Bobby Lane's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Practice at Sturgeon Bay did nothing to instill confidence in Bobby Lane's mind. The night before the tournament, he was left with this dilemma: Go 5 miles south of Sturgeon Bay where he'd caught one fish, 16 miles north of the bay where he'd caught another one or stay around takeoff, where he'd caught his only other keeper in 3 days of practice. "Practice was absolutely horrible," he said. "I decided to start where I'd caught my biggest one and that's where I wound up catching 21 pounds on the first day." That area, which also produced fish for several other competitors, yielded no fish for Lane for the rest of the tournament. He limped in with three fish for 5-10 on day 2. "I just had to get lucky after the second day," he said. "On the first day I'd drop down and four would chase it up and four would chase it down. I don't know what they're doing. I saw plenty on my graph every day and dropped straight on top of them. On Thursday, I got five bites. Friday, I had zero bites and on Sunday, I didn't get a bite there. I caught a lot of short fish, though. They were still there. You could see them. It's just a weird time right now." After starting the year with a zero on day 1 at the Sabine River, Lane was thrilled to have a mostly pressure-free event to end the season. "This week was very enjoyable," he said. "Sturgeon Bay was phenomenal. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my season. It's been an amazing adventure." On day 3, he caught all of his weight off a bridge in the city of Sturgeon Bay. He was in an area with several other competitors, including brother Chris, and they all had success on Sunday. "That current goes in that way and I think it had something to do with the lake turning over," he said. "The fish were swimming into the river and replenishing because you could catch them off same spot after a little bit. I underestimated Sturgeon Bay. There are more fish here than I could ever imagine. I bet if they did a shock around those 2 bridges, thousands would pop up."

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Veracity spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX and Revo S spinning reels, 8-pound SpiderWire Ultracast Ultimate Braid braided line (main), 8-pound SpiderWire Ultracast fluorocarbon line (leader), size 1 Lazer TroKar dropshot hook, Berkley HAVOC Money Maker (green-pumpkin), 1/4- and 1/2-oz. unnamed dropshot weights. He rigged the Money Maker wacky style, but also nose-hooked it on occasion for a different look. He opted for a heavier weight when fishing deeper water, but downsized on day 3 near the ramp because there was not as much current.

Swimbait gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Veracity casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo MGX casting reel (7.9:1 gear ratio), 12-pound SpiderWire Ultracast fluorocarbon line, 1/4-oz. unnamed ball-head jig, 3.5" Berkley HAVOC Grass Pig (swamp gas). Lane would throw the swimbait in near-shore situations where the depth fell off about a cast or two from the bank. "Rock was the key no matter what," he said.

Main factor: "Getting a little help from my brother on the final day."

Performance edge: "Where there was deep water near the shoreline, the only way I could find that was to have the Lakemaster chip on my Humminbird. Lakemaster made it easy to find where to fish the swimbait."

Sturgeon Bay 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/24/15 (Todd Ceisner)