My Thoughts On Martens & Velvick On Falcon
The BASS Elite Series tournament on Lake Falcon happened two tournaments ago, but for the fans and viewers such as myself, we were not able to witness some of the on the water action until last Saturday when the airing of the tournament ran on ESPN’s Bass Saturday. Congratulations to Paul Elias on his much deserved come from behind victory and his new BASS record with the largest 4 day total weight. He boated some fish that were truly monsters. Speaking of monsters, how about Terry Scroggins coming less than a pound away from breaking the 1 day weight total record set by Dean Rojas of 45+ lbs. To catch that kind of weight and still loose I can imagine can be crushing. Fortunately for Scroggins though, he seemed very optimistic about his chances of winning before take off that morning. I’m sure that help soften the agony of defeat somewhat.
Something that I am sure didn’t help soften any blows was the drama that unfolded on the 4th and final day of the event. For those of you who do not know what happened. Going into day 4, leader Aaron Martens and 4th place (?) Byron Velvick pulled up onto the same spot that they had both apparently found in practice and had shared the first 3 days of the event. On day 4 when they both pulled up to the same spot, the sharing and dividing of fish did not sit well with Aaron Martens. Rightfully so? I will give you my opinion on that in a minute.
Throughout the course of the day many words were exchanged between the two anglers about who should have rights to the spot. Martens had made many comments such as, “You should know this is my spot. I was here first. These are my fish”. Of course without hesitation, Velvick struck back and said, “Are you serious. If you say that one more time I am going to come over there and smack you”. Something anyone reading this should know is that these two are great friends and have been for over 20 years, so some of this was and a friendly but serious text. Aaron and point continued to plead with Velvick telling him, “Dude, this is all I got. You know that is my spot. C’mon man.” Even while Velick offered Martens a chance to come and check out his GPS way point marker to validate he had found the spot in practice as well, he at one point got fed up enough to stern his voice up a notch and tell Martens, “Dude, don’t tell me not to fish Aaron”!
As the Aaron walked across the stage, his spot that had produced a day over 40 lbs and two other over 30 lbs reduced him to only 19+ lbs on the final day having his lead slip out of his hands. The spot being hammered 4 days in a row by two Elite Series anglers and the co-anglers on the back of the boat eventually took it’s toll and the fish just ran out it seems.
My thoughts. While I am really pulling for Velvick to do well this year, I am going to have to say I would have done things a little differently. But before I continue on, I don’t feel like Velvick in anyway did anything wrong. However, if I was on the same spot as the leader going into the 4th and final day of a $100,000 Elite Series event and in Velvick’s shoes, I would like to think that I would have said, “Aaron we fish the same fish for 3 days and you outright beat me out on this spot, so here you go and good luck with the win. You deserve this spot”. On the other hand though, going into the final day on Falcon of a $100,000 event down by 6 lbs, it’s not inconceivable to come from behind and catch 44lbs like Scroggins did. With that being said, I completely understand why Vevick did what he did. They are both still competing for the win. Martens did just deserve the spot because he won the event the first 3 days of competition. The event was 4 days long and to win that event you had to win it over all 4 of the days and that is exactly what Paul Elias did.
What are some of your thoughts on the whole thing and have you ever had anything like this happen to you?
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POSTED IN: BASS, Elite Series, Miscellaneous
6 opinions for My Thoughts On Martens & Velvick On Falcon
BP
Apr 16, 2008 at 1:38 am
I blogged about Elias and Ish, but haven’t said a word about this one. I think it is just an unfortunate break for Martens and Velvick that they both found a spot that would have won it going away had it been one anglers hole. This is not the first time multiple anglers have found the winning fish only to be denied, because multiple anglers were on the same deal. It happened last year on the FLW Tour with Jay Yelas.
I think if Martens wanted to have the spot to himself the only fair way to get it would have been to buy Velvick off the spot with an offer of $15,000 to $50,000 depending on Martens final place of finish. Even if Martens offered Velvick that kind of cash Velvick would be within his right to say no because of the AOY points towards the Classic. For the Classic Points I think it would only be fair for Martens to offer up a guarenteed 20% of any Classic winnings next year.
As it stands Martens made $19,000 while Velvick hauled $26,000. That is only $45,000 for a $100,000 spot. Martens should have gotten out the check book and made Byron an exceedingly generous offer that he couldn’t refuse. The two anglers lack of creativity and forsight cost them both.
Tim
Apr 16, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I normally like Byron, but he was really ticking me off when I watched that. Martens was competing not only for a win, but for a spot in the history books. There’s no reason he should have ever had to contemplate pulling out a check book - as you suggest, BP - the gentlemanly thing to do would have been for Byron to get off that hole.
BP
Apr 17, 2008 at 2:23 am
“the gentlemanly thing to do would have been for Byron to get off that hole.”
Obviously these are Professional Bass Fisherman and it is what they do for a living. I’m sorry but Byron giving up $7,000 so Martens can win $100,000 is a lot more than a “gentlemanly thing to do.” It would be a stupid thing to do. Why not just be a “gentleman” to the rest of the field and fish with no hooks on your lure?
Tim
Apr 18, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I’m not really all that huge into fishing, but it seems like anyone you talk to would like you to believe that it’s not about the money and that 99% of what these guys do is a class act. It wouldn’t appear so in this case …
Besides, as they say in the NASCAR world, it’s all about a little give and take.
ALDave
Apr 21, 2008 at 7:40 am
I think these guys spend enough money just get out out there and compete, that an understanding should have been in place. No way should I have seen a check book come out. I also wouldn’t have expected to see Byron just give up. Byron could have moved an that would have made him look like a superstar but he didn’t and that is fine too. It was just a sad timing deal. I am suprised that over the three days before the last day, they didn’t hash out what belonged to who in the area.
Lance Krueger
May 2, 2008 at 12:38 am
I was at the Falcon Elite Tournament all four days, and watched Aaron and Byron at times on days three and four (yep, I was one of the spectator boats). I was pretty amazed when I was on the water watching them, that they were fishing as close as 5 yards from each other at times. The fishing buddy of mine that was in the boat with me talked it over, and we came to the conclusion is that whoever was there at the spot first should be the one to fish it, and the guy that got there second should go somewhere else. This is just common courtesy (most times anyway) among fishermen, whether pro or weekend angler. Who got to fish the spot first could be determined by the “draw” of who gets to take off first at the blast off, or could be who has the fastest boat. Since they’ve all got about the same speed of boat, I’d say let the order of their start decide who gets to fish it first. Aaron left the spot to look for other fish at times, and this would have been Byron’s chance to go fish the spot, or any of the other anglers for that matter.
I also saw Ish and Paul, who were fishing just yards away from each other, and were within sight of Byron and Aaron. Terry Scroggins was also on the opposite side within view of Aaron and Byron. Also in view at different times of the tournament were Matt Reed, Takahiro Omori, Dave Wolak, and several other pros.
Finally, since Aaron was leading the tournament, I think Byron should have let him have the spot, but his “greed” (or competitive fire) just cost them both the tournament. I actually felt bad for Aaron, both on the water, and after watching Bassmasters the next Saturday.
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