As participants in the Nov. 7-9 ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series Presents Mercury Redbone Series event in Islamorada, Fla., Bassmaster Elite Series pros and brothers Chris and Bobby Lane of Florida are looking forward to logging a couple of personal firsts.
The Lanes were invited to compete as a team in a Mercury Redbone Celebrity Tournament Series event, a charity event that benefits cystic fibrosis research. Redbone is a word that was invented to encompass the tournament’s two target species, redfish and bonefish.
“Redfishing is somewhat similar to bass fishing, so that part of it is going to be right up our alley,” said Chris Lane, of Winter Haven. “But we’ve never caught bonefish, so that is going to be a test of our skills. We’ve never done a saltwater tournament, so that’s new to us too.”
The Islamorada event is one of six to be showcased in the new ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series, a Sunday morning ESPN2 show hosted by Jose Wejebe that will begin airing on ESPN2 in April 2009. Fans can catch coverage of the event on www.espnoutdoors.com throughout the weekend and can look forward to a new annual publication, ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series, to be