Bobby Lane is Leaving the BPT

[FlatsNBay]

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Bobby Lane, the 2022 REDCREST champion, is leaving the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour and will compete in all nine Bassmaster Opens next year in an effort to requalify for the Elite Series.

"My family and I really want to get back to the Bassmaster Classic," Lane said this week. "We had a wonderful time at REDCREST this year and it was absolutely amazing – it's what I'd dreamed about my whole entire career. But fishing the (MLF) Pro Circuit the past few years, I really enjoyed my time competing in the weigh-in style and I didn't realize just how much I missed it.

"I'm ready to shift gears and go back in that direction."

Having already won REDCREST and the MLF World Championship (2017), Lane expressed a desire to become the first angler to win those two, plus the Classic. He'd also like to join his brother Chris (2012) on the list of Classic champions.

"Chris winning the Classic lit a fire under me for years and I had some opportunities, but I never pulled it off," said Lane, who will defend his REDCREST crown in March at Lake Norman in North Carolina.

The REDCREST victory notwithstanding, the 48-year-old had a so-so year on the BPT. He made the Knockout Round (Top 40 out of 80 competitors) three times in seven events with just a single Top-20 finish (18th at Watts Bar Lake).

He ended up 38th on the final Pro Circuit points list with Top-10 finishes at Lake Guntersville and in the TITLE Championship on the St. Lawrence River.

He was one of the original 24 anglers who competed in the MLF Cups starting in 2011 and was one of 68 who left the Elite Series after the 2018 campaign to launch the BPT.

His REDCREST triumph last March was full of drama, as he pulled a 2-pounder (the minimum legal weight) from under a dock with three minutes remaining in the Championship Round to take the lead from Jacob Wheeler. The fish registered 1-15 the first two times it was hooked to the boat official's scale before hitting the magic number on the final allowable attempt.

The Floridian started his pro career with a bang in 2005, logging Top-10 showings in his first three FLW Tour events. He remained with that tour for three seasons prior to qualifying for the Elite Series in 2008, where he spent the next 11 years.

He won an Elite derby in 2009 at Kentucky Lake. He made 12 consecutive Classics and was the runner-up to Casey Ashley in the 2015 edition at Lake Hartwell, along with three other Top-10 finishes in the event.

B.A.S.S. announced in July that beginning next year, anglers attempting to qualify for the Elite Series will have to compete in all nine Opens. Previously, berths were awarded from each of the three geographic regions and the overall Opens Angler of the Year list.

The 2023 Opens schedule gets under way in early March at Lake Eufaula in Alabama and concludes in September with an event at Watts Bar in Tennessee.

"I've gotten 100-percent support from my sponsors to do this, so that's made it easier to make this decision," Lane said. "I'll leave myself open to fishing other events – I'm not ruling anything else out. I definitely want to jump in a few Toyota Series events to try to make that championship."