Chris Lane came into the office at the B.A.S.S. headquarters on Monday, Feb. 11, the day before leaving for Tulsa to defend his title as reigning champion at the 2013 Bassmaster Classic presented by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. Here, he talks to Jim Sexton, B.A.S.S.'s vice president of digital.
Don Logan, one of the owners of B.A.S.S., talked with Lane about how Guntersville has been fishing lately.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Mark Menendez was passing through town and stopped by the headquarters for a meeting. He and Lane visited for a few minutes.
Lane signed autographs on photos from his 2012 Bassmaster Classic win for B.A.S.S. employees.
Lane told employees how much he's enjoyed this past year as reigning Classic champ.
If you've ever been around Chris Lane, you know that he's quite jovial, always looking for an opportunity to share a laugh.
Lane told employees he's confident about competing on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees. It's a great fishery, he said, and it fishes similar to Lane's adopted home lake of Guntersville.
B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin stopped by and cracked Lane up with a joke or two.
Lane and Akin laugh about how busy Lane has been in the last few weeks. Even the "off-season" offers little relief for the pros.
Lane greets Dave Precht, B.A.S.S.'s vice president of publications. The two have known each other for many years and have lots of dock talk to catch up on.
Lane tells Akin and Precht a few of his haunts on Lake Guntersville.
Lane gets serious when it's time for the B.A.S.S. Twitter chat. The social media team briefs him on the process as the questions from fans begin to roll in.
Lane sneaks in one more autograph before the Twitter chat begins. Tyler Reed, Helen Northcutt and Jennifer Dome prepare to type his answers to fans into Twitter so he can concentrate on the content of his answers. "I don't type," he said, laughing.
Reed reads a fan question to Lane while he thoughtfully puts together an answer.
Lane gets a sneek peak at the 2013 Bassmaster Program & Media Guide, which will be available for sale at the Classic.
Lane finds a feature in the guide about his 2012 Classic win and peruses the article.
Lane finds the list of previous Classic winners. He knows his name will appear in every Classic winners' list for eternity, now that he's gone down in the annals of B.A.S.S. history as a Classic champ.
Lane checks out the "little-known facts" about himself and his brother, Bobby Lane, in the guide. To read the full transcript from Chris Lane's Twitter chat, click here.
