How Chris Lane won the Kissimmee Chain BPT

Dang! You could say Chris flat-out stole that win right out from under Mark Davis in the last minute, so I guess the talk about the real-time weigh drama still being there with the change to 5 fish was right! Anyhow, here’s how Chris did it:

> “I was fishing old-school FL style like I have my whole life. I think one of the biggest keys was staying off the bank due to the amount of pressure on the bank…isolated targets that might have not been fished yet.

> “That was my biggest move – and staying away from other boats was key for me. That was hard to do with some of the wind we had.

> “I never really was ever [deeper than] 3-3.5’…. Targets were sticks, lily pads, arrowheads in patches. I didn’t fish the real big ones, I fished the medium ones.

> “The fish were in all 3 stages – spawn, post and pre.

> “Very seldom did I ever fish the same water the entire time. There was one area I started the first 2 days – I didn’t even start there the [3rd day he fished].

> “So much other stuff I still needed to cover in the Knockout Round – I really started to get dialed in there. I was mentally focused on knowing that the bigger fish were setting up how I wanted them to on Kissimmee. The first 2 days were mainly Hatchineha, some Kissimmee, and the last 2 days were all Kissimmee.

Baits

> 5 3/8″ or 6″ Bass Pro Shops Stick-O Worm (b/b), TX-rigged with a 5/0 straight shank Bass Pro Shops XPS Hook, 3/16-oz XPS weight, 20-lb XPS fluoro, BPS Johnny Morris Reel (8.3), 7′ 4″ MH BPS Johnny Morris Rod.

> “I caught some scorables in the Knockout Round on a Lane Changer [River2Sea prop bait]. I think that bite was kinda crucial for me – only catching a few on it kept me sticking with the Stick-O longer. Usually you can get tied up going from bait to bait. The Stick-O was consistent and working every time. The topwater would only work in specific conditions.”

Electronics

> “The biggest key of course was being stealthy, like Power-Poling down, and the new Power-Pole Move Trolling Motor was ultra-quiet. Extremely quiet.

> “I really stayed focused on my my Lowrance 2D up front to make sure the bottom was right [meaning hard, and] to make sure of the depth I was in. If I’d get too shallow, I’d go back.”

To check on bottom hardness, he said he’d also go “old-school” and stick his rod tip in the water.

Shout-outs

> “Congrats to Mark [Davis] on an unbelievable 34-lb bag – I was really happy for him.

> “…I’ve never been on that end. I’ve been on the end of you catch a fish with 10 minutes to go and sneak in, but to catch a fish of that magnitude and that timing in this format…talk about heart-wrenching. It was crazy. I can’t even explain the feeling.”