Friday, August 23, 2013

Gunning for Gunterville Classic Bid

Chris Lane, B.A.S.S. Photo by Seigo Saito
Watching the Bassmaster Classic played out on his adopted home waters of Lake Guntersville would be seriously difficult for Chris Lane, so the 2012 Classic champion is doing everything in his power to keep that from happening.

Going into the final event of the Elite Series, which is going on this weekend, Lane's place in the Angler of the Year standings made his Classic bid iffy at best. A great finish and stumbles by others could get him in based on AOY points, but his only sure way to get a Classic bid would be to win at this weekend's event at Lake St. Clair. Halfway through, Lane has bumped his place in the standings up to 34th place, which puts him right on the edge and could make him the last angler in or the first angler out. Lane doesn't want to count on that, though. He'd much rather notch the win and lock in his place, which is very much within reach halfway though.

After two days, Lane is in fourth place, three pounds behind leader Aaron Martens. He has brought a 5-12 smallmouth to the scales both days, and apparently has one spot that holds some absolute giants. He didn't stick with his big-fish spot terribly long today because he doesn't get nearly as many bites there as he does in other places, but he suggested on stage that he might go for broke and really stick it out there tomorrow, looking for five giant fish.

Although Lane grew up in Lakeland, Florida and learned to fish in the Sunshine State, he moved to Lake Guntersville in 2009 and has really built an identity there, creating an Guntersville App, guiding and establishing Chris Lane Outdoor Adventures Resort at Lake Guntersville.

Lane knows as well as anyone else that February fishing on Lake Guntersville with a field of the nation's top pros will be an absolute largemouth slugfest, but if he wants to be part of the action, he needs to spend two more days slugging it out for Detroit smallmouths!

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