Week 24– Marty Stone

Northbound Stone 6/13/2005

Photo: Doug Cox Marty Stone's stoked to fish Wissota ・every time he's driven north, the fishing's been good.

On what seems like an endless road for Marty Stone, he's now in Wisconsin and ready to do battle at the final Bassmaster Elite 50 of the season. He already qualified for the 2005 and 2006 Bassmaster Classics ・thanks to his runner-up finish in the 2005 Bassmaster Angler of the Year race ・so the pressure's largely off.

But what motivates an angler in this position to give it his all in a competition that will not decide his fate? Could it be pride, or the desire to win against the best of the best? Or is it a need to show his sponsors that they invested in a very valuable commodity? For this superstar angler, the answer's all of the above.

Never Disappointed

Sure, America's Dairy Land isn't the spot most envision when they think of the country's best bass waters. Marty Stone's different. He knows the action north of the bass belt is as good as anywhere in the country.

"I've never been disappointed when I've fished a tournament in the northern states," he said. "I don't know much about Lake Wissota, but I'm sure the action will be good. Every time I've headed north of the Mason-Dixon Line to a tournament, it's been good.

"The beauty of the northern lakes is that some of them freeze over for 6 months. I really think this relieves a ton of pressure and makes them such solid places to fish in the warm months. In the South, some public lakes are fished pretty hard year-round."

Small Course

Lake Wissota is not the massive impoundment or winding river system so common on the Tour. At just over 6,000 acres, it should fish small. Stone thinks the E50 pros will dissect it quickly.

"I think we'll have it figured out in a day," he said. "With a lake this size, we'll probably be doing laps around each other in no time."

He also noted fans at the event will have terrific access to the pros.

"With the lake being so small, the local fans can certainly find us pretty easily," he said. "We're kind of trapped. We won't be able to find a little spot out of the way. If the fans want to see us, this is a golden opportunity.

"I hope the fans turn out in huge numbers to the weigh-ins," he added. "The opportunity for them to meet their favorites and get to speak to them and get an autograph is tremendous. Unlike other sports like NASCAR, where you most likely will never meet your heroes, at a BASS event you have a great shot to not only meet us, but spend a little time and chat with us, too. It's great. I love the fan interaction."

Man in Black

On his way to Wissota, Stone made plans to drop in at Mercury Marine headquarters in Fond du Lac, Wisc.

"I've never been to the Mercury headquarters," he said. "It's only 3 hours out of the way to stop in and say hello to everyone. Three hours out of the way to me is like a 10-minute drive to the grocery store for a normal person.

"I figured since folks like (Mercury manager of freshwater endorsements) Kevin Luebke and (Mercury VP of sales and marketing) John Hoagland always attend our events, it was only right to stop and see them at their work. Heck, they know where I work ・I thought it was only right I knew where they worked too."

Lucky Craft Goes Cheddar

Stone knows that most northern natural lakes have a strong weedline pattern.

"There tends to be a lot of good native grass on the northern lakes," he said. "If there's a solid outside grassline, I can use some of my Lucky Craft baits to catch the bass. If the smallmouth bass are what I'm after, the Slender Pointer 97 may really trigger them to bite. I also think the CB MR may be a good choice to crank the outside weedline."

Notable > Lack of extra pay doesn't drive Stone away. "I'm not like some of the anglers who leave events if they don't make the cut after the second day," he said. "I plan on being there for my sponsors and for the fans. We are so accessible to the fans, I feel we need to be there to help grow the sport one fan at a time. I don't get extra money for being there, but it's worth it to me."