How Bobby Lane won the Harris Chain MLF BPT

Believe it or not, Bobby had never won a big tourney in FL til last weekend. Sounds crazy because he’s from there and FL can be a tough nut to crack for a lot of guys. His brother Chris won the Kissimmee Chain BPT in ’23, but Bobby hadn’t gotten a 6-fig check there til Sunday. Here’s how it went down for him.

Going in and practice

Bobby’s practice was extensive. He pretty much checked out every lake and wasn’t going to commit to anything til he found better stuff. Here’s a shortened version of what he said:

> “Day 1 of practice I started in Harris. My…plan was to fish Harris [that morning] and fish Griffin the rest of the day…because I like those 2 lakes. I found a really good stretch first thing that morning, but as the day went on in Harris…no more bites.

> “I went to some areas I really like in Griffin and it was okay. I found some great big ones on the bed, I caught some just fishing.

> “The 2nd day of practice…was going to check my stuff in Dora, Beauclair and Carlton, then run to some canals I love to fish – they load up this time of year.

> [He struck out at Dora and Beauclair, and Carlton he scratched because guys were in there.] “Then I beelined up to the Apopka Canal….caught a couple decent ones. It was pretty foggy so I couldn’t see if any big ones on the bed. I felt like the ones that were there got beaten up from that big bass tournament 3-4 days before we got there.”

> “I ran to Apopka to a place…a lot of fish there last year, but I got locked out. The beautiful thing about MLF is we don’t have a scheduled weigh in, so I knew I’d have a lot more time there than I’ve had in the past – 5-6 hours to fish as opposed to 1.5-2 hours….

> “I got down there, got to my first area, I’ve got my MaxScent General with a hitchhiker on it – my very first flip was a 6-lber…3 more [good] bites in that area. I was like, Good Lord, I’ve been fishing 30 minutes and I’ve already done what I’ve done in Harris and Griffin.

> “I ran to a stretch of pads…a bunch of locals in front of me, maybe half a mile in front of me…I decided not to go there. I kinda fished in that area a little bit and had a few more little bites.

> “I decided to run to the west side of lake to fish a stretch of cattails I like. That’s when I saw the giant fish kill…catfish, shad, some bass….

> “I fished a few more places…run over to this [area] and check what’s going on. 2-3 locals are there and they are cracking ’em. I had that General on, pitched to the first reed clump and that’s where I ended up winning the tournament.

> “…in 15-20 minutes I had 5-8 bites without moving my Power-Poles much at all and I was pretty stoked about it. As I’m going down the bank, Jacob Wheeler is coming up the other side. So I knew he was gonna find it.”

He checked some more lakes and areas after that.

Tournament

> “The first morning I’m boat 62. That means anyone going to Apopka will be in front of me. That lock holds 3 boats and it takes probably 20 minutes to lock 3 boats through. So that made my decision for me – I’m gonna start in Harris because the wind is going to blow out of the south.

> “…Alton Jones Jr is about 20-30 yards in front of me and my brother was about a half mile down. Well we all found the same fish….

> “30 minutes into the 2nd period, Jacob Wheeler has been catching them…I don’t know where he’s at but….

> “I left with about 30 minutes left in the 2nd period. I go to Apopka and arrived at the spot..Wheeler was there. We had a few words…’Hey give me some space,’ no problem, all good.

> “I knew I’d be first through the lock the next day. I caught plenty to keep myself in the top 10 and make the Knockout Round…no shortage of bites. I think what was going on, when a fish makes a bed in Apopka I think 5 or 8 fish use the same bed. Never in my life have I ever seen so many fish in one area. They just kept biting, which means you don’t leave….

> “…the Knockout Round, about 6 locals were in there and out of nowhere they all left. So I’m like, Hey this could get good. I caught what I needed to catch.

> “I did have another spot down by Mark Davis, just north of him, I wanted to check and I did. I just couldn’t get numbers there. I got to practice a little bit. I knew on championship day I was going to be dealt with a big wind and said, ‘Well all my eggs are in 1 basket. I can’t go to Griffin because the wind’s blowing, I can’t go to Harris…so I’m just going to go back.

> “I ran to that area and it was literally whitecaps over whitecaps. I didn’t feel like dealing with that wind. I knew later that afternoon from my Windy app that there’d be a shift in the wind at 1:00-2:00. I’d fish anything I could until the wind shifted – maybe I’d still have a shot….

