Life in the fast Lane
Florida flipper closes in on first FLW Outdoors win at Potomac Stren
LA PLATA, Md. – It’s never a safe thing to say it’s over before the last fish is weighed, but this one’s as close to being decided before the end as any tournament can be.
Bobby Lane is carrying a 7-pound, 11-ounce lead into the final round of Stren Series Northern Division competition at the Potomac River, and that should be well more than he needs to close the deal on his first FLW Outdoors victory after many trips to the top 10.
The touring pro from Lakeland, Fla., has accumulated 20 top-10 finishes through the ranks of the Wal-Mart BFL, Stren Series and FLW Tour in his five-year career, but he has yet to win. He has numerous second- and third-place finishes to his name, including a strong third-place showing here at the Potomac in FLW Tour action last month.
This week, it appears that Lane will finally seal the deal. The first three days, he’s put on a veritable Potomac River grass-fishing clinic, posting weights over 15 pounds each day despite a dwindling bass bite and some sketchy weather conditions. On day two he caught the heaviest stringer of the week, 23-3, which included a 7-pound kicker.
Nobody else has managed to catch more than 13 pounds all three days.
Consequently, Lane’s closest competition is Ryan Park at more than 7 1/2 pounds back. Park will need to catch the limit of a lifetime and, more importantly, Lane will have to absolutely bomb Saturday for there to be any change in the leader’s status at the end of this one today. However, limits have been fairly easy to come by even in spite of a slower bite this weekend, so all Lane has to do is basically catch five and call it day.
But judging from the fish he’s been catching all week, the five he brings in today should be larger than most once again.
“That’s what I’m looking for: those really big bites. It seems like I can do that this week,” Lane said. “I’ll fish in Chicamuxen first, but I’m leaving there at noon, I don’t care what happens. Then I’ll spend at least three hours up here (near the ramp at Smallwood State Park). If the wind doesn’t dirty up the water here, that ought to be the deal.”
This week, that sounds like a winning pattern.
Bottom line
Both the pro and co-angler winners will be determined Saturday by four-day combined weight.
The pros are fishing for a top award of $25,000 plus a $40,000 519VX Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and EverStart batteries if contingency guidelines are met. Ranger will award another $3,000 to the winner if he or she is a participant in the Ranger Cup program. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,500 to the highest-finishing participant in the contingency program. Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup earnings if “Powered by Yamaha” guidelines are met.
Co-anglers are competing for a top award of $5,000 plus a $30,000 Ranger boat and trailer if contingency guidelines are met.
Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 40 Drury Drive in La Plata beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern time.
On the Web
For those unable to catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.