Bobby Lane has a pretty good memory for where fish are in a lake, where a specific piece of cover or structure may have a wrinkle and what to do to catch a fish based on years of experience.
He’s also kept a tally of his big tournament finishes in Florida, and his home state hasn’t been too good to him.
“I was 2nd here a year ago to Gerald Swindle, I finished 3rd in another one, 2nd in another, and had several other 3rds, 4ths and 5ths,” Lane said. “This is a good feeling, a really good feeling. These fish owed me and owed me for several years. Now we got the best of ‘em this week.”
That “we” reference was to himself and his team partner Gerald Brown of Oklahoma. They joined forces along with 17 other teams in the inaugural PAA Tour Team Challenge on Lake Toho and won with 64.64 pounds.
“This was an awesome week,” Brown said. “I really can’t explain it. I learned a lot from Bobby, and we had a great time out there.”
They used a mix of sight-fishing and casting in Lake Kissimmee (a 35-mile run from the launch). Brown threw 11-inch Gene Larew El Salto worms and a 3 1/2-inch saltwater minnow. Lane threw Berkley plastics: 10-inch junebug PowerBait worms, and Havoc Craw Fatty pitch baits, Grass Pig swimbaits and Texas-rigged Bottom Hopper straight-tail worms. They stuck with darker colors in Okeechobee, green pumpkin/red and junebug/red.
Phoenix Boats founder Gary Clouse teamed with John Kremer of Florida for 2nd place. They finished with 60.47 after catching Saturday’s best limit of 24.94 on Culprit 10-inch worms.
Chad Morgenthaler of Illinois and Glenn Browne of Florida were third with 60.11. They led after the first day with a stunning 31.89 stringer, the best of the tournament, but struggled the final two days in their top area.
