Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., the reigning Forrest Wood Cup champion, landed a wire-to-wire win on the Potomac River to take the FLW Tour title.
His four-day total of 66 pounds, 6 ounces edged out second-place finisher Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Ala. to take the top prize of $126,000. The win boosted Martin’s career winnings past the $2 million mark.
Martin now has five Tour-level victories.
Martin said he fished excruciatingly slowly and picked apart grass beds with a Bruiser Baits paddle tail worm. He said he wouldn’t catch a fish for 20 minutes and then he would catch one that would allow him to replace his smallest fish in his limit and increase his weight by 4 or 5 ounces. Then he would repeat the process.
“You feel like a caged animal,” Martin said. “Because you’re sitting in this one little spot flipping into every little hole you can.
Clark Wendlandt of Leander finished seventh with 61 pounds, 11 ounces.
—FLW Outdoors
