By MLF Communications Staff

After a back-and-forth battle at the top of the leaderboard during Period 1, Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Florida, surged ahead in Period 2 of Group B's initial qualifying day at the Harris Chain Bass Pro Tour in his home state. Lane caught a total of 25 – including a pair of 6-pounders and several 4s – to lead the group with 68-04.

He ended the day with a 24-pound advantage over 2nd-place David Walker of Sevierville, Tennessee, who caught 14 bass weighing 44-04. Keith Poche of Pike Road, Alabama, sits 3-12 behind Walker, ending the day in 3rd place with 15 bass weighing 40-08.

The 40 anglers in Group B will have the day off on Sunday, while the 40 anglers in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude its Qualifying Round on Monday.

Ending Period 1 in 2nd place behind Poche, Lane caught a 4-pounder in the middle of Period 2 that moved him to the top of the leaderboard – and he never looked back.

“Today was a lot of hooksets and a lot of fun,” said Lane, the 2016 Challenge Cup Champion on the Harris Chain. “The wind was my friend and I basically had the whole entire south side of Lake Harris to myself.”

Lane, who never went more than an hour without padding his lead with a scorable bass, said he caught almost all his fish flipping a Berkley PowerBait Power Hawg with a 1/2-ounce weight and a 4/0 Berkley Fusion19 hook along grass lines.

“This was one of the best days of flipping I’ve had in a while and the windy conditions were a huge benefit today,” said Lane. “The Berkley Power Hawg is perfect for the grass I’m flipping in and I tied on a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General as a back-up when my Power Hawg got hung up.”

Lane said he expects the conditions to change by Monday, but he’s excited to have won the first round and to go back out on the water with the security of a 24-pound lead.

“My goal is to get into that Championship Round and I’m going to do whatever I can to make that happen,” said Lane. “If the water is slick and calm like I anticipate, I plan to focus on finding really thick clumps of grass where the fish are hiding in the shade. I may even venture over to the other side of Lake Harris.”

Location didn’t seem to matter much for Walker, who racked up several 4-pounders throughout the day in different areas across the lake.

“The way things were going during that second period had me a little worried, but thankfully I did well in the first and third period,” said Walker. “We’re still in it and we’re doing good – looking forward to getting back out there on Monday.”

Fletcher Shryock won Saturday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with an 8-06 largemouth caught on a creature bait during Period 3. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.

The MLF Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three at the Harris Chain Presented by Bass Cat Boats is hosted by Lake County.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. Weights will be zeroed again for the finals and the highest one-day total wins.

Anglers take off from the Venetian Gardens Ski Beach Boat Ramp, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive, in Leesburg, at 6:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. The takeout is also held at the Gardens, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend, but encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney breaks down the extended action on all six days of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! is live-streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Group B Qualifying Round – Day 1

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)

1. Bobby Lane -- 68-04 (25) -- 6-07

2. David Walker -- 44-04 (14) -- 4-08

3. Keith Poche -- 40-08 (15) -- 6-00

4. Mark Davis -- 36-01 (14) -- 6-11

5. Adrian Avena -- 35-10 (16) -- 3-07

6. Fletcher Shryock -- 31-04 (10) -- 8-06

7. John Cox -- 28-02 (7) -- 6-12

8. Skeet Reese -- 27-05 (12) -- 3-11

9. Chris Lane -- 27-03 (11) -- 5-09

10. Justin Lucas -- 27-02 (9) -- 5-03

11. Anthony Gagliardi -- 26-10 (11) -- 3-06

12. Mark Rose -- 23-15 (9) -- 4-14

13. Tai Au -- 21-00 (8) -- 4-08

14. Wesley Strader -- 20-06 (10) -- 3-10

15. Jesse Wiggins -- 20-01 (8) -- 5-07

16. Jordan Lee -- 17-14 (4) -- 6-07

17. Gerald Spohrer -- 17-00 (6) -- 4-06

18. Scott Suggs -- 16-08 (8) -- 2-06

19. Mike McClelland -- 15-12 (8) -- 3-03

20. Andy Morgan -- 15-06 (8) -- 2-09

21. Bryan Thrift -- 14-10 (8) -- 2-03

22. Zack Birge -- 14-08 (4) -- 7-14

23. Timmy Horton -- 14-00 (5) -- 3-13

24. Roy Hawk -- 13-08 (5) -- 4-07

25. Kelly Jordon -- 12-04 (4) -- 5-10

26. Tommy Biffle -- 11-15 (6) -- 2-07

27. Andy Montgomery -- 11-15 (4) -- 4-10

28. Ott DeFoe -- 11-14 (6) -- 3-04

29. Ish Monroe -- 10-13 (4) -- 5-11

30. Matt Lee -- 10-01 (4) -- 3-01

31. Gary Klein -- 9-14 (4) -- 3-00

32. Alton Jones -- 9-10 (4) -- 2-13

33. Russ Lane -- 8-03 (3) -- 3-07

34. John Murray -- 7-08 (3) -- 3-12

35. Luke Clausen -- 6-07 (3) -- 3-02

36. James Watson -- 5-14 (3) -- 2-01

37. Spencer Shuffield -- 5-10 (3) -- 2-07

38. Jason Lambert -- 5-09 (3) -- 2-06

39. Aaron Martens -- 2-04 (1) -- 2-04

40. Cliff Pace -- 1-09 (1) -- 1-09