EUFAULA, Okla. – Cal Lane did exactly what he needed to do to stay in the lead of Stop 5 Presented by K&N Filters on Lake Eufaula. Weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces for a 37-12 two-day total, the Alabama pro limited fairly quickly, and a key 4-pounder fairly late in the day made sure he ended where he started in the standings.
With most of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech field fishing the majority of the day in varying levels of downpour, the leaderboard got a little topsy-turvy. Climbing up, Drew Boggs tallied 19-15 for a 36-11 total and enters the final day of competition just 1-1 off the lead. In third, Banks Shaw put together the biggest bag of the day (20-6) and sits at 34-10 in third. In fourth and fifth, Drew Gill and Adam Lynn stayed very consistent, and, considering the unpredictability of Eufaula, it looks like we’re in for a very exciting final day on MLFNOW!.
1. Lane on the cusp… again
A classic example of the close calls that are the story of life for most tournament anglers, Lane is in position to win again, for maybe the third or fourth time this year alone. Shaw and Dylan Nutt make winning look easy, but Lane has lived the reality and knows Day 3 contains plenty of pitfalls. Even Day 2 wasn’t especially easy for the leader.
“It was a grinder,” he said. “I went to one other area where I shook a good one off and I caught a 4-pounder. I got more bites today, but not the same quality. I feel very confident I can go catch a limit, but the size, I have no idea.”
Having shaken off fish both days, Lane is maybe as well prepared as possible for the conditions everyone will be facing tomorrow. Some parts of the Eufaula drainage have received more than 3 inches of rain in the last 24 hours, and where Lane and Boggs have spent most of their time has picked up between 0.7 inches and 1.7 inches. But Lane isn’t solely reliant on one part of the lake, though he is fishing shallow, and some of his places might see an outsized effect of the inflow.
“I checked some deep stuff and it wasn’t my game,” Lane said of practice. “The schools weren’t big. I burned a full tank of gas every day of practice; I looked at every inch of the lake, but once I figured out the deal, I knew I needed to run the whole lake to find as much of it as I could. About 99% of it is dead, but there’s a couple stretches that aren’t.”
As far as prepping for Championship Sunday goes, Lane has done all he can do.
“I feel confident I can go catch some fish,” he said. “I think it’s just up to the Lord if they’re big or not. It ain’t my plan.”
2. Boggs worried about repeat
If you take a look at Boggs’ performance in the 2023 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event at Eufaula, you’ll see him 13th after Day 2, riding high, having just weighed 19-14. Then on Day 3, Boggs threw up a zero and dropped to 47th. Back then, the expert shallow-water angler was doing almost the same thing, in almost the same area, and weather conditions wrecked it on the final day. After running back in one of the worst rainstorms he’d ever seen, he’s worried that he may be setting himself up for a repeat.
“Cal and myself are kind of fishing the same area. It’s a fragile area, like any backwater is,” he explained. “We just got an absolute monsoon, and most likely that’s going to be all she wrote.”
Fishing well south of Bugtussle, Lane and Boggs are both making long runs, so they have limited time to adjust. Even aside from the pair splitting fish, Boggs isn’t in love with the conditions he’s likely to face on Day 3.
“I hope that’s not the case. It might not be,” he said. “But this is what happened three years ago when we were here – a big wind came in and changed all that water. It’s so sensitive and fragile, it needs to be consistent, and this rain ain’t going to do it for us.”
Still, if there’s someone in the field who can adjust and figure out something else, it might be a veteran like Boggs. Eufaula is a premium shallow-water fishery, and he’s a premium shallow-water angler.
“It’s fishing. You can go anywhere you want to in the lake – you don’t have to go (to one area),” he said. “Hopefully I can figure out somewhere to catch fish, but I’m not too optimistic about it.”
3. Shaw looking dangerous
While the entire lake figures to change some on Day 3, Shaw is probably better insulated from the change than the anglers in first and second. The winner at Wheeler Lake and last year’s Angler of the Year leader, he’s not one to be doubted.
Limiting on a ChatterBait, Shaw saved his forward-facing sonar for very late in the day and then went to work.
“I fished one of my places from yesterday and caught a 3 3/4, and then I started running new water and straight up smashed them the rest of the day,” he said. “I pulled it away from several fish in my three hours of forward-facing (sonar use). I could have caught some more big ones, and I lost a couple around the 4-pound mark that would have helped. I figured out something good and saw plenty of good fish.”
For Shaw to be at his best on Eufaula, he needs to be able to fish precisely with modern tools. But when things go well, three hours is more than enough time for the young superstar.
“It’s ‘Scope-based. It’s isolated fish. You can’t do it without forward-facing,” he explained. “I did the same thing yesterday; I just didn’t get them in the boat for the most part. I think 20 pounds is definitely doable again.”
If he does it, Shaw might be on track for another win. He’s within striking distance, and Day 3 might just be anyone’s game.
Top 10 pros
1. Cal Lane – 37 – 12 (10)
2. Drew Boggs – 36 – 11 (10)
3. Banks Shaw – 34 – 10 (10)
4. Drew Gill – 34 – 8 (10)
5. Adam Lynn – 33 – 11 (10)
6. Ryan Lachniet – 32 – 14 (10)
7. Hayden O’Barr – 32 – 7 (10)
8. Riley Nielsen – 31 – 7 (10)
9. Dylan Nutt – 31 – 7 (10)
10. Andrew Nordbye – 30 – 14 (10)