Bobby Lane Stretches Diversity from South Carolina to Okeechobee
The life of a professional angler is all about being ready to adapt to what’s in front of you. It could be changing weather patterns, fish transitioning from one phase of the spawn to another, or just switching from one lake on the schedule to the next.
Bass Pro Tour veteran Bobby Lane has been living that final scenario. Lane transitioned from frigid, rainy days around Columbia, South Carolina during the 2021 Summit Cup (a competition that was shot in early February and will air later this year on Outdoor Channel) to sunny Florida immediately afterward for the first stop of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, which kicks off on February 11.
Lane stowed his spinning gear and light line somewhere between Columbia and Clewiston, Florida, and switched gears both mentally and physically for two wildly different venues.
Versatility is Key
Aside from the dramatic swing in air temperatures and swapping out of his cold-weather gear for flip flops and shorts, Lane removed every piece of tackle from his brand-new Phoenix and repacked it before he started practice on Lake Okeechobee.
“The importance of being able to shift gears from one tournament to the next is one of the biggest parts of being a pro angler,” Lane admits. “It’s all part of the puzzle and why I love bass fishing so much. It doesn’t matter if you win one tournament because it’ll be completely different at the next one. Everything you were doing (at the first event) goes by the wayside and you have to be confident in all of your gear, whether it’s a spinning rod with a shaky head or a punching rod with a 2-ounce weight.”
The two extremes tested Lane’s skills, but he was able to draw a few parallels between the two events. Admittedly, it complicated his tackle storage: Lane carried everything from 6-pound test fluorocarbon to a 65-pound braided line in his line box.
“It was 30 degrees when I started a day in South Carolina and the 60s when I launched in Florida to start the first morning of practice, but there are some similarities,” Lane explains. “The baits are much different: I put all of my finesse gear and crankbaits away and pulled out the flippin’ stuff. But you can always catch fish shallow no matter where you go. Even though the lakes and air temperatures are complete opposites, fish live shallow, which is how I like to catch them. You just have to change your techniques to figure out how to catch them.”
Lane’s Advice to Fellow Anglers
Lane has been forced to adapt throughout his career: He’s a Florida native known for his heavy grass fishing acumen, but he’s diversified his techniques to compete in wildly different regions of the country. And Lane’s approach can be applied at all levels of competition, whether you’re a recreational angler tackling a region of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League or an angler on a professional tour.
“Even if you’re fishing in the same region, a lake 100 miles away from the previous stop can be a huge difference,” he says. “I recommend not getting hung up on what was working on your last tournament, or even the last day you fished. You may have to change it up a little. But no matter where you’re fishing, using soft plastics and fishing them slowly is going to work everywhere, especially this time of year.”