The record book doesn’t show it, but in Bobby Lane’s mind he has finished second in the two previous Bassmaster Classics held at Lake Hartwell. Yes, he definitely finished second in 2015 when Lane’s three-day total was 3 pounds, 2 ounces back of Casey Ashley’s winning weight of 50-1.
But the record book shows Lane finished 4th with 42-7 in 2008, behind winner Alton Jones (49-7), second-place Cliff Pace (44-5) and third-place Kevin VanDam (43-8).
“In my mind, I’ve got two seconds here,” Lane said yesterday. “I had a dead fish that I couldn’t cull (due to B.A.S.S. rules). It weighed 11 ounces. I had to let five 2 1/2-pounders go.”
Those previous Classics at Hartwell are a big reason why the Florida native is one of the favorites to win here this week.
“I love this lake,” Lane said. “It’s phenomenal. And a bonus this year is that the water is up. It is probably eight or nine feet up from the last two times we’ve been here.”
Especially encouraging to Lane is the fact that he caught some of his bigger fish in shallow water when the surface temperature was 10-plus degrees cooler than it is now.
“When (the water surface temperature) was 43 degrees, I caught a 6-6 under a dock in two feet of water,” Lane recalled. “Three of my biggest fish were super shallow – in only three feet of water. So it’s an advantage for me to have the water temperature up in the 50s.”
Lane isn’t ignoring the deep bite, but his preference is to concentrate shallow.
“The first time we were here, I had one little deep spot where I caught a limit early every day,” he said. “Then I was running the banks and fishing how I like to fish. What’s nice about Lake Hartwell is there just so much here to fish.”
That’s truer today than it was in previous Classics when the lake was low. Lane isn’t bothered by being picked as one of the favorites. It’s that way in his mind too.
“Any day at Lake Hartwell, I’ve got a smile on my face,” he said.