LUFKIN, Texas — Here’s how bad Chris Lane’s season has been: If he finishes 97th this week, in the fifth Elite Series event of the year, it will mark his best performance. It would be an understatement to say the 2012 Bassmaster Classic champion has been struggling.
“My head is good,” Lane said. “It has been good all year. My practices have been good.”
His results have sucked. Here’s another example of how things have gone this season for Lane: After the last event at Ross Barnett Reservoir, Lane was ranked 109th of the 110 Elite Series anglers in Toyota Angler of the Year points. He trailed Jay Brainerd by one point, and Brainerd dropped out of the Elite Series prior to Ross Barnett.
Fortunately, Lane got back to his old ways on Day 1 in the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest at Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The seven-time B.A.S.S. tournament champion, who is approaching $2 million in winnings, had 18 pounds, 5 ounces Wednesday to tie Rick Clunn for 27th place.
While Lane was understandably relieved by that performance, he knows today is the big day for him.
“I really need to jump out of that slump (today),” Lane said. “I was 60th after the first day at Ross Barnett. I lost a bunch of fish the second day. I could have done well.”
Lane weighed only two bass totaling 3-2 on Day 2 at Ross Barnett and dropped to 98th place. And that has been his best 2017 finish through four events. It’s almost unfathomable, especially when you consider where the Elite Series has been this year. Lane was 103rd at Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, where he’s won two Bassmaster Southern Opens in his career and finished second in his last Elite Series tournament there. And Lane finished 100th at Toledo Bend, where he finished second in 2016.
Chris Lane isn’t the only successful Elite Series angler who is struggling in 2017. But it’s that combination of where the tournaments have been and the consistency of his poor finishes that makes him stand out. It’s also a sign of how competitive this circuit has become. It seems the fine line between success and failure on the Elite Series keeps shrinking.
“I’ve lost a lot of fish this year, and for no reason,” Lane said. “I’m fishing the same baits, fishing the same way I’ve had success in the past. People say, ‘Something’s wrong. You’ve got to change something.’ In my mind, I don’t. I do need to make sure I’m around more fish.”
Pro anglers harp about making good decisions. They’re only declared “good” in retrospect. Lane made a good one Wednesday.
“My practice was really good here,” he said. “But I had to pretty much throw everything out yesterday because it wasn’t working. I said, ‘I’m not going to fall into this trap again.’ So I completely changed up. Now I’ve got the opportunity to have a pretty good event.”
Because he’s so far down in the AOY standings, probably the only way Lane can qualify for 2018 Classic is to win this tournament, since it carries an automatic Classic berth with the title.
“I’m going to go for the gusto,” Lane said. “It’s not like I’m going to drop in the (AOY) points standings.”
With that last comment, Lane showed he hasn’t lost his sense of humor amidst the pain of his 2017 season.