> “I just went to work [on the south end where the wind wasn’t as bad]. My 2nd or 3rd flip was a 5-08. That was cool and awesome, but all the other guys are catching them too. I fished around there for quite a while and caught nothing. At the end of the 1st period I was not in good shape at all – 12-13 lbs.

> “…the 2nd period, I said, ‘I’m gonna run up there and see what it looks like.’ I started on that pad patch we talked about earlier….

> “I decided to give it a try on the back side [of his main area]…at least try to catch a little bit. I caught a 4-lber…okay they’re biting. I caught another one not too long after that, then got up into my so-called honey hole…caught a 5.5, then I caught a 2-lber…I can’t believe these fish are biting in these windy conditions, on the bottom.

> “Out of nowhere [his official said], ‘You are 1-09 from taking the lead.’ I said, ‘Excuse me? You gotta be kidding me’…. I think I can do it.

> “The wind got harder, it was starting to rain – ‘Okay now’s the time to tighten it up and get moving, doing what you love to do. Use your Power-Pole Move and your Power-Poles and make good decisions. Understand that everyone else is dealing with these same conditions. And leave your bait in there as long as you can and make sure it’s on the bottom.’

> “…with about 1.5 hours to go, a front blew through and the wind did exactly what it was supposed to do…lay down. It got calm in there, it got quiet. I caught a 5-10, a 4-08, a 4-02. I was able to fish easy now. Nobody was out there that day – zero locals.”

More about how he fished

> “The water temp hadn’t dropped yet. So these FL fish will still bite as long as the water temp doesn’t get too far out of whack.

> “What I mean by keeping it on the bottom…the area I won the tournament was a hard bottom. So it didn’t matter what weight I used – it wouldn’t sink through the muck. That’s a big deal here in FL.

> “…I would leave it in there. It looked like I was yo-yoing, but in reality I was shaking my braid so the bait would move on the bottom…on slack line kinda. Just keep it there as long as you can. They’re there, they’re spawning, they see it…they can’t resist it. Sometimes they’ll follow it off the bed and will pick it up a foot from where your initial pitch was.

> “I just really tried to keep my bait down there as long as I could. Then they kinda told me how they wanted it.

> “I think that area and the area Mark Davis was in was so good because they eradicated all the grass in Apopka couple years ago…hurricanes or spraying…definitely took a toll on the grass. So those Apopka bass had nowhere else to go.

> “I caught 90% of my fish in buggy whips, another 10% [not the final day] in cattails.

> “Most of Apopka…ranges from 1.9′ to 2.5′. This area where the rock was was 3.1-3.6′.”

Baits

> 6″ Berkley MaxScent General (b/b with blue tip and straight black). “I probably went through at least 50 bags of those things.

> “MaxScent is important all the time, but especially when you get changing conditions. Cooler temps, warmer temps, the fish get real finicky. I missed my share of fish, but not as many as everybody else. I think what happens is they actually taste that MaxScent.

> “[With a non-MaxScent bait] they might hang onto it and you set the hook and they’re not there. With MaxScent…they get it in their mouth and get it good…[hooked] in the hard spot of their throat. Let’s face it, it’s just proven itself over the years….”

> 4/0 and 5/0 Berkley Fusion19 Heavy Cover Flippin Hooks, 1/4-oz Epic Tungsten Weight (3/8 and 5/16 when the wind picked up), 50-lb SpiderWire DuraBraid, Abu Garcia REVO Premier (“I chose it because it has tons and tons of drag to get ’em out”), 7′ 6″ H Abu Fantasista X Rod.

Electronics

> “…Lowrance electronics…the biggest thing for me was my 2D. …run my boat through those shallow areas and watch my graph. If it went from a high yellow red – which was a muck bottom – to an inch [wide]…it was hard bottom, let’s fish it. 2D was the deal.”

Shout-outs

> “Of course I gotta mention my boat and motor. I’m running a Phoenix 21 XE this year which with my Yamaha SHO 250 got me all the way to Apopka and back during the event.

> “…all my sponsors that support me. And I want to thank God for keeping me healthy, and my family…that day was an awesome special moment for the Lane family.”