired postmaster, said he treated himself to a repeat marshal trip after enjoying his first time, the California Delta event of 2010.

“I’m going to try to make one every year,” he said.

And baby makes three (for four or five): Billy McCaghren said his wife, Norma, is doing well, just 10 days away from the due date of their first child.

That date, May 16, is immediately after the Evan Williams Bourbon Carolina Clash out of Columbia, S.C. McCaghren said he plans to fly home to Arkansas if he has to and leave his bass boat in the good hands of friends.

Ott DeFoe and his wife are expecting twins, but the due date isn’t until the close of the season of the season in northern Alabama, not far from his home in Knoxville, Tenn.

“It will work out, I know it will,” he said.

Other Elite pros expecting to expand their families soon are Kelly Jordon and Fred Roumbanis.

Quotes:
“It’s hard to be the leader. You have a lot of boats following you … you have a lot more attention on you. For reasons like that, it’s easier to come from behind to win one of these.” — Pride of Georgia leader Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., who won the season’s second tournament with a late charge

“I was in the right area, doing the right thing, but I made a bait adjustment — thanks to Andy Montgomery, who clued me in.” — Ott DeFoe of Knoxville, Tenn., 21st place thanks to a 17-2 bag Friday

“Each day in practice, I’ve been trying to learn the lake. I didn’t think it would be nearly this good, that we could catch these fish.” — Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., second place after his 23-10 sack on Friday

“It was a grind. I didn’t catch my limit until 11 o’clock.” — Kevin VanDam about Friday fishing

“Fishing pressure is getting to these fish. A lot of the leaders are fishing the same area.” — Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., fourth place after two days.


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