It was one of those “POW!” or “BAM!” moments Chris Lane has made famous and endearing over the last five years. Only Chris Lane wasn’t deserving of the demonstration, even though the moment produced the same toothy grin and fist pump that normally comes with it.
This bit of celebration was for Cal Lane, 15-year-old son of the 2012 Bassmaster Classic Champion. The two were standing shoulder to shoulder duck hunting in the middle of Arkansas. Up to that point, while there had been many reasons to give a fist pump, the two Lanes were far more interested in gigging the other.
The father-and-son jabs were constant. There were the standard barbs on shooting ability, calling skills and lack of knowledge of anything to do with duck hunting. It was an interesting exchange, especially since it was one-sided and pretty much all directed at Chris Lane.
“Hey! I catch fish, I don’t shoot ducks,’’ Lane would counter, showing his toothy grin. He was more than willing to accept the load of verbal barbs doled out by his son.
Preceding that was a morning filled with flocks of ducks pitching in and out of Mingo Creek in north-central Arkansas. Most of the time they would be met with a barrage of shotguns, followed by friendly arguments on who shot what and where.
The “POW!” moment came with a lone drake mallard that had dropped out of the sky and made a beeline to Cal’s calling and the decoy spread. Before Chris Lane could even get his hands out of his pockets, Cal Lane had shouldered, aimed and fired, dropping the greenhead in the water.
In fishing terms, it was as if Chris Lane had just watched his son hook up and land an 8-pounder.
“That was about as cool as it gets right there,’’ Lane would say later, praising his son.
The father/son duo were in Arkansas enjoying a day of duck hunting as a reward for Cal Lane’s diligence on getting good grades and working hard around the house. But it was also a way for Chris Lane to do more than hunt, utilizing the time to grow closer with his son before a grinding Bassmaster Elite Series schedule separates them.
Duck hunting was just an excuse, although the younger Lane is completely enamored with waterfowling.
“You go in his room he’s watching an Arkansas duck hunt on television,” Chris Lane said. “When it’s duck season that’s all he cares about.
“And he blows that stupid duck call 500,000 times a day in the house, and out in the yard, and I got to tell him to quit. And he blew it in the truck on the way here. But it’s just one of those things that’s in his blood bad.”
When asked if that reminded him of anyone else in the blind, Lane answered quickly.
“Mine was fishing, without a doubt,” he said. “And I loved every second of it. So to see him get involved and learn the things he’s learning reminds me of me when I was diving all the way into fishing. He’s that way about fishing as long as it’s not duck season. I think he wants to chase the dream of being a professional fisherman. But, I also think that, there’s a wide-open opportunity for him, if he ever wanted to have something to do with ducks.
“As a father watching that take place really makes these times special.”
For both of the Lanes it was special, on several fronts. Typically if Cal Lane goes duck hunting it’s on Lake Guntersville where the 5-pound largemouth outnumber the waterfowl by hundreds to one.
“If they have a good hunt, it’s one or two or three ducks in a day,’’ Chris Lane said. “It’s nothing like this where you look up in the sky and see more ducks passing by in five minutes than you see all season there.”
While Cal Lane would agree the good hunt rated at the top of the special list, Chris would put a few more things above that.
“Being on the Elite Series takes me away from home a lot,” Lane said. “So when I can, I want to make the times we have together memorable. This hunt will live in his memory forever, and I have to be there for that. But getting to see him interact with all the things involved with a duck hunt: with other hunters, the wildlife, the work involved in getting things set up. Those are things that make me proud, seeing him being social and involved rather than being stuck with his phone in his hands and being social that way.
“These experiences are learning experiences for him while he’s growing from a boy to a man. As a father that’s the way we are supposed to guide our sons. So when I can’t be there all the time, days like this help make up for some of that.
“He is at the age of where he’s started becoming a young man and dad’s gotta start the Elite Series soon and travel a lot.
“Hopefully trips like this will stick in his mind, and he remembers he gets to do it again, for as long as he keeps doing the right thing. It’s kind of a ‘thank you’ for doing the right thing when I was gone the year before, and the year before, and the year before.”
In two days of hunting, the pair along with a couple of friends piled up more than 45 mallards and wood ducks. That’s a lot of “POWs” in a short time. But for at least one Elite angler they were every bit as special as those from a day of competition.