JAMESTOWN, Ky. — Bobby Lane III and Bryden Tyler of the Lakeland Christian Vikings find themselves in about as enviable a spot as a team could be in with one day left in the Abu Garcia High School Fishing National Championship Presented by Tackle Warehouse. They have a sizeable lead, an area that’s still holding the winning fish and a game plan that’s played out perfectly through two days on Lake Cumberland.
The Florida duo finished Day 1 on Wednesday with a 1-pound lead over Caston Carden and Sawyer Sheffield of Alabama’s Shelby County Wildcats, and with another strong day on Cumberland that saw Lane and Tyler bag a three-fish limit of 11 pounds, 9 ounces on Day 2, they carry a lead of 4-11 over Chad Dupree and Maddox Ferrell (South Forsythe War Eagles), who moved up into second with their second consecutive 9-pound, 8-ounce bag. In third, Keaton Coe and Macoy Johnson of the Anoka Junior Bassers finished the day 7 ounces back of Dupree and Ferrell and 5-2 off the lead.
The National Championship is being held concurrently with The Bass Federation’s High School Fishing World Finals, which will crown another champion on Saturday. The Top 10 tandems after Day 2 will duke it out for the National Championship on Friday plus earn automatic entry into the 31-team final-day shootout for the World Finals title. Between the two events, more than $1 million in scholarships and prizes will be awarded to student anglers.
Lane and Tyler refuse to be complacent
With the unique format of the tandem National Championship and High School Fishing World Finals, some teams may be tempted to hold back and save some fish on Friday in order to set up a potential World Finals win on Saturday. Not Lane and Tyler. Their plan: handle the business at hand, then worry about the rest later.
“You never want to get comfortable,” Tyler said of his team’s sizable lead. “Anything can happen on the water. We’re going to go out and give it all we got [Friday]
“I think we really want to focus on the National Championship. We still have the fish we need. We saved them. We didn’t catch those because we know we’re going to need them tomorrow. Even though we got a 4-pound lead, we’re not going to settle down for anything.”
Following a good practice on the unfamiliar fishery, Lane and Tyler had to relocate their fish to begin Day 1. In doing so, they ran a couple spots and proved to be crucial in catching the tournament-leading bag anchored by a 5-12 – the largest bass weighed in on Wednesday. On Day 2, the duo needed just one of those two spots to keep the pressure on the rest of the 236-boat field.
Lane, who will attend Emmanuel University next year, surely has learned plenty from his father, Bass Pro Tour star Bobby Lane – not the least of which: the mentality it takes to finish the job and enjoy it in the process.
“It feels amazing, man,” he said. “It’s pretty wild with a three-fish limit to have a 4 1/2-pound lead going into the final day. Anything can happen, of course, but we definitely feel [good]. We just have to go out there and put our heads down and grind it out.”