October 2025 Martinez Lake

Tournament Summary

Martinez Lake once again proved to be a challenging but rewarding battleground for Midweek Bass Anglers. Under warm fall conditions, anglers faced long stretches between bites, with many relying on persistence, timing, and a few critical last-minute catches to fill their limits. Despite the grind, quality fish were caught, with several teams capitalizing on subtle patterns around submerged grass and deeper current seams.

Top Finishers

1st Place – Nick Teschler & Tim Jones – 17.51 lbs (Big Fish 5.35 lbs)

Teschler and Jones earned the win with a patient swimbait bite that produced early and late in the day. A white MagDraft swimbait accounted for their biggest fish, including a 4.14-pound kicker landed just minutes before weigh-in. Complementing the swimbait presentation, a free-rigged Berkley Gill plastic added key fish throughout the day. The team caught just six bass total but made every bite count—an impressive feat on a tough Martinez fishery.

2nd Place – Steve Grier & Jeff Beall – 15.93 lbs (Big Fish 4.16 lbs)

Grier and Beall turned a difficult pre-fish into a tournament success by adjusting from shallow reeds to deeper grass and points in 8–13 feet of water. The pair worked a mix of Texas-rigged green pumpkin grubs, Carolina-rigged Brush Hogs, and weedless Ned rigs. Their persistence paid off with a dramatic last-minute flurry at Ferguson Lake, boating two culling fish in the final 20 minutes to jump into second place.

3rd Place – Bill Briggs & Tim Higgins – 12.22 lbs (Big Fish 3.46 lbs)

Though no report was provided, their consistent limit secured a strong third-place finish in a field that saw many teams struggle to connect with quality bites.

4th Place – Lance Kuhler & Joe Edgett – 11.72 lbs (Big Fish 3.38 lbs)

Kuhler and Edgett focused on clean water and healthy grass in open-water areas, relying on chatterbaits and bluegill-pattern swimbaits to put together a solid bag. After striking out in the morning, the pair found success late in the day at Squaw Lake and Senator Wash, boating ten fish total and culling to 11.72 pounds.

Key Takeaways

• Grass and Bluegill Patterns: Nearly all successful teams targeted submerged grass where bluegill were present. Matching this forage with bluegill-colored swimbaits and chatterbaits was critical.

• Deeper Points Produced: The best bites often came from points and edges in 8–13 feet, especially near slower current and backflow areas.

• Late-Day Surges: The top two teams landed their biggest fish within the final 20 minutes—a reminder that persistence can turn a tough day into a podium finish.

• Swimbaits Shined: From white MagDrafts to bluegill imitators, larger swimbaits accounted for key kicker fish.

Martinez Lake tested every angler’s patience and adaptability, but those who stayed committed to their patterns and believed in their presentations were rewarded. Congratulations to all who found success on a challenging desert river fishery!

Angler Reports

1st Place Nick Teschler, Tim Jones

Big Fish: 5.35 Weight: 17.51

Nick Teschler

I had originally planned on coming up to practice Monday and Tuesday but was only able to get one day of practice in on Tuesday.  We caught 3 bass on practice day one on a swim bait and the other 2 on a chatterbait.  The one swim bait fish I caught was a good one so that was my plan for tournament day.   I had 3 rods on my deck to start the day and ended up using just the one.  We caught 2 fish in the first 30 minutes; 1 was a 3lber and the other was a 5.5lber.  I thought things were going to pick up but they didn’t.  We went hours without another bite and ran a lot of the same water.  Eventually we got another one and then another here and there.  Tim was throwing a free rig behind the boat and ended up catching one around 3lbs that got rid of our small one.  We were right around 14-15lbs with 10 min to go.  Tim was packing up and I threw a swim bait under a palm tree off someone’s backyard and caught one that went 4lbs 14oz.    We caught 6 fish all day and lost two others, one of them being another 4-5lber. It was a grind but we were rewarded for sticking it out until the very end.  Congrats to everyone else that caught em on a tough day.  

Tim Jones

Thanks to my boater, Nick, for an awesome day on the water. During pre-fish, we started up North and worked down the Colorado River, pitching and skipping into vegetation. Nick found success with chatterbaits and swimbaits, while I didn’t hook any. Tournament day, we repeated our pre-fish strategy, working from the North down. Within the first three hours, we lost three MagDrafts, but luckily we ran into Manny and he loaned us a couple to get us through the rest of the day. Halfway through, we tried one backwater area, but didn’t catch anything. Early afternoon, we went south of Fisher’s Landing, but had no luck there, so we headed back North and worked south again. As we worked our way south we caught fish sporadically, ending North of Fisher’s Landing by the no-wake buoys, where Nick landed the big fish 20 minutes before weigh-in. Nick used a white MagDraft, and I threw a green pumpkin Berkley Flux-gill free-rigged.

Big thanks to the Mid-Week Bass Anglers board for running a great tournament and to all the members for making this club special.

2nd Place Steve Grier, Jeff Beall

Big Fish: 4.16 Weight: 15.93

Steve Grier

Congratulations to Nick & Tim on the win, good bag! Good job as always by the weigh-in crew!

