Ok, let me stir up a little controversy.Clunn is head over heels better than martin.The ugly truth about Martin is that he,for the longest time,has had a rep for hiring every guide on a lake or river before the start of a tournament.Thats like using steriods in baseball,it gives you a unfair advantage over the rest of the field.So what if you hit 70 homeruns if your on steriods.Clunn has always professed the importance of finding your own fish.another thing about clunn is that he never opted to sight fish for bedding bass,if he did,believe me,he would of had a few other aoy awards under his belt.Dont get me wrong,Martin is  a great angler,but folks,please dont tell me barry bonds is better than the likes of Dimaggio or hank Aaron.peace out.

I agree, also in my view roland martin does not want to move the sport on into the 21rst century and appeal to more people, espeacially teenagers.

roland martin will say or do anything to sell you something from his sponsers. i don't have much respect for him. he's a great angler and that's more of a character flaw than anything. he has gotten behind some bad products. and the guide thing in tournaments is even worse.

Well like or dislike its all about the record or as far as I am concerned it is Roland. Not that I like the guy.

"Not like I like the guy"....if I had a nickel for everytime me or anyone else has said that about big Roland. *laugh*  I wonder if he ever reads sites like this to see what people really think about him - of course, doubt he would care.

About the post.  I have to disagree with the 'gets guides before tournaments' making Martin a lesser angler than Clunn.  I would assume that comes from competitiveness...the guy wants to win.  It isn't illegal...so a better comparison would be a one athlete choosed to use the weightroom more than another to gain an advantage.  Steroids are illegal and cheating, using a guide to become familiar with water is not.  

As well, Roland has done a show for YEARS, and he lost a lot of time in falling in love with the chase of salt water game fish.  I do not believe Clunn ever has done a show or fell in love with another species of fish.  That does not make him less the angler, but it obviously has given him more specific time toward specific species...and less time demands from business ventures. So, perhaps he has become arguably better as a bass angler...but what if the winner becomes the best angler of ANY species.  They left out those specifics in the voting...so where are those darn yankee Linder boys?  

I now do not care who wins, and believe both have legitimate arguments for being the 'best angler' with the given fuzzy debate.  I do know this, the plan of the debate was a success, because knuckleheads like us have spent a lot of time debating and giving opinions ourselves -  they got our time and attention just like they hoped to do in the outset.

OK I am going to keep this short and sweet.

Rick Clunn sticks with his sponcers and will only reperesent products he feels works.

Roland Martin changes sponcers every year!! And I think we all remeber the Helicopter lure.

Rick's4 Bassmaster Classic victories and one Angler Of The Year title along with making the classic twenty - eight times consecutive far out weighs Roland's nine Angler of the Year titles. Especially because he had so much help in the early days, before B.A.S.S. changed the rules. They changed them because of Roland. They might not admit it but it's true! NUFF SAID RICK GETS MY VOTE HANDS DOWN!!!

Ricks' #1 in my book- Martin is very commercial and comes off as arrogant. I watch his show but some of the things he backs are almost comical. I saw one of his shows where he was on the Amazon- he was talking about plugging his route into his GPS. He says " That way if, whatever his guides name is, dies- I can still find this place" Not if he quits, or moves, or something- if he dies! I couldn't believe he said that! I also wondered what his guide thought- and Roland supposedly liked this guide and had used him before.

WHO CARES??????????????????

                                           CPR ;D

Here is a great article about the two fisherman!

http://espn.go.com/outdoors/gad/s/b_fea_countdown2_clunn_and_martin.html

im for Roland Martin ;D

KEEP IN MIND ROLAND CREATED FOUR PATTERN FISHING WHICH IS STILL BASICALLY THE WAY WE FISH TODAY ALTHOUGH IT HAS GONE THROUGH SOME EVOLUTION AS ALL THINGS DO THERE STILL HAS TO BE A BEGINING AND THAT'S ROLAND, PLUS 9 AOY'S AND 19 TOUR WINS WHO'S GOING TO BEAT THAT. I HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR CLUNN AS HE IS AN ALL TIME GREAT AS WELL. I BELIEVE THE FLW STILL ALLOWS GUIDES TO BE USED, SO AS FAR AS ROLAND USING THEM IT WAS ON EQUAL GROUND BECAUSE ALL  B. A. S. S. ANGLER'S WERE ALLOWED TO USE THEM AS WELL.

MY VOTE GOES TO THE FATHER OF MODERN FISHING: ROLAND MARTIN