Lane Grinds to the End, Extends Lead to Almost 4 Pounds in PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix

Bobby Lane certainly wasn’t ready to throw in the towel, but he knew something had to give with only about an hour of fishing remaining before his check-in time.

The Spiderwire pro from Florida capitalized in the closing hour Friday to put three keepers in the boat to finish his limit weighing 12.08 pounds. That pushed him to a lead of nearly four pounds after the second day of the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix on Cherokee Lake.

Lane has a total of 27.65 pounds and leads Evinrude pro David Walker of nearby Sevierville, who has 23.98. Walker maintained a steady hand with a catch of 11.10, adding to his Day 1 total of 12.88 to move into second place.

In third place is Anglers Inn International pro Bradley Hallman of Oklahoma (20.47), who slipped from a leader board tie with Lane with only three keepers weighing 4.90. In fourth is Skeeter pro Harold Allen of Texas (20.36), and Ranger pro Todd Auten of South Carolina is fifth (19.79).

“I did the exact same thing as Thursday but I covered a lot more water,” Lane said. “It was brutal and I just covered water. I think I ran a tank and a half of gas, and ran from midlake to the (Cherokee) dam and back. I had the trolling motor on 70 all day and was moving fast.”

The field was cut to the Top 30 after Friday’s round, with those anglers competing Saturday for $10,000 and a new Phoenix 719 boat powered by a Mercury 225 Optimax engine and outfitted with a T-H Marine Atlas Jackplate. The final weigh-in will begin at 4 30 p.m. ET at Bass Pro Shops in Kodak, Tenn., and will be streamed live on AnglersChannel.com via FishPAA.com.

Lane is pounding every creek, nook and likely spot to try to get bites, getting so deep into some little areas he has to back out his boat instead of turning around on the trolling motor. He’s firing buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and frogs, among other baits, to try to pick up a bite here and there.

“It’s tough because if you catch one (in a spot) then you move on,” he said. “You fish, fish, fish and if you get one to bite, you leave and maybe come back two hours later and hope for another one. My deal now is to decide what I want to do Saturday. I’ll do the same thing but it’s a matter of where I want to start. I’ll probably decide when I take off in the morning.”

Friday’s weather conditions changed, with intermittent sun and building cloud cover that changed the bite.

“I have a good schooling spot where I think I can get a limit, but they didn’t come up on it today,” said Damiki pro Bryan Thrift of North Carolina, who is in 8th place with 18.51 pounds. “I caught two on topwater, two on a jig and one on a football jig. I’m just fishing with a clean mind every day and just going fishing.”

Light rain began falling Friday about 3 p.m. and lasted for several hours, but was not the hard thunderstorms predicted for the area. More clouds and a 60 percent chance of storms are predicted for Saturday morning, clearing by midday. Temperatures dropped about 10 degrees from Thursday’s oppressive heat that topped out at 98 degrees.

“If we got some good rain, that could cause (TVA) to pull some water and make the deeper bite better,” Thrift said, although the heavy rain isn’t likely. “If we got enough to affect the smaller creeks and runoff areas, that could put a little color in them and you possibly could catch a big fish.”

Hallman struggled Friday after being tied for the lead with Lane for first. He caught just three bass weighing 4.90 pounds but still sat in third place.

“I ran completely new areas looking for topwater bites because it was cloudy longer,” Hallman said. “I had four good bites and only got one of those in the boat. That was my day in a nutshell. I went flipping and needed the sun to position them better. I knew I shouldn’t have kept flipping as long as I did.”

Bass Pro Shops pro Stacey King of Missouri was the final angler in the cut at 30th place with 11.50 pounds.

PAA Sponsors The PAA Tournament Series is sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, E21 Carrot Stix, Laser TroKar, Markel Insurance, Phoenix Boats, Nitro Boats, T-H Marine, Fishouflage, SolarBat, U.S. Reel, Sign Designs, BoatU.S. Foundation, Mercury Marine and Jasper Engines and Transmissions.

Day 2, Official Standings

Official standings after Day 2 of the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix on Cherokee Lake. The field was cut to the Top 30 for Saturday’s final day.

By: Alan Clemons