I pre-fished three days the week before and again on Monday. I fished from Ferguson to the dam and back. I fished in backwater and current. I pitched and flipped the reeds, tullies, and banks. I fished swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. I caught 4 fish in three 9-hour days, nothing over 2 lbs.  Needless to say, it's not going well.

Jeff drove down on Monday, and we ate dinner at the bar with Alan Wacker and Larry White.  They shared that fish were in the grass. We took their advice. On Tuesday, we shifted and fished baits off the bank and caught a couple of fish. We went into Martinez and backed off the banks and fished the deeper water, 8 to 12 ft, and we caught a few fish. So, we had a plan for Wednesday.

We started at the entrance to Martinez where the slow current and backflow is. I was throwing a Texas rig with a 1/4oz weight and a 4” double-tail green pumpkin grub. I moved the bobber stop 6” up the line to get a little free-rig action. We caught a couple of fish in the first hour, one a 4lb.  We moved into Martinez and fished points and coves in the deeper water. We caught a small keeper on a drop shot and a 3-9lb on a Carolina rig green pumpkin brush hog in 13ft. We fished it thoroughly and we left with only 4 fish.

It was about one o’clock, and we decided to go to Ferguson and fish some points, doing the same things we had been doing. We went toward the back and fished our way out. We fished the first 5 points and got no bites. On the next-to-last point, with 20 minutes to go, I finally caught a fish that put us over 11 lbs. We went to the last point with 10 minutes left. Jeff made a cast and hooked up, got the fish out of the grass, and landed a 2-6lb, which culled a 1-0lb. I made a cast into the same area and in 2 cranks got bit and landed a 4-4lb, which culled a 1-6lb putting us at 15-15 lbs on our scale. We high-fived, danced, hollered at the top of our lungs, and headed in. I’ve never had an end-of-the-day flurry like that; it was special.

We had a great day. We only caught 7 fish, but we stayed with our plan, and it paid off. It felt a little like old-school fishing. The fish we weighed in were caught on Texas rig 4” green pumpkin double-tail grub, Carolina rig green pumpkin baby brush-hog, and a weedless Ned Rig.

Jeff Beall

With just 20 minutes left, we only had four fish in the boat. It felt a lot like our Tuesday pre-fish — Steve was picking up a few on a crawfish plastic, and I hadn’t had a single bite. We decided to make one last run to Ferguson and hope for a miracle. At that point, we just wanted a limit.

Steve’s plan was to “speed fish” each point along the west side of the lake, working our way back toward the marina. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th point — nothing!!  When we reached the sixth and final point, to both my and Steve’s surprise, I finally hooked up.

Steve had reminded me to stick with my confidence bait, so I tied on my weedless Ned rig — the same one that had worked in pre-fish. It paid off again. That 2.6 pounder with just 20 minutes left gave us our first cull of the day. Minutes later, on the same point, Steve shouted “Fish!” and landed our biggest one yet — just over four pounds.  We couldn’t believe it. Two clutch fish in the final minutes! We raced back to the marina with only two minutes to spare, all smiles. What a blast. Congrats to Nick and Tim on their last-minute fish, and a huge thanks to the Mid-Week team for putting on another great tournament.

3rd Place Bill Briggs Timothy Higgins

Big Fish: 3.46, Weight: 12.22

No Report

4th Place Lance Kuhler, Joe Edgett,

Big Fish:3.38 Weight: 11.72

Lance Kuhler & Joe Edget

Congratulations to Nick Teschler and Tim Jones on your 1st place bag of fish.  Martinez Lake was a tough grind, but you got it done. Nice job.

A big shout-out and thanks to the weigh-in crew and all the Midweek Bass members who fished Martinez.  It is a true pleasure to fish with you guys.

Once again, I got partnered up with Lance Kuhler and his “beautiful” Nitro bass boat.  Thanks Lance, had a great time fishing out of the back of your boat where I only had to think about was fishing.   Lance and I could not get together and pre-fish Martinez except for late Tuesday afternoon before the tournament.  We both thought that good healthy green submerged grass would be key to finding fish.

Tuesday afternoon I only caught two keeper fish, one on a chatterbait and the other on a lipless crankbait.  Lance only got one bite.  All three fish were in grass, in open water.

Tournament day we started with top water baits in Martinez Lake to see if there was an early bite, nope.  We moved to our open water grass spot with me throwing a chatterbait in a bluegill pattern and Lance throwing a swimbait-white. The chatterbait worked and we had our first short 13” fish in the boat.  After several hours and only two fish, we moved to our second spot. There we found another Midweek team fishing the area.  So we fished around and caught another small fish.  At this point we moved back to our first spot but found nothing after several hours. It is now noon and time to make a big move.

We run south on the river to another back water area, Squaw Lake and Senator Wash.  Heading in we see Joe Michel and his partner heading out.  We think this is not a good sign.  But, the water is cleaner and the grass is thick.  So we fished around and I get bit, on the chatterbait again.  We get our limit (all small keepers) and keep fishing the grass.  These fish are eating bluegills so I change to a bluegill swimbait and catch three good 2 pound fish. Best being 2.9 lbs.  Lance asked me to rig one of these bluegill baits for him and he catches a good  3.38 on the next grassy point.

All total we caught 10 fish, culled 3 and finished in 4 place.  Martinez was a grind for all and we could not get any big bites.