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Martin started at his hotspot, caught 19 pounds by about 9:00 and knew he had his primary area. He left it and scouted much of the rest of the day.
Notable about day 1 was it marked the break of a long and brutal heatwave. The day was cloudy and moist with some wind and temperatures struggled to stretch out of the 80s. It was a perfect day for the swimbait and that's what they ate.
Day 2 was the complete opposite. It was post-frontal with high skies and still winds. Martin switched to plastics – a big worm and dropshot - and struggled to boat 11 1/2 pounds. He caught most of his fish on the dropshot. His co-angler, meanwhile, roped an 18-pound limit fishing behind him, which is one of the dangers when fishing deep. The bank-runners weren't necessarily threatened by co-angling, due to boat position, but Martin was fully exposed.
Day 3 delivered different conditions again – this time similar to day 1. Martin threw the swimbait in his primary area, ran deep brush with multiple presentations and weighed a stout 16-pound bag to regain the tournament lead.
On the final day, Martin's primary area was clearly dwindling. He had about 12 pounds and on a whim, turned in to briefly try a topwater. He only had one topwater in his boat – an old bait with rusted hooks, he said. It caught him a 3-pounder, which gave him 2 pounds on the cull. It was at that point when he finally thought he may have won, because his closest competitors would now need to catch 18 pounds.