Redcrest victory gave Lane winning perspective

One big win was all it took to reinvent Bobby Lane.

Lane, of Lakeland, Fla., is one of the most highly regarded anglers in professional bass fishing. With 6 career wins, 70 top-10 finishes, and 97 top-20 finishes on the Major League Fishing, FLW and various Bassmaster tours, Lane has won more than $2.5 million. He’s a prime example of an angler that can earn a great living fishing without ever winning a major championship.

As in all sports, however, winning championships defines greatness. Champions are remembered. Lane hungered for greatness, but major championships always seemed to elude him.

That changed last Sunday when Lane finally won the Major League Fishing Redcrest championship on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees in Oklahoma. He finally reached the mountaintop, and he likes the view.

Lane acknowledged that a career full of close calls in Bassmaster Classics and Forrest Wood Cup tournaments were worse than disappointing. He said the established a mindset that perpetuated a cycle of frustration. He said it was almost as if he mentally prepared to finish somewhere other than in first place.

“It was like, what can go wrong this time?” Lane said.

It almost happened again at Grand Lake, but this time the scale tipped in his favor.

In what will be remembered as one of the most dramatic finishes in bass fishing history, Lane caught a 2-pound bass in the waning minutes of the final round to give him a total weight of 29 pounds, 14 ounces.

Lane said he had fished a dock unsuccessfully, but he didn’t have time to go to a different dock. He made one last cast and caught a bass. He weighed the fish on his onboard scale twice, but both times the scale showed 1 pound, 15 ounces. An eligible fish must weight at least 2 pounds in Major League Fishing. There is no such thing as a “keeper.” All fish are weighed and released immediately. They do not go back to a formal weigh-in facility.

“I could just tell it was a 2-pound bass,” Lane said. “I’ve weighed enough of them over my career. I just knew.”

Lane weighed the fish a third time, and the scale showed 2 pounds. Everything was on camera. The weight was logged in the SCORETRACKER system, and it was enough to give Lane the championship trophy and a $300,000 check.

The final round was wild. Lane battled Jacob Wheeler, Luke Clausen and Dustin Connell. Four different anglers shared the lead over the weekend. They all had brief hot streaks, but not hot enough to gain any separation from the rest of the field. Whoever was hot at the end would win.

The final round also showcased contrasting fishing styles. Connell and Wheeler relied on modern, forward scanning sonar. Clausen and Lane fished visible shallow structure without the benefit of sonar.

Throughout the tournament, Lane was solidly consistent. He was in sixth place after the first round after catching eight bass that weighed 26-12. He caught only four that totaled 9-9 in the second round, but his total weight was enough to get him into the Knockout Round, which contains two groups of four anglers. Lane caught nine fish weighing 27-13 in the Knockout Round to reach Championship Sunday. It was down to the final four.

Lane relied on a Berkley Frittside 5 in the HD brown color throughout the tournament. He targeted the last rock structure in the backs of pockets as bass moved toward spawning grounds. During the championship round, he switched to pitching a jig.

“The fish made a transition late and got super shallow,” Lane said. “I knew that and started flipping a green pumpkin jig with a matching Berkley PowerBait Meaty Chunk in the smaller size and added some chartreuse dye to the tips of the trailer.”

Lane’s winning 2-pounder was his smallest fish. Major League Fishing rules allow an angler to weigh a bass three times. The third attempt is the official weight.

Lane was still very emotional during our visit on Monday. He said that with so many close calls in championship tournaments, he said that he felt like time was against him in a game that favors youth.

On the other hand, he also said age and faith gives him a perspective that things happen precisely when they should. Winning a championship also gives him the experience to know how to finish a big tournament that’s in your grasp.

Some might call it luck. Lane calls it divine providence.