Consistency was something that always eluded Bobby Lane on the FLW Tour. He found it, though, in his first season on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
The 34-year-old Floridian took FLW's main circuit by storm in 2005 when he notched Top 10 finishes in each of his first three events. He logged just one more of those over the next 20 tournaments, however, and struggled through a 2007 campaign that would've been downright miserable if not for a 3rd at the Potomac River.
He qualified for this year's Elite Series via the 2007 Southern Opens, and it appears as if a change of circuits was just what he needed. He began '08 with a 4th-place showing at the Bassmaster Classic (another berth that came courtesy of his Opens performance), and followed that up with a 3rd and a 7th at the first two regular-season events in his home state.
It looked like '05 all over again. Only this time, there was more good fishing to come.
He ended up getting paid (for finishing in the Top 50) at seven of the 11 tournaments and occupied the No. 15 slot on the final Angler of the Year (AOY) points list. He started the year at No. 214 in the BassFan World Rankings, but ended it at No. 52.
"It was definitely my best season from beginning to finish, and the excitement of switching tours was a big thing," he said. "And the whole ESPN thing – it's everything sports-wise and I was just dying to get on there.
"I'd read the (Bassmaster) magazine and watched the TV show on Saturday mornings forever, and to actually watch myself on there was a huge thing. I felt like I'd accomplished something and it was like a big dream come true."
Some Newfound Skills
Lane said the key to his strong Elite Series season wasn't the back-to-back Top 10s in Florida – he's traditionally fared well in the Sunshine State and expected to do so again.
But after a 73rd-place stumble in the record-setting whackfest at Texas' Falcon Lake, he bounced back with a 37th at Lake Amistad on the Texas-Mexico border. It was a lake he'd never been to before, and he held his own fishing a style he hadn't had success with in the past.
"I went out on a lake that was brand new to me and caught them on swimbaits," he said. "Then I did it again at Murray, catching them on that Sebile, and those finishes kind of kept my momentum going."
His productive spring continued at the Professional Anglers Association-sanctioned Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Fork, where he took big-bass honors with an 11-12 monster. That fish earned him a new truck, along with some other prizes.
"After Falcon, which was just a bad deal for me because I didn't get on them good, there was nothing going wrong for me. I got back to my style of (power) fishing – throwing buzzbaits, flipping and throwing a frog with braided line, and it was just a good time."
Having brother Chris around was also a benefit. Chris is the younger of the two, but he came into '08 with 2 seasons of Elite Series experience.
"He was always there to help me one way or the other. Whatever I asked him, he gave me the right answers. He gave me the straight shot the whole time and I really appreciated it."
Lane became a more versatile angler in his first season on the Elite Series.
Love those Ledges
Lane's learning curve didn't stop with swimbaits – he also became a much more proficient ledge-fisherman. He had a terrible first day at Kentucky Lake, but figured things out on day 2 and rallied to nearly make the 50-cut
"It was something I'd never had to worry about much before, but I needed to learn," he said. "I gained a little more knowledge about how to read the contour lines on my Humminbird, and if I could figure it out, I think a blind guy could do it."
His previous inefficiency with the unit was one of the things that hurt him at Falcon.
"I caught a (9-pounder) in the tournament and an 8 in practice and one of my co-anglers had a 12-3, so I was around some big ones. But I missed a great opportunity to catch some of the biggest fish I'd ever seen, and part of it was because I couldn't read a graph real good."
Looking Forward to February
Lane has never fished Louisiana's Red River, but he's already excited about the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, which will be staged there in February.
"I saw it on the Bassmaster TV show, and it was shallow with trees and lily pads everywhere," he said. "I started thinking this could be the one right here. If I can catch them at Hartwell (site of the '08 Classic), then I should be able to redesign them on the Red River.
"It looks like a good place for flipping and pitching and spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps, and that's my style. I'll be going there with a lot of confidence."
He also thinks he'll get to do more of that stuff on the '09 Elite Series than he did this year, and that's more reason for optimism about what lies ahead. He'd like to make a run at the AOY, but he'd be satisfied with ending up higher in the points than he did this year.
"This year it was post-spawn in a lot of places, but next year should be more of a pre-spawn deal. It's a flipper's schedule, and I'm looking forward to it."
Notable
> Lane said one of the main differences between the FLW Tour and his current circuit is the weights rarely go down on day 2 of Elite Series tournaments. "I think it dropped only once or twice," he said. "If you catch 12 pounds and you're in 50th place, you know you're going to need to catch at least 12 again just to get paid. That's made me a better fisherman because it gets you going mentally."
> He said he gained something positive from even his worst finishes this year. "In the bad ones I went away knowing what I should've done to do better, so I consider the whole year a success."
