Chris Lane: Total commitment creates my success

'I saw the total dedication that the winning anglers display and decided that if I was going to be successful in this business and support my family through fishing, I’d better start doing the same.'

Our regular season is over. It’s been a good one for my family, my friends, my sponsors and for me. In fact, the last few years have been good to us. After our Bassmaster Classic win in 2012 we’ve managed to win a tournament every year, including one on Lake St. Clair back in 2013.

A writer asked me about that. His point was that we won two Opens between 2006 and 2010. Why the change? What’s different?

Before I get into that I want to say congratulations to Todd Faircloth for winning the Plano Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair. What a performance! He caught ‘em, especially the last day when the pressure was on. He deserved the win.

Aaron Martens deserves a shout, too. His third Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title is no small accomplishment. Well done, Aaron.

Now for my answer about the change in my career:

The first, and most important, thing I want to say about that is that we’ve been immensely blessed. I can’t say thanks loud enough, or often enough, to our Lord and to everyone else for this level of success. It’s not about me. It’s about everyone pulling together toward a common goal.

Beyond that, the best way to answer is by saying that we made a total commitment to tournament fishing somewhere between 2010 and 2012. My approach and my attitude changed. I saw the total dedication that the winning anglers display and decided that if I was going to be successful in this business and support my family through fishing, I’d better start doing the same. And, with the total support of everyone I mentioned that goal became a reality.

I’ll tell you a story from St. Clair that makes my point:

The first day of the tournament up there was really frustrating for me. I missed a couple of good fish early in the day that would have made a big difference in my weight. There was a time six or seven years ago when I would have let that go. My attitude would have been that things happen like that in fishing. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have cared. It’s just that I would have accepted losing those fish as a part of the game and went on with my fishing.

I don’t think like that now. I look for solutions.

What I did was change from a medium-heavy Bass Pro Shops rod to a longer, heavy action model. And, I swapped my 6.4 ratio reel for a 7.1 ratio reel. The idea was to be able to get a better hookset with the longer, heavier rod and to be able to wind the slack out of my line quicker and control the fish better with the faster reel.

Those changes made a big difference. I don’t think I lost more than one bass over the next three days of competition. It’s no exaggeration to say they made the difference between finishing third and finishing 35th.  

That’s what I mean when I say that a professional bass fishing career demands total commitment. You have to learn things every single time you go fishing, and then apply what you learned when conditions dictate that. It has to be 100 percent concentration 100 percent of the time.

Before I go I want to say something about smallmouth bass. I’m a Florida boy. I cut my teeth on largemouth. I can hardly believe what I see out of smallmouth. They are some seriously bad dudes – just plain mean. There’s no other way to say it. I’ve grown to love and respect them over the years. You guys who live where they live are really lucky.

I can’t wait to get to the postseason and catch some of Sturgeon Bay’s big, mean smallies.