Perfect Casting

In the past 36 years, Martin has amassed a record-setting 19 Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) tournament victories and finished second 19 times among a total of 90 top-10 finishes, and he’s the only nine-time Angler of the Year in the organization’s history.

A Naples resident for the past three years, Martin continues to produce the popular Fishing with Roland Martin television show for the Versus Network. Among the most recognized figures in sport fishing, Martin boasts career earnings from tournament fishing in excess of $1.5 million. And he’s recently moved from the lake to the ocean, competing in the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup tournament, with partner and fellow Naples resident Steve Lloyd.

A former Army officer and educator, Martin has authored several books, including the perennially popular 101 Bass-Catching Secrets. He’s a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and the International Game Fishing Association (IGFA) Hall of Fame. Martin sat down recently with Gulfshore Life Executive Editor Chris Gonsalves to talk bass fishing, moose hunting in Alaska, stalking big elk in Utah, angling for tuna in Mexico, and hunting turkey in the nearby Everglades.

Q. How did a Maryland boy end up at the top of the fishing world and living in Naples?

A. Well, I’ve been in Naples for about three years now. I was living in Clewiston, Fla., from 1980. But the whole trip south really began in the 1970s when I was based in Oklahoma. Florida came about after I started my TV show in 1975. Those were the days before cable, and we had a syndicated show that had to have 13 shows done by Dec. 1 in order to distribute them around to all of the stations. It would be winter in Tulsa in, say, 1979 and we wouldn’t be finished for the year and it would be too cold and muddy and the fish weren’t biting. Just out of a panic we’d say, “Well, let’s head to Florida.” I would always just keep migrating south until finally it’d be Thanksgiving and we’re down by Lake Okeechobee trying to get shows taped. It seemed like every year I’d be here for a month. I finally said, “Hell, if we’re gonna spend that much time here, let’s just live here.”

Q. You’re in a number of halls of fame for groups such as IGFA, with inductees that include the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Ted Williams, Curt Gowdy and Charles Ritz. Did you know or fish with any other famous folks here?

A. Oh, heck yes. In fact, I knew Ted Williams real well. I’ve fished with Ted, and we had many mutual friends. The year he died, he was up in Lakeland, Fla. I was in a crowd at the FLW Tournament, and I heard someone with this big booming voice yelling “Hey Roland!” It was Ted Williams in a wheelchair hollering at me. He was so ate up with fishing, he couldn’t get enough of it. He was always asking questions, always trying to learn. But he sure didn’t want to talk baseball. If you asked him anything about baseball, he was really caustic. He’d say, “What the hell do you know about baseball? You’re not qualified to talk baseball. What’s a big, fat, ugly guy like you talking about baseball for?” And you had to come back with a big insult of your own, and throw a few cuss words into the equation. (laughs) He loved that kind of insulting back and forth. A lot of people didn’t like him for that reason, but that’s just Ted Williams.

Q. Why fishing? Is there a philosophical aspect? A man-versus-nature thing?

A. To give you a good idea of how I tick, turkey season is coming up in about a week and a half and, when I get back from my next couple of promotions, I’ll take my four-wheeler and a tent and a sleeping bag and a little food, and I’ll be by myself in a camp in the Everglades. I enjoy that. That’s a big deal to me. I was one of the first kids on my block to read Call of the Wild by Jack London. London’s whole philosophy was about man versus nature. He was the epitome of that concept. And I feel the same way. Ever since I was a kid, at around 13 years old, I’d get up at 5 a.m. to run a trap line back in Maryland, trapping muskrat and mink and such. I’d run that trap line until 8 a.m., then run home and get dressed to go to school. I did that for six years. I bought my first car with trap-line money, my first rifle, my first shotgun. That’s the kind of commitment I’ve always had to man’s interaction with nature.

Q. You are known as a scientific angler, bringing trolling motors and depth finders into standard use along with many of the lures, rods and reels that are popular today. Did you ever imagine that things would progress to where they are, with GPS-assisted grid fishing and reels with tiny circuit boards and digital braking systems?

A. I really did. I saw this in 1970 working for BASS and talking to Ray Scott. He was the first bass-fishing visionary out there. We always talked about the future. He always thought there would be underwater cameras and everything else. He never lacked imagination for where technology would bring bass fishing. And that got me started thinking that way as well. We worked collectively on building better live wells, building better trolling motors, until we finally ended up with better boats and lures and everything else. And the tournament format is the cutting edge of all the modern tackle we have today; it’s a synthesis of efficiency.

Q. You said when you left the tour in 2005 that you felt tournament competition had gotten past you, but clearly the sport and being a champion for the sport isn’t getting away from you. What do you do with the huge name and reputation you’ve built? What’s in the works?

A. I have a super project with the Oberto Redfish Cup tournament. It’s so much fun. It’s a team format. Me and [Naples-based fishing guide] Steve [Lloyd] were the rookies of the year right up until the last tourney. We ended up coming in second. The guys who beat us out were the overall champs. With 105 years of hardcore fishing experience under our belts, me and Steve were the rookies. The whole thing reminded me of what bass tournament fishing used to be 30 years ago─with guys sharing information—before it got cutthroat. I always say, tongue in cheek, if you were to ask one of the guys in the top 100 in bass fishing the time of day now, they’d probably give you the wrong time just so you’d be late and get disqualified. The redfishing isn’t like that at all.

Q. How did you and Steve Lloyd get together? Did you know him before you both moved to Naples?

A. Actually, I’ve known Steve and his wife, Nancy, for 20-something years. Both of them worked over at my marina in Clewiston on Lake Okeechobee years ago. Nancy ran the place. She was my general manager and Steve was my top guide over there. I’ve worked with them a lot. And of course when I moved over to Naples, he became my fishing buddy, and we’re really close.

Q. I know folks who would rather watch Fishing with Roland Martin than actually go fishing. How do you explain the continuing popularity of your television show?

A. I’m like that with golf. I don’t play it, but I love to watch it. I’ll sit there all afternoon and watch Tiger Woods hit the ball, and I can’t hit a ball 10 feet. The fact is, we make these shows with a certain amount of showmanship in them. For example, in normal conversation, I do not normally shout, “Oh, Son!” (laughs) I don’t say any of that stuff, because that’s not really me. That’s showmanship. Our TV shows aren’t reality shows. We don’t go out in 20 minutes and catch what you see us catching. We go out for a couple of days and catch what you see us catch. It’s fish being caught, don’t get me wrong, but not necessarily [in] the order and sequence or even [on] the same day. So the entertainment we bring to it is a big part of the appeal.

Q. We always see you catching and releasing, but do you ever cook up a catch? What’s your favorite fish to eat?

A. Oh, heck yes. Snook and black grouper are awful good. And, of course, cobia grilled. When it comes to talking about my favorite fish, the top 10 are all saltwater fish. You know, like tuna and marlin and wahoo, stuff like that. Bass is not even on my list.