MLF No Limits Major League Fishing

It seems impossible that it's been a year since Aaron Martens passed away, but here we are, a couple of weeks after the anniversary of his passing. In the days and weeks immediately after we lost Aaron to cancer in November of 2021, I had planned to publish this piece of audio from an interview that I did with him a handful of years prior - it was a really interesting conversation where he talked about his earliest childhood memory of catching fish (trout, by the way), of his first bass tournament with his mom Carol, and of random things that made Aaron Martens who he was. I remember thinking at the time "Man, this is SO COOL listening to him talk about this stuff!" I figured you might think it's cool, too. This is brief - it's just shy of 15 minutes - but it's nothing but Aaron's voice, talking about things that I know you'll find interesting. In his own words, here is Aaron Martens.

Ott DeFoe's Toyota Tundra came rolling in fresh from a turkey hunt in East Texas, just in time to check in with MLF Editor-in-Chief Joel Shangle and writer Tyler Brinks. It turned out that DeFoe would win the Heavy Hitters trophy the next day on Lake Palestine. In this episode of No Limits, the Tennessee pro analyzes his recent success in Texas, gives us some clues about the next OG Series crankbait, and makes some predictions about the Heavy Hitters Champ Round. How accurate was he? Listen up and find out!

MLF Editor-in-Chief Joel Shangle and scribe Tyler Brinks paid a visit to Matt Lee's boat barn in Cullman, Alabama during an off day at the Smith Lake Bass Pro Tour event for a special on-the-spot No Limits chat with Lee and fellow North Alabamian Jesse Wiggins. We learned about some fishing history between Lee and Wiggins, found out how Wiggins earned his nickname "Crank" and heard their thoughts about how badly they'd both like to win on their local pond. It's a special behind-the-scenes visit with Cullman High Bearcat Matt Lee and Addison High School Bulldog Jesse Wiggins!

Icy conditions have pushed the Championship Round of Bass Pro Tour Stage Two at Lake Fork back a day. Both Casey Ashley and Jonathon VanDam will fish for the trophy and $100,000 payday, but they had a day to rest up and warm their bones. We hit them up for a quick chat about their week in East Texas. In this episode of the No Limits podcast, Ashley and VanDam talk about their fondness for "tough" tournaments with big fish, and describe just how brutally cold the Knockout Round was. Their prediction for what it'll take to win the Lake Fork trophy: "Somewhere north of 50 pounds."

He's one of the Top 5 leading money-winners of all time, but we connected with Skeet Reese just after he was "a dollar short" (his words not mine!) at Lake Fork. Listen to what Skeet had to say about "18 pretty intense minutes", Heavy Hitters, and how to make the best smoked meatloaf in the world.

We took a little break from the action at Lake Okeechobee to connect with Blue Eye, Missouri pro Mike McClelland, one of the OGs of Major League Fishing. In this podcast, McClelland talks about his resurgence after a tough 2019 season on the Bass Pro Tour, shares a few secrets about crankbait design, and gives some insight into the Ozark Mountains fisheries that he calls home.