LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Scott Martin had so much trouble beating Peter Thliveros in the 2000 ESPN Great Outdoor Games that he brought his father along this year to help him.

Martin's father, Roland Martin, 61, a legend in the fishing game for more than 35 years, is leading after the first round of the Bass Fishing Competition in this year's GO Games. Roland weighed in a five-fish limit totaling 12 pounds, 8 ounces. Scott Martin, 2000 silver medalist, is second with 12 pounds, 1 ounce and Thliveros is third with 11 pounds, 10 ounces. Gary Klein (11-6) and Clark Wendlandt (9-12) round out the five anglers in Sunday's final round.

"We figured we would tag team (Thliveros)," said Scott Martin. "He's so big it takes both of us."

Thliveros, the defending gold medalist, hits the scales at somewhere over 300 pounds. The three anglers, all from Florida, are fishing within sight of each other in the submerged grassbeds in Middle Saranac Lake, one of several included in the GO Games tournament waters.

While Thliveros said he struggled for most of the morning, finishing his limit at 1 p.m., the Martin family each reported catching limits of fish by 9 a.m. "We just went out and hammered them," the elder Martin said.

Saturday's performances won't matter much, though. All of the anglers' weights will be erased for Sunday's final, with the top three stringers earning medals. "When I came here I wasn't really thinking of this tournament as a real major league tournament," Martin said. "Usually there are at least 100 more competitors, so that means more competition. But then I got to looking around at these guys. There's a bunch of heavy hitters here, it's like being in a tournament with 100 guys."

The final five bested an 11-man field that included such well-known anglers as Woo Daves (9-7) Rick Clunn (9-2) Tim Horton (7-15) and Larry Nixon.

Between them the anglers boast approximately 15 B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year titles and six BASS Masters Classic titles.

The final five is equally impressive, although the father/son duo of Roland Martin and Scott Martin has turned into a battle of age and experience versus youth and vigor.

"We share information and work with each other really well," Scott Martin said. "But I would guess after today, all bets are off. I think I might have a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm sure he's got a few as well, he's not letting me in on."

While the father and son battle has captured much of the attention to this point, the three remaining anglers are hoping they can quietly slip by on the way to the gold medal.

Thus far, Thliveros' performance is strikingly similar to that of a year ago. In that tournament, he pitched a jig and tube bait into grassbeds, working out the larger fish. While Scott Martin was able to quickly catch his limit each day on a topwater bait and Carolina rig. But Thliveros' steady plodding along, eventually over took the younger Martin and gave Thliveros the gold.

"I'm not doing anything different than I did last year," Thliveros said. "But the fishing is a little different. It's very slow for me."

Thliveros weighed in a final-day stringer of 14 pounds in 2000. He expects the same weight to win on Sunday. "The only problem is, I don't think I can catch that weight," he said. "The fish aren't as clustered as they were a year ago. So, I'm having problems finding that bigger bite."

The lack of the big bite has been the same for the rest of the field. Klein weighed in the largest fish in the tournament, a 3-pound, 12-ounce largemouth. The second largest was a 2-pound, 13-ounce smallmouth weighed in by Scott Martin. Of the 46 fish weighed in by the 11 anglers, 24 were largemouth. The rest were smallmouth.

The final round of the tournament begins Sunday at 6:30 a.m. EST, with weigh-ins taking place at Olympic Oval in Lake Placid at 4 p.m. EST.