Bobby Lane Bests the Knockout Round; Championship Round Field Set for Lake Travis
AUSTIN, Texas – Eight anglers are moving on to the Championship Round of the Berkley Stage Two Presented by Mercury to join Zack Birge and Brent Chapman. While Jacob Wheeler led the majority of the day in Tuesday’s Knockout Round on Lake Travis, it was Bobby Lane who stole the top spot from Wheeler in the final period for the win.
Lane’s Marina Magic Wins the Day
Lane’s strategy isn’t really a secret if you know the Florida angler. He’s spent the majority of his week fishing the numerous docks, marinas around Lake Travis. Today was no different, as he brought in 14 scorable bass for 28 pounds, 1 ounce, edging out Wheeler by 3-6. One of the most important components of Lane’s success on Tuesday was that he was able to utilize a large marina he hadn’t yet fished this week.
“I fished on the back side of one of the larger marinas I’ve seen and found a lot of fish on beds,” Lane said. “I was able to catch some good fish doing that, so I stuck with that pattern for most of the day. My plan for tomorrow is to really focus on the outside part of those bigger marinas, especially if the wind is blowing like it did today.”
Lane noticed as he was moving around the lake just how many anglers there were on various docks and marinas. That’s why he believes that to win this tournament, you need to be throwing the right baits at the right targets. Lane believes he he as the right combination to make a run at the title.
“Really the two baits that are working for me are a drop-shot and a wacky-rigged green pumpkin Berkley General with a nail weight in the head,” Lane said. “My boat’s in anywhere from 50 to 130 feet of water at any given time, so the depth isn’t really consistent. I was using my Lowrance Active Target to find the cables with fish on them and drop that wacky-rigged General right on them.”
Bobby may be moving on, but unfortunately his brother Chris was unable to crack the top eight and advance. Chris only managed to catch five scorable bass for 9-14. It was surprising for Bobby to hear of his brother’s struggles, especially since they were essentially following the same formula for success without even knowing it.
“I went around two full sides of a big marina and never even saw my brother,” Bobby said. “It wasn’t until I actually got inside the marina and tried to fish a few of the boat slips that I saw him. A crazy coincidence since we can’t talk or share any information that we both ended up on the same marina, in the same spot, doing the same thing. I think we both ended up leaving at the same time since we both probably thought we milked that thing for all it was worth between the two of us.”
Championship Round Field Set
The 10 anglers competing in Wednesday’s Championship Round for a chance at $100,000 are:
- Casey Ashley
- Zack Birge
- Stephen Browning
- Brent Chapman
- John Cox
- Mark Daniels Jr.
- Brent Ehrler
- Bobby Lane
- Cody Meyer
- Jacob Wheeler
The anglers’ weights will reset to zero once again and the angler with the most weight after three periods of fishing will be named the Stage Two Champion. A scorable bass must weigh at least 1-8 in the Championship Round.
Top Marks and Notes from the Knockout Round
- Bobby Lane caught the most scorable bass (14) for the most weight (28-1). This is his second Championship Round appearance in 2021.
- Only three anglers caught double-digit scorable bass on Tuesday – Lane, Brent Ehrler and Mark Daniels Jr.
- The Berkley Big Bass of the Day was awarded to Stephen Browning for his 6-3 stud.
- This is John Cox’s second Bass Pro Tour event and his first appearance in the Championship Round.