Lane on Easy Street

Flipping phenom opens 7 ½-pound lead on Potomac field

LA PLATA, Md. – The storms disappeared for Friday’s Stren Series Northern Division action on the Potomac River, but so did the big sacks of fish. Only one pro, Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., has managed to post weights over 15 pounds all three days. Consequently, he’s rewarded himself with a lead of more than 7 1/2 pounds heading into the finals.

“It was a good day. I culled a good fish 15 minutes before weigh-in,” Lane said. “Things are just going my way.”

Lane caught the heaviest five-bass limit for the second day in row Friday – 17 pounds, 13 ounces – and established a daunting lead with a three-day total of 56-11. He’ll take a lead of 7-11 over second-place Ryan Park into Saturday’s final round.

After two days where 20-pound sacks were achievable by several anglers, Lane was the only pro to break the 15-pound barrier Friday. In fact, any weight in double digits seemed to be a good catch. While the storms that disrupted yesterday afternoon’s competition were long gone, they may have impacted today’s fishing by blowing around the grass mats many pros had been fishing. Plus, a stiff northwest wind today blew out several areas being fished by top pros. Add on top of that the fishing pressure the lake has received over the last week, and you have a recipe for smaller catch weights even at the fruitful Potomac River.

Despite it all, Lane seems to have figured out this lake. He utilized pretty much the same strategy he’s been going with the first two days. He started the day fishing the grass in Chicamuxen Creek, flipping a Berkley Chigger Craw with a 1 ¼- to 1 1/2-ounce weight on 50-pound Spiderwire, to fill out his limit. He said he throws green-pumpkin colors in the morning and switches over to watermelon-candy in the afternoon when the sun comes out. This afternoon, he came back toward the boat ramp at Smallwood State Park, found a little spot of good-looking grass and caught his kicker fish, a 5-pound, 6-ounce largemouth, shortly before weigh-in.

“I like to read that grass,” he said. “That little spot near the ramp, yesterday I got a 4-1 (fish) out of it and today I got a 5-6. That’s kind of my backup spot. I’m still going back (to Chicamuxen) tomorrow morning, and there won’t be any boats in there (due to the final-round cut). But, man, they sure have beaten that place up. When the wind blows as hard as it did yesterday, the boats get dragged through those mats, and there’s really not much left to fish.”

Still, Lane likes his odds. With a 7 1/2-pound lead and the grass fishing setting up just to his liking, he’s anxious finally to make a run at his first FLW Outdoors title.

“This is my 20th top 10 (without a victory), so I’m due for a win. I’ve beat the (heck) out of second and third (place),” he said. “At the (FLW) Tour here last month, I couldn’t catch the tide right. But at this one, the lake’s set up all right for what I want to do all day. I know when the big fish will bite, and I just want to be in the right area. You can do that this week.”

Park battles wind, takes second

Park, who hails from Mount Joy, Pa., caught a nice 20-pound, 6-ounce limit Thursday to vault into the top five pros. Friday, he held on with a limit weighing 12-13 and placed second with a three-day weight of 49-0.

“I didn’t catch any of these five fish in the same places I caught them the first two days. The wind messed up my areas a little bit,” he said. “I was flipping mats today, and I caught some on a Chatterbait and some on a Hawg Dawg.”

Park said he made a milk run to Mattawoman Creek, Chicamuxen Creek and up to some docks about 15 miles north Friday.

Petersen third

Pro Sparky Petersen of Laytonsville, Md., caught a limit weighing 12-0 and placed third with a three-day total of 44-11.

He divulged that he was “flipping grass” and “mixing it up” Friday.

Gainey fourth, Hall fifth

Buoyed by his 19-pound, 2-ounce stringer on day two, Nick Gainey of Charleston, S.C., took fourth for the pros with a three-day weight of 43-11. He caught a limit weighing 12-3 Friday.

Rounding out the top five pros was former Stren Potomac champion Michael Hall of Annandale, Va. His limit Friday only weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces, but he held onto the top five with a three-day total of 43-10.

“I was hoping to get some bigger fish today, but my co-angler caught all the big ones,” Hall said. “It was pretty windy in my area, but there are no excuses. There are plenty of fish in there. I still think there’s 20 pounds to be caught there.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros to make the cut after three days at the Potomac River:

6th: James Kemper of Frankfort, Ky., 43-4

7th: Thomas Wooten of Huddleston, Va., 42-13

8th: Terry Olinger of The Plains, Va., 41-15

9th: Jess Caraballo of Danbury, Conn., 41-10

10th: George Acord of Lancaster, Pa., 41-6

Jeffrey Thomas of Broadway, N.C., won the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 15-ounce largemouth.

The pros totaled 86 limits Friday.

Greenblatt rises to top of Co-angler Division

Matt Greenblatt of Oldsmar, Fla., took top honors for the co-anglers with a three-day total weight of 32 pounds, 10 ounces. He caught a limit weighing 11-4 Friday.

“I caught everything on a crankbait and a Senko,” he said. “Plus, we fished my spot. In fact, everybody who fished my spot caught fish today.”

Rest of the best

Day-one co-angler leader David Williams of Fredericksburg, Va., took second with a three-day total of 32 pounds, 7 ounces. He caught a limit weighing 9-2 Friday.

Co-angler Charlie Reed of Hayes, Va., made the cut in third place with a total weight of 30 pounds, 13 ounces. He caught 7-0 Friday.

Joshua Wagy of Dewitt, Va., took fourth place for the co-anglers with a three-day weight of 30 pounds, 5 ounces. His weight Friday was a hefty 12-11.

Alan Hench of Lititz, Pa., rounded out the top five co-anglers with a three-day weight of 29 pounds, 5 ounces. He caught 8-7 Friday.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:

6th: Kermit Crowder of Matoaca, Va., 27-14

7th: Michael Baker of Maurel, Md., 27-9

8th: Teddy Bradley of Mishawaka, Ind., 27-1

9th: Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md., 26-14

10th: Sam Mitchiner of Garner, N.C., 26-14

Bae also won the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass.

Notable: Good boats save lives

Regarding yesterday’s freak storm, it was a minor miracle that nobody got hurt or worse on the water yesterday, especially considering the number of boats that got swamped in the maelstrom. These things happen. It’s an outdoor sport, and that’s a risk the anglers take.

However, much credit for the anglers’ safety goes to the actual boats they were in. There were many onstage Friday, but here’s one testimonial from co-angler Mark Whitman about the value of having a Ranger’s ability to “float even when sunk”:

“I used to see that stuff at shows about a Ranger floating with water in it and I thought, `Yeah, whatever.’ But that stuff’s true. I lived it. That boat floated yesterday and it was completely full of water to the top.”

Shameless plug or not, it’s tough to argue with results.

Final round Saturday

Day four of Northern Division competition at the Potomac River begins as the final-round field of 10 boats takes off from Smallwood State Park at 6:30 a.m. Eastern time Saturday. Each division’s winner will be determined by four-day combined weight.