By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Shane Lehew is chomping at the bit for the 2016 season to get here. He’s ready to get after those little green fish and more importantly, he’s ready to win.
Whether it’s at the youth or college levels, Lehew has always been successful and he hopes – and maybe expects – that trend to continue at the pro level. He won the TBF Junior Championship in 2007 and went on to star on the fishing team at UNC–Charlotte. He even bagged four Top-10s in five events as a co-angler on the FLW Tour in 2008 and 2009.
Now, he’s about to enter his third year as an FLW Tour pro and he’s getting the sense that his time to shine at this level is coming.
“I feel like I need to win one major tournament within the next year or two,” he said.
Accomplishing that, he says, would likely open some doors with new sponsors and truly get the ball rolling on his pro fishing career.
“It’s going to have to be a lake that fits my style,” he said when asked what variables need to be present in order to win. “It’s going to have to be a lake that lines up and it turns out to be the best week of fishing of my life.”
While the 2016 schedule doesn’t necessarily favor his skill set – ledge fishing is among his weaknesses – he is very much looking forward to the new Invitational tournament schedule for his home waters of Lake Norman next September.
Consistency Takes Effort
Lehew acquitted himself nicely as rookie in 2014, finishing 40th in FLW Tour points and falling 3 points short of qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup. He cashed checks in all but one tournament en route to a 36th-place finish in points this year, good enough to gain entry into the Cup, where he placed 28th.
“Honestly, it’s been up and down,” he said when asked to assess his first couple years on Tour. “Obviously, there’s a lot that goes into it. I’ve enjoyed myself and I feel very fortunate to get to do it so I’m going to try my hardest to do it as long as I can.
“Fishing-wise, what’s struck me is just the consistency of some of these guys like (Bryan) Thrift and (Andy) Morgan. So far, I’ve been really consistent except I’ll have one or two bad ones,” he added. “This year, I had one bad one and you just can’t have those types of finishes. Execution has hurt me at times, too. Those two or three fish throughout the season can be the difference between a Top-20 and 60th.”
His best finish this season was back in March at the season opener at Lake Toho. He caught nearly 20 pounds on day 1, including a 9-11 brute that took big-bass honors. He added nearly 14 more on day 2, but his best area got trashed by winds on day 3 and he settled for 18th place.
“I’ve learned in Florida that you better figure out how to catch a big one each day,” he said. “I can catch keepers, but you need to be fortunate to catch a big one each day.”
His worst finish (111th) came at Lake Chickamauga, where he zeroed in on fish grouped up on ledges.
“I got so caught up in that ledge-fishing stuff,” he noted. “I had a limit on day 1 and on day 2 I kept rotating through my spots where I’d found big fish in practice. Looking back, I really wish I’d spent more time shallow. I think I could’ve made a Top-40 check easily fishing shallow.”
Sticking With It
When the umbrella-rig craze really took hold a few years ago, Lehew’s father, Troy, started tinkering with various versions and came up with a couple different models that were lighter and able to handle numerous blades and up to nine arms without adding significant weight.
They jumped in and created a company called Shane’s Baits and began manufacturing, marketing and selling a rig called the Blades of Glory. Other variations have joined the Shane’s Bait product lineup, as have single and twin-bladed buzzbaits.
They rode the wave for a good bit, but once B.A.S.S. and FLW banned the use of the rig in most of their tournaments, other smaller circuits started to follow suit. As a result, demand for the multi-lure rigs started to wane, but Shane and his dad aren’t ready to call it quits.
“It’s slowed down drastically,” Shane said. “We either have to innovate or come out with something new and different.”
All of the rigs are made at the Lehews' house and they’ve been in talks with major wholesalers about securing shelf space in national retailers. The flip side is being able to handle the manufacturing demand as such a small operation.
“We’d sure like the chance to try,” Lehew said.
