Daily Limit: Lane’s Classic picks

Chris Lane does a few video interviews at the Bassmaster studio before hitting the duck woods.

CHRIS LANE OFFERS TOP CHOICES FOR CONROE

Chris Lane was doing double duty in Little Rock, recording videos at JM Associates before taking his son and his friend on an Arkansas duck hunt. While he was in town, we asked the 2012 Classic champ to offer some top fantasy picks for the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic.

Lane, who missed qualifying for the Classic by four points, picked a couple of the usual suspects, but he started close to home with his brother, Bobby Lane.

“I’m going to throw Bobby at No. 1, because he’s done very well at that lake, because he’s my brother, because he’s finished second and fourth and because he’s never missed a Classic cut,” he said. “He has probably one of the hottest streaks in making consecutive Classics.

“So he’s been there – the hype and the glamour isn’t going to bother him as much as it could some rookies.”

Lane’s next choice is probably the odds-on favorite, Keith Combs, who lives in Huntingdon, Texas, less than two hours away from Lake Conroe. Combs has plenty of experience there, including two Toyota Texas Bass Classic victories.

“Combs has won there many times, has guided there forever and he really owns the Texas lakes around there,” Lane said. “And of course, you have to throw (Kevin) VanDam in there. Four-time classic winner and coming off a very hot streak – three wins last year – so he would be one that I would definitely look at.”

Head one state north to Oklahoma for the final angler on Lane’s short list, but don’t expect a Classic repeat.

“One more I would have to put in there is Jason Christie,” he said of the 2015 TTBC runner-up on Conroe and 2016 Classic runner-up. “He lives in the central part of the United States and can be deadly there on the Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas lakes.”

BOBBY LANE’S IMPRESSIVE CLASSIC RECORD

Rick Clunn holds the longest streak of consecutive Classic appearances at 28, and KVD is second at 24. Mike Iaconelli holds the longest current streak of 16 consecutive Classics, but Bobby Lane has quietly compiled a run of 10.

Chris thinks his older brother’s track record of making the cut in each Classic he’s fished and never finishing below 20th should put him on a lot of fantasy teams.

“The Classic and Bobby Lane go together – they seem to fit his style,” he said of the three-day events.

Bobby hasn’t missed a Classic since his first in 2008, where he finished fourth on Lake Hartwell. He was runner-up to Casey Ashley at Hartwell in 2015.

“Bobby doesn’t let the voices rattle him,” Chris said. “He knows what his job is. He’s going to go out there and fish and try to win the Bassmaster Classic. I think he needs that one lucky bite and he’s going to win.”

Hats just seem to naturally multiply.

GOT YOU TOTALLY COVERED ON HATS

Here’s the nifty little hat collection the author has accumulated in 10 years working at B.A.S.S. – and a bunch of others have been culled out. That and Stacy McClelland tossing 100 of husband Mike’s hats on the floor with the idea of cleaning house led to asking a number of pros about their caps.

What came of it was a five-part series that left out little info about hats, except maybe how Alton Jones wore a camo hat to help him not spook fish while sight fishing in Florida.

If you’re snowed in, or ate too much Christmas ham and don’t want to move much, put on a cap, hunker down and get to reading. There is some interesting info, like how Edwin Evers’ hats end up in plalces like Guatemala.

First there was a general story on Elites and their relationships with hats. Next we see how picky pros really are about the hats they wear, and how certain ones they keep hold special memories.

Hats are also a source of revenue for pro anglers as they have long filled the bill as their No. 1 advertising space. Next we looked the dynamics between Mike and Stacy McClelland and how she sorted through a pile of his hats while he was away.

The final thought looked into how some superstitious anglers work hard to find “catching hats” and others espousing more protective hats. Of course there’s photo galleries, the first a “Brief history of fishing hats,” while the second gives a fashionista’s fun critique of Elite caps in “Hat Couture.”

CLIFT STILL PINCHING HIMSELF

Securing the final Classic berth just hasn’t really sunk in with the Bassmaster Team Championship Fish-off winner, Scott Clift.

“No, I think it’s going to take a while,” Clift said a couple weeks ago. “It’s still kind of like, ‘No, this ain’t real. This can’t be happening.’ It’s just still like, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m going to the Classic.’ ”

Clift is from Dadeville, Mo., a town of 234 just south of Stockton Lake. He is in close proximity to a half dozen other lakes where tournament bass fishing is huge, and he’s heard from many in the region congratulating him on the dream they all hold.

“We fish against guys on Stockton, Table Rock, Lake of the Ozarks, Bull Shoals, Grand Lake and everybody has been so supportive with texts or stuff on Facebook,” he said. “It’s been amazing.”

Just how Clift reached the Classic is amazing. He tosses tons of credit on his brother-in-law Ashley Medley, and admits things just fell their way on Kentucky Lake in the Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship Classic Fish-Off.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to practice and really hadn’t done a lot of homework,” Clift said. “Had been on it before but hadn’t been on that end. We just found some biting fish. They were moving. They ended up kind of coming to us the way we needed them to. It might have hurt other people.

“The fish were changing, and once we kind of found out what they were on, it was pretty obvious where they were going to go and what they were going to do. It just worked into our wheelhouse.”

Sometimes, that’s how you get into the Classic.

THAT IS ONE OUTRAGEOUSLY FAT SPOT

See Cody Meyer and that ridiculously large spotted bass above? Wow! Just wow!

Well, the 10.80-pounder could very well be a world record fish. Meyer caught the beast on Dec. 16 at Bullards Bar reservoir in northern California.

That’s the same spotted bass fishery that Mark Zona and Brett Ehrler visited last January and caught personal bests, including Jabba the Spot

ONE FAVORITE MOMENT OF 2016

B.A.S.S. commissioned its staff members to write up our favorite moments from 2016. Each was asked for one.

That’s one. As in one. Or one. Only one.

So, we had several not follow instructions and give more than one. I’ve had professors who would fail you for not following the instructions.

Sure, Jerry McKinnis gets a pass for going with Rick Clunn and Charlie Hartley, but what gives with you other guys? Rules don’t apply to you, eh?

Ah, it’s OK. There were so many outrageously fantastic moments in 2016, it was difficult to pick just one. I just hope the two dozen or so folks who offered their thoughts hit all of them.

There were great stories from almost every event. I chose the biggie – Edwin Evers’ Classic win – because it affected me in a surprising way. Guess I’m getting old and emotional like my grandpa.