After watching Jame Elam catch his sixth keeper and cull, the James (Overstreet) Gang has moved to Chris Lane, who weighed the biggest bag of the tournament on Day 2 with 18-5. Lane is trying desperately to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic, and he’s making a charge. He started the day in third place. He entered the tournament in 45th place in the AOY standings. But he’s got a chance to gain one of the Classic berths awarded to the top 35 AOY finishers at today’s weigh-in.
To do that, Lane needs to at least maintain his current place in the standings. It has him in 38th place in AOY, based on the Day 2 standings. Every point in valuable now. But even if Lane were to win, he needs a couple of anglers in front of him to falter today.
Besides the tournament championship and the $25,000 check that goes with it, the 35th spot for a Classic berth is where all the action is today, And there are a lot of moving parts. Lane’s fate ultimately is in the hands of anglers like Roy Hawk (37th), Bill Lowen (36th) and Wesley Strader (35th), who are in front of him entering the day, as well as the guys behind him, like Chad Pipkens (39th), Greg Hackney (40th), Greg Vinson (41st) and Jared Lintner (42nd).
It’s complicated, and as Lane said this morning, “We’re not going to know whose in until the last fish is weighed this afternoon. All I can do is take care of my business.”
Lane is off to a decent start. He’s got three fish weighing a total of about 9 pounds. His big bites Friday, including two 5-pounders, came after about 10:30. Lane is concentrating strictly with two lures – a River2Sea Top Notch and River2Sea Whopper Plopper.