Russ Lane can walk to one of the Bassmaster Elite Series post-season venues from his home in Prattville, Ala., and he can drive to the other in about the same amount of time it takes the average person to shower and towel off. If he was a "hometown favorite" at the two recent Bassmaster Classics at Lay Lake, he's something more than that for the abbreviated series that'll determine the 2010 Angler of the Year (AOY).
It's almost like he'll be fishing in his own living room.
"I probably have four times as much experience on Lake Jordan and the Alabama River as I do on Lay Lake," he said. "I know Lay really well, but if there's a stick or a stump or a rock in the water at either of those other places, I probably know about it."
He'll go into this weekend's first leg at Jordan trailing leader Skeet Reese by 39 points in BASS' adjusted standings, and would likely need to win both events and have several of the frontrunners falter in order to capture the AOY. Nonetheless, there's a big incentive to win the individual derbies this time around, as the top finisher will receive a fully-rigged boat, and many of his peers will be surprised if he doesn't claim at least one of those crafts.
His tremendous knowledge of the fisheries gives him an advantage, but he says it'll take more than that to beat the crowd he's going up against.
"They're 11 of the hottest pros in the game and every one of them has got momentum, so anything can happen. All I know is that if you asked me right now, I'd say Skeet's going to win (the AOY). He's on the biggest roll I've ever seen since I've been in this game."
Big Rally at End
After giving the local fans a thrill by contending at this year's Classic (he eventually finished 4th), Lane got off to a mediocre start in his fourth Elite campaign. He came on strong during the second half of the season, though, with four straight finishes of 22nd or better that included a 5th and an 8th.
The 8th, which came in the finale at Oklahoma's Ft. Gibson Lake after the event had been moved from the flooded Arkansas River, got him his postseason berth. He went into that event at No. 15 in the points and with a 2011 Classic slot already wrapped up, so he fished free and easy. It paid off.
"Up until that last day at Ft. Gibson I didn't really think I had a chance to make it, so I just went out there hoping to have a lot of fun," he said. "I didn't have anything to lose, so I fished to win and whatever was going to happen, I let it happen.
"It's really just sinking in now that I did make it and it's an awesome feeling. If I'd been in the Top 10 in the points going in, I'm not sure how I would've handled it. Maybe that's a sign that I need to be a little more relaxed at all the tournaments and have more of a carefree approach."
A Different Role
Last year at this time, Lane was in Little Rock, Ark., working with Bassmaster TV hosts Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona on preview material for the post-season. He was brought in to break down the venues (they were the same as this year) for viewers and make predictions as to how he thought each of the 12 competitors would fare, and he correctly predicted that Kevin VanDam would win the AOY.
Lane got off to a sluggish start during the Elite Series campaign, but rallied in the second half to make the post-season.
"I really wanted to (qualify) last year, but I had so much fun doing that with those guys that I didn't think about that while I was there," he said. "It was a good experience and I gained a lot more appreciation for what goes into making one of those shows.
"Sometimes the fishermen are kind of hard on those guys, thinking they should've gotten more airtime or whatever, but it might be a little different if everybody saw what goes on behind the scenes. Then I got back and the first tournament started and I was working the booths for sponsors, and that's when (not fishing) got really tough."
He much prefers the role he's in this time and is greatly looking forward to the start of practice on Thursday. He said he'll go about that business like he would for any other tournament and won't try to hide from anybody.
"I need to find out what the fish are doing, and once I get that down, then I'll start making some specific plans. Both places have good populations of largemouths and great populations of spotted bass that you can win with. They're totally different species and they do different things at this time of year.
"That's going to leave the door wide open for everybody to fish their strengths and have a chance to be competitive. There's lots of different types of cover, and there'll be enough fish on all of it to compete."
Notable
> Lane admitted that although he's fished hundreds of tournaments on both post-season venues, he'll be dealing with some new variables over the next 2 weeks. "Very few of those events in the past were 2-day tournaments and I never had a lot of spectator boats around. It'll be different."
> He said that although he has a lot of points to make up on Reese, he won't necessarily fish for giant bites all day, every day. "I fish for a living, and that means I need to put myself in position to win as much money as I can. If I see an opportunity to try to win, I'll take it. But if somebody's way ahead of me and I need to make sure I fill my limit, I'm going to do everything I can to move up."
