Bass Pro Tour scoring change to a five-fish limit would be less exciting than the every-fish-counts format, Power-Pole pro Chris Lane of Guntersville, Alabama, showed the world the answer, Saturday. In the most dramatic finish in Major League Fishing (MLF) history, Lane boated a 5-pound, 5-ounce bass with just 40 seconds remaining in the event to overtake B&W Trailer Hitches pro Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas, and win the season-opening Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns. Lane’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 3 ounces, earned him the win by a 9-ounce margin over Davis, who had led the entire day, and earned him the top payout of $100,000.
Power-Pole Pro Catches Five-Bass Limit Weighing 26-1 to Win by 9-Ounce Margin over Hall of Famer Mark Davis, Earn First Tour-Level Win Since 2015 and $100,000 Top Prize
“Holy smokes, I can’t believe it,” an emotional Lane said in his post-game interview. “I don’t know what to say. This is unbelievable. What an ending. To do it here, where I grew up… man. This is where I cut my teeth, where I learned how to fish. Right over there is Brahma Island. Where I fished with my brothers. My dad. My grandpa. My gosh, I don’t know how we did it. This has been one amazing, amazing event.”
Lane’s improbable rally from starting the day 12-8 behind Davis became a reality late in the day. With an hour and 15 minutes left in the third and final period he boated a 4-pound, 5-ouncer, then added a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass to move within 14 ounces of Davis in the final hour. Lane needed to catch a 4-pound, 12-ounce bass to gain enough weight to catch Davis, and with one minute remaining he hooked up.
“With five minutes left I made the decision to come back to this spot, where I had caught a 6-8 earlier in the day,” Lane said. “I was super quiet, eased up and Power-Poled down, then threw that black and blue Bass Pro Shops Stick O out there.
“I knew it could be done with just one swing of the rod,” Lane continued. “I kept telling myself that – ‘one swing of the rod, just one swing.’ When she bit and I swung that rod, I saw it jump and I didn’t think it was big enough. I thought I needed a 7- or 8-pounder. When my official kept telling me congratulations, I didn’t believe him at first.”
The Championship Round appearance was Lane’s first career Championship Round on the Bass Pro Tour.
“Knowing the score, and knowing what you have to catch – it makes you fish so intensely until the very end,” Lane said. “If you watched the process of this event, the wind has done a full circle – from north, to east, to south, to west. Every day was different. It was a lot of new water, and I really just tried to go with the conditions. Knowing the lake like I do down there in Kissimmee, I was able to just pull up to a stop and if they’re not biting there then I’m off to something else.
“I still just can’t believe how this all played out,” Lane went on to say. “It has been an absolutely epic week. This is one of, if not the most memorable tournament that I think I will ever have.”
The top 10 pros from the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns finished:
1st: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 49-3, $100,000
2nd: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 10 bass, 48-10, $45,000
3rd: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 10 bass, 45-13, $38,000
4th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 10 bass, 43-15, $32,000
5th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 42-6, $30,000
6th: Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 36-10, $26,000
7th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 10 bass, 36-0, $23,000
8th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 10 bass, 32-8, $21,000
9th: Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., 10 bass, 28-9, $19,000
10th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., seven bass, 23-10, $16,000
Full results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 98 scorable bass weighing 265 pounds, 6 ounces caught by the final 10 pros Saturday.
Brent Ehrler earned Saturday’s Championship Round $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award with a 7-pound, 8-ounce largemouth that bit a bladed swimjig in Period 3. Tokyo, Japan, pro Takahiro Omori earned the $3,000 Berkley Big Bass award for the overall largest bass of the event with his 9-pound, 8-ounce largemouth that he weighed on Day 4 of competition.
After his win, Saturday, Chris Lane also now becomes the default leader in the 2023 Bass Pro Tour Bally Bet Angler of the Year (AOY) race. Lane earned 80 points for his victory, while runner-up Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas, earned 79 points for his second-place finish. Bally Bet will award $100,000 to the 2023 Bally Bet Angler of the Year winner.
The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns featured anglers competing with a 1-pound, 4-ounce minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The six-day event, hosted by the Kissimmee Sports Commission, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters All-Star event and REDCREST, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns will air as two, two-hour episodes starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 15 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.
The 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, fishing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2024, the Bass Pro Tour championship, held March 13-17, 2024, on a fishery to be announced.
Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, Ark Fishing, ATG + Wrangler, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bally Bet, Bass Cat Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, Daiwa, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Ferguson, Fox Rent A Car, General Tire, Grundéns, Humminbird, Lowrance, Minn Kota, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Power-Pole, Rapala, Star tron, T-H Marine, TORO, Toyota, U.S. Air Force, Yellowstone Bourbon, Yo-Zuri and Zoom Baits.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing™
