Martin mixes it up for Guntersville lead

Alabama pros dominate top-10 cut

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Heavy north winds shuffled the FLW EverStart leader board on day two at Lake Guntersville. And when it all shook out, the top seven spots in the top 10 were owned by Alabama natives while the remaining three went to Florida pros.

Casey Martin of Huntsville, Ala., now leads the event with a two-day total of 49 pounds, 2 ounces. Martin sacked up the heaviest limit of the day – 25 pounds, 12 ounces – to add to his day-one weight of 23 pounds, 6 ounces.

Martin is not dialed into any specific area or pattern. Instead he is running a hodge-podge of spots he identified during an extended practice.

“I only got eight bites today, but they were all bigger fish,” Martin said. “But to give you some idea of how scattered out my spots are, I caught one in 18 feet of water and a few minutes later I caught one in 18 inches of water.”

Martin is running about 15 spots per day, mostly inside creeks, and they feature everything from grass, to rock, to wood, to channel breaks. And to further prove his fishing is all over the map, his key lures include a swim jig, a football jig, a jerkbait and a lipless rattle bait.

“I’m fishing about eight different creeks in a 25-mile stretch,” Martin said. “I’ll fish a spot anywhere from 10 minutes to a half an hour depending on how good I think it is.”

Yesterday motor issues kept him from running and gunning the way he wanted. But after getting a little fix-up from the service crews last night, he was able to run his water just the way he wanted today.

“I’ve been practicing here about two weeks and I’ve identified 10 to 15 key places,” Martin added. “Some are shallow, some are deep and some are just isolated, specific cast type of spots.”

Boyd second

Day-one leader Robert Boyd of Russellville, Ala., lost his best spot to the wind today and had to run a back up pattern in shallow pockets out of the wind for a 14-pound, 5-ounce catch that put him second with a two-day total of 43 pounds, 8 ounces.

“The way that wind was this morning, I just couldn’t hold to fish my best spot the right way,” Boyd said. “I went to a couple other deep spots, but there were boats already on them. So I headed shallow and scraped up what I could.”

But after catching 29 pounds, 3 ounces out deep yesterday and only 14 pounds, shallow today, Boyd is further convinced the deep bite is the way to go.

“If I can get on that deep spot tomorrow, I’m going to camp there and fish it all day,” Boyd said. “That’s how much confidence I have in it.”

Windham third



Yancy Windham of Reform, Ala., is in third place with a two-day total of 42 pounds, 15 ounces. Windham sacked 22 pounds, 8 ounces to move up five spots from yesterday.

High winds also blew Windham off his primary deep-water spot this morning, but perhaps having “Wind” in your last name helps with the adaptation process as Windham went shallow and made it work.

“I had to totally switch gears today,” Windham said. “That wind wouldn’t let me get on my deep spot where I caught them yesterday, so I rolled that plan up and went shallow, fishing tight to cover. I only had eight bites but they were good ones.”

As for tomorrow, Windham hopes the wind will lay down enough to get on his deep spot. If not, he will go back to the shallow game.

Davis fourth



Clent Davis of Montevallo, Ala., bounced his way into fourth place today with a 23-pound, 4-ounce limit.

Davis is on the run and gun, sampling 18 to 20 spots per day.

“I’m on the bank, fishing the dirt,” Davis said. “I’m targeting something specific – it’s not like I’m just junk fishing – I know what I’m looking for, but I don’t stay long in any one place. Tomorrow I’m going to pick up the pace even more and see if I can’t hit 30 to 40 spots.”

Williams fifth

Rick Williams of Decatur, Ala., rounds out the top-five with a two-day total of 41 pounds, 10 ounces.

Big bass

Joey Thigpen of St. Johns, Fla., caught the big bass in the Pro Division on day two weighing 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top-10 pros in the EverStart Series event on Lake Guntersville after day two:

6th: Clark Smith of Pell City, Ala., two-day total 40-1

7th: Marty Giddens of Alpine, Ala., two-day total 39-14

8th: Chad Prough of Chipley, Fla., two-day total 38-13

9th: Brandon McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., two-day total 37-4

10th: Arnie Lane of Lakeland, Fla., two-day total 37-2

Posey leads co-anglers

Alex Posey of Roswell, Ga., jumped into the lead of the Co-angler Division of the EverStart event on Lake Guntersville with a two-day total of 37 pounds, 8 ounces.

“I’m throwing a rattling bait like a lot of guys, but I’m doing something a little different with it that might be helping me get bigger bites,” Posey said.

Jason Atkins of Section, Ala., weighed in 19 pounds, 1 ounce to grab second place in the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 33 pounds, 12 ounces.

Co-angler Mitch Reynolds of Petal, Miss., is in third place with a two-day total of 33 pounds, 8 ounces.

Co-angler Keith Whipple of Iuka, Miss., is in fourth place with a two-day total of 33 pounds, 3 ounces.

Bob Slaton of Marietta, Ga., rounds out the top-five co-anglers with a two-day total of 30 pounds, 3 ounces.

Big bass

Keith Ford of Jacksonville, Fla., caught the big bass in the Co-angler Division on day two weighing 8 pounds.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers in the EverStart Series event on Lake Guntersville after day two:

6th: Mark Sullivan of Collinsville, Miss., two-day total 30-3

7th: Stephen Kocell of Waxhaw, N.C., two-day total 30-1

8th: Justin Jones of Apex, N.C., two-day total 29-9

9th: Mike Gipson of Niceville, Fla., two-day total 29-0

10th: Charles Stevenson of Albany, Ga., two-day total 28-11

Day three of the EverStart Series Southeastern on Lake Guntersville will begin Saturday at 7 a.m. at Lake Guntersville State Park.