Courtesy of Dynamic Sponsorships / Photo: Shane Durrance/Bass

If you’ve ever spent a spring morning on Lake Martin, you know there’s something about that stretch of Alabama water that settles into a man’s bones. It’s the way the mist hangs low over Kowaliga. The way the ridgelines hold the first blush of daylight. The way the water, clear as a church window, seems to promise more than it gives.

And for Yamaha pro and Elite Series veteran Mark Menendez, Lake Martin isn’t just another tournament stop. It’s personal.

“Lake Martin is my favorite lake in the country,” Menendez said. “I know that might sound crazy to some but the first time I ever launched a boat in this lake, I caught over 100 bass. That was in the fall of 1992 if my memory is correct.”

Over 100 bass. That’ll make a believer out of anybody.

Menendez has fished more water than most folks will ever see in a lifetime. From sprawling Tennessee River impoundments to stingy Ozark highland reservoirs, he’s built a career on figuring them out. But Lake Martin has always stood apart. It’s not the biggest fish factory on tour. It’s not known for 25-pound fireworks. What it is, however, is honest.

“It’s one of the best pattern lakes in the country. No matter what,” he said. “You can find something in one part of the lake and replicate it throughout the entire fishery.”

That’s high praise in a sport built on adjustments and intuition. Pattern lakes reward anglers who pay attention. The ones who notice how a bank sets up, how the wind hits a point, how the rock transitions from chunk to pea gravel. Find the ingredients once and you can cook that same recipe from dam to river.

For an experienced hand like Menendez, that’s right in his wheelhouse.

This week’s Elite Series event won’t require heroics. It will require discipline.

“The key to this place is catching 2 1/2-pounders,” Menendez explained. “12 pounds or so per day will have you in position to win this event. The last time we were here, I caught an 18-pound limit on day one and that really carried me throughout the tournament.”

On many fisheries, 12 pounds feels like survival weight. On Lake Martin, it’s currency. String together three or four days of it and you’re likely shaking hands on Championship Sunday.

Catching a limit won’t be the challenge.

“Those kicker largemouth are going to be a huge deal for all of us,” he said. “Catching a limit will not be a problem, I can promise you that.”

Lake Martin is famous for its spotted bass. Scrappy, bronze-backed fighters that rarely break the 3-pound mark but bite with reliability. They’ll keep an angler honest. They’ll keep him busy. But they won’t necessarily win him a blue trophy.

“The largemouth are the ‘X-factor’ in my opinion,” Menendez said. “That’s where you can fool around and catch a 5-pounder. If you can find a big largemouth, you’re in a great place. The smaller spotted bass won’t be hard at all to capture.”

It’s a tale as old as tournament fishing itself. The steady keeper bite versus the elusive kicker. Spots will fill the livewell. Largemouth will tilt the scales. And conditions may decide which species holds court.

A big moon looms over the event, stirring speculation about spawning waves and shallow movements. Menendez is watching it all with the patience of someone who knows Lake Martin rarely rushes.

“I would hope the big moon would help the fish come shallow,” he said. “Not all of them, because I don’t think we’re late enough in the year yet. We’re supposed to get some rain at some point, which would be fantastic for my fishing style. I’d like some color in the water. I’ve run all up the rivers of this lake and it’s gin-clear everywhere you go.”

Gin-clear water can be beautiful. It can also be cruel. In 10 feet of visibility, bass get educated quickly. They inspect every offering. They shy away from mistakes. A little stain changes everything.

“I want to see them positioned in about 5 to 7 feet,” Menendez said. “Right now, you can go out with your forward-facing sonar and find them in 70 feet. That’s a big difference.”

That sentence captures the crossroads of modern bass fishing. Yes, forward-facing sonar will be a player this week. There’s no denying it.

“There’s a big chance it will be won with forward-facing technology,” Menendez admitted.

Anglers can idle over deep timber, watch fish react in real time and drop a bait directly to them. It’s efficient. It’s precise. And on clear highland reservoirs, it can be hard to beat. But if Menendez gets his wish, the script may flip.

“I want sun, a little rain and I plan on winding a plug shallow to catch a big pre-spawner,” he said. “And heck, on this lake, a ‘big’ fish may be a 2 1/2-pound spotted bass.”

There’s something poetic about that image. A seasoned pro with decades of history on a beloved lake, leaning into a crankbait, feeling it deflect off rock in five feet of water. No screens. No hovering. Just wind, cast, retrieve.

Menendez has always trusted his instincts. And on Lake Martin, those instincts are seasoned by memory. By that first trip in 1992, by the 18-pound day that carried him in 2018, by countless runs up river arms searching for just the right combination of depth, cover and life.

Lake Martin may not give up giants in bunches. It may not headline record books. But it rewards anglers who understand it. Who respect its patterns, its clarity, its subtle shifts. For Mark Menendez, that understanding runs deep.