3/5/2011
Bobby Lane - Classic Wrap Up
Lamenting Decisions Made and Pride in Havoc

Now that the Classic is over, I’ll turn my attention to the start of the Elite Series on the Harris Chain next week. But before I do, I think I’ll wrap up a few thoughts from the week and clear my head once and for all.



To put the whole thing in perspective, I finished ninth in a Bassmaster Classic; that’s not horrible. I mean, if I was told that I could place ninth at Harris Chain next week in a regular season, I’d be pretty happy with it. But, that was the Classic, and you don’t fish that tournament for second place.

I’m a little frustrated with my decision making process overall. I made my decisions and I did pretty well with everything in consideration. My only problem with my decisions is that I wasted my last practice day by re-running my route to Venice.

I needed to track one additional part of the route; which I ran right away in the morning, and I should have stopped at 8:30AM when I finished the part of the route that I needed. Instead of turning around and fishing close, I continued down all the way to Venice.

I wanted to learn the tides a little bit better, and I should have gone back and fished near the ramp. What is frustrating is that I had decided in my pre-practice research that one of the areas I wanted to check was around Lake Cataouatche. I’m not saying that I would have fished there, or been in the mix to win, but I should have at least gone there and given it an opportunity.

The biggest frustration of the whole tournament was the second day fog delay. I had put a 10:00AM time limit on my running to Venice again, and when they let us go at 9:45, I made the run.

I caught a lot of fish on Venice, and the third day was exactly how I thought it could be. I caught somewhere around 60 fish in three hours and weighed 18-pounds. It was sunny and calm, and they were chewing my new Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty.

Speaking of Havoc, the launch of the deal was really cool; to be on that stage with Skeet, Klein and Ike was something I’ll never forget. I’m really proud of the bait that I have my name on, and have been getting a bunch of comments from people all over the place; it’s a really cool deal.

Anyway, Harris Chain is next week, and I’m really looking forward to getting started. If the Classic showed me anything, I need to keep things simple. I’ll do the best that I can to make the right decisions and keep the clutter in my Skeeter down to a minimum. I’ve found when I do that, I have more fun, and catch more fish.

I’ll go out there and see what I can do, and I’ll talk to you after Harris Chain.

1/27/2011
Bobby Lane - Catching Up
Offseason Activities, Wraps and Good Finishes

It was a busy offseason for me, but now that I’ve fished an Everstart and a Southern Open, the offseason is officially over. The offseason was one of the busiest I’ve ever had though. With increased visibility and more sponsor support brings more responsibilities, and this year was busy.

I fished with Tony Stewart, the NASCAR driver one day this year, and I as much time as I could working for my sponsors to help them. It was all for good, their support helps me to fish with a clean mind, and I need that.

I fished the Everstart on Lake Okeechobee, and had a bad first day. I’d marked some good beds that I was going to start on, and when I put my trolling motor down I found a new bed with an eight pounder and a four pounder on it. I spent too long on that fish, and by then, most of my other fish had been caught. I recovered and caught one of the heaviest bags of the tournament to move up to 23rd overall. It was a little paycheck that was a good start to the year.

This last weekend was the first Bassmaster Southern Open, and I had a good shot at that one on Lake Kissimmee. I ended up finishing second behind Gerald Swindle, who got his first B.A.S.S. win. I caught an 11-8 whale in the tournament which I found on a bed, and with the earnings and the Toyota Bucks I walked away with $25,000. I would have liked to have won, especially on that lake, which I consider my home lake, but it wasn’t a bad way to start the year out.

For the first time this year, my truck will be wrapped. My Skeeter will still be wrapped in Spiderwire, but my Tundra will be a combination of Spiderwire, RMC Boat Works and the Big Green Egg. That’s going to be a little bit different, but it’s all about making sure my sponsors are visible.

I’m on my way home from Louisiana from picking up my 2011 Skeeter FX and Yamaha 250 SHO. My friend Tony Chachere; whose family owns Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning company went to Skeeter and picked it up for me. Me and my son Bobby III stayed the night at his house sampled a little bit of his special Cajun Crawfish and was back on the road home by morning.

When I get back into my Skeeter will be rigged, and I’ll be good to go. They’ll install my MinnKota Fortrex 101, my Humminbirds with Side Imaging, my dual Signature Series Power Poles and the new batteries.

Once that’s all done, I’ll be ready for the FLW Tour Open on Okeechobee that starts next week, and then it’s on to New Orleans and the Classic.

Check out Bobby's Website at: www.bobbylanefishing.com