off a staggering level of bass-catching diversity with Top 5s on clear , deep spotted bass lakes and claiming his first major win ( a 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series ) by cranking deep structure on the Tennessee River .
Consequently , it came as no surprise when Lane cranked his way through the Qualifying and Knockout rounds on Grand Lake ( and the first two-thirds of the Championship Round ) with an HD brown Frittside 5 and then veered 180 degrees to the shallowest of cover as fish slid further into the pockets he was fishing in Drowning and Horse Creeks .
“ The fish started just slapping at my Frittside ,” Lane said . “ I went through these stretches where I had caught plenty of fish all week in 3 to 7 feet of water . I ’ d have fish slapping the Frittside and think to myself ‘ I know that ’ s a perfect spot , they should be biting ’. I just felt like they were changing . I went back around the back side of the bluff wall where I was cranking and pitched a jig to a tree laying down in 2 feet of water . I caught one right off the bat and then lost one – that ’ s what keyed me in .”
Lane put the cranking rod away for good then , putting his REDCREST hopes on the handful of pieces of shallow cover he knew existed in the very back of his pocket . He caught a 3-11 on a laydown and the 6-3 off of a shallow dock , and kept flipping the Meaty Chunk Jr . until lines out .
“ Once I caught those first two fish , I told myself ‘ You stay shallow and don ’ t you dare leave ’,” Lane said . “ If I found a log or a bush with a foot to a foot-and-a-half of water over it , that ’ s where the fish were starting to key on . It ’ s springtime ; the water is warming up and getting stable . I think those fish were just over winter and ready to move up .”
lane completes the circle
In the afterglow of the trophy ceremony in front of a packed house at the REDCREST Outdoors Sports Expo Presented by Costa at Tulsa ’ s SageNet Center , Lane admitted to a life-changing sense of relief at claiming the flashy new red-and-silver REDCREST 2022 trophy and the $ 300,000 champion ’ s payout . “ I can ’ t really even describe how good it feels ,” Lane admitted . “ I ’ ve been so close to a career-defining win a few times , and a guy can ’ t help but start think ‘ Am I ever going to get that big win ?’. I thought I had it in me after the first couple of days ( on Grand Lake ), but man , to have everything happen like it did and to be able to call myself the REDCREST champion is an unbelievable feeling .”
redcrest coverage on majorleaguefishing . com
Bass Fishing magazine readers can devour full coverage of REDCREST 2022 Presented by Costa on the REDCREST coverage page at MajorLeagueFishing . com .
APRIL-MAY 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 11