TD Beshears Provides Clarity On Lane's Winning Fish

By BassFan Staff

Some BassFans were confused about the procedure that was employed to determine that the fish that Bobby Lane caught with 3 minutes remaining in the final period of REDCREST on Sunday at Oklahoma's Grand Lake was scorable. Viewers watching the MLF NOW! livestream saw that the fish registered 1 pound, 15 ounces on the boat official's scale on the initial weigh and the first re-weigh before checking in at 2 pounds even – the minimum weight for scorability – on a third attempt.

Once the fish was deemed scorable, it moved Lane to the top of the standings, and he held that position through the remainder of the final period. The victory netted him $300,000.

Rule No. 11, Sec. F of the MLF Bass Pro Tour Rules states: The MLF Official will call the weight. If the call is challenged by the MLF Angler, the MLF Official will zero the scale and re-weigh the bass a maximum of two (2) additional times. Then the MLF Official will make the final call, “the official weight is.” The bass cannot be dipped into the water between re-weighs. The exception to this rule is the extremely rare occasion that a scale malfunction occurs and dipping the fish is necessary for the health of the fish. Any exception will be determined by the MLF Official.

BassFan requested and received a statement from Bass Pro Tour Tournament Director Aaron Beshears regarding the rule, the sequence of events on Lane's boat once that fish had come aboard and the calibration of the scales used by boat officials. Following is Beshears' explanation.

“Our MLF Anglers are very familiar with this rule and how it works. MLF Anglers have utilized (occasionally) re-weighs since the inception of Major League Fishing. More times than not, the re-weigh weight will remain the same as the original weight. On rare instances, the re-weigh weight will either go against the initial weight, or (like in this case) go in favor of the angler.

“Our Anglers are also very familiar with how our scales work and calculate. Our scales are extremely accurate, and also extremely sensitive. They read in whole ounces for scoring, but actually measure down to the hundredth. Just because it reads '1lb 15oz' doesn’t mean the bass isn’t a mere few hundredths under 2 pounds. Our pros have figured out that even the placement of the bass on the scale can affect the weight, albeit ever so slightly. So, if an angler has a bass that’s teetering just under the minimum weight, he knows that repositioning the bass on the scale may affect it just enough to teeter over the minimum. As you know, Bass Pro Tour Anglers are instrumental in developing our rules. Anglers discovering that the position of a bass on the scale can slightly affect the weight is the reason the rules allow up to two additional re-weighs. As the rules state, the third weight is the official scored weight.

“Each morning our officials have a meeting prior to our anglers arriving. During this meeting the officials are required to check the calibration of both sets of scales using our certified weights. In the extremely rare instance a scale doesn’t meet calibration, it's discarded and replaced.

“What took place on Championship Sunday with MLF pro Bobby Lane and MLF official Paul Brown was textbook. The initial displayed weight was '1lb 15oz', but no one knows how close it was to 2 pounds. So Bobby chose to reweigh the bass. Some confusion was drawn by the second time Bobby clipped the fish to the scale. After the fish was clipped, the official announced that the scale did not properly zero out, therefore the fish must be removed. Once the fish was removed, the official zeroed the scale and allowed Bobby to re-weigh the fish for a first time. The first re-weigh was 1lb 15 oz.

Bobby knew he only needed one scorable bass to take the lead, therefore he elected to roll the dice for a second and final re-weigh. If the re-placement of the fish caused Bobby to lose an ounce, then no harm no foul. In this instance, the 2nd re-weigh was in Bobby’s favor, teetering just over 2 pounds, making it a scoreble bass. With this scorable bass, Bobby Lane became the REDCREST 2022 champion.”