Bobby Lane has seen both ends of the weigh-in order, but after Friday’s second round of competition on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, he remains atop the first Bassmaster Eastern Open with a two-day total of 42 pounds.
The Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Lakeland, Fla., launched in the first flight on Thursday, but Friday's later departure greatly delayed his access to the area he’s targeting on Lake Kissimmee. Lane added 10-09 to his first day’s weight of 31-07 – the tournament’s largest catch.
“Yesterday I caught a few pretty early and today I didn’t even get down there until 10 o’clock,” Lane said. “I’m not sure if that hurt me; but it didn’t help me, by any means. I enjoyed my time in Toho this morning (before locking down to Lake Kissimmee) and caught quite a few fish.
“I thought they were going to bite today. I thought ‘Late flight, I’m gonna see ‘em.’ But they just never showed up.”
Despite weighing only a third of his first-round haul, Lane still holds a lead of 12 pounds – a pound and a half more than day 1.
“This is Florida, and it’s all about a big bite. If you have an opportunity to catch those big ones, you want to put them in the boat,” he said. “Yesterday was flawless for me and today, I fished okay. I missed a couple of decent fish. My goal was to catch five and maintain the lead, and that’s what I did.
“But to have a big day like yesterday; you have to have that. It’s hard to be consistent on these lakes, especially with the fronts coming in and out this time of year.”
Targeting a diverse array of shallow vegetation, Lane mixed up his presentations with a variety of baits. He caught bass on a swimjig, a topwater plug and the new Berkley Powerbait Max Scent stickworm called The General. Rigging this junebug-colored bait on a 5/0 Trokar hook with two different size weights, Lane fished with inspiration from his 13-year-old daughter, Alexis.
“About a month ago, my daughter whooped me with that bait, so I said ‘Enough of this,’ and I put about 10 bags in the boat,” Lane said. “I’m down to three.”
Walt Bowen of Walnut Cove, N.C., is in 2nd place with 30-00. Making a big move from 47th place on Thursday, Bowen caught his limit by dragging a worm around shallow vegetation.
“I did the same thing today that I did yesterday, and I’m not going to make any changes,” he said.
Here are the totals for the 12 anglers who'll return to the water on day 3:
1. Bobby Lane: 42-00
2. Walt Bowen: 30-00
3. Michael Purvis: 29-10
4. Drew Cook: 29-03
5. Alex Wetherell: 28-12
6. Michael Murphy: 28-12
7. John McBride: 28-08
8. Brandon Lester: 28-06
9. Freddy Palmer: 28-03
10. Garrett Paquette: 28-01
11. Jon Canada: 27-15
12. Don Eady: 27-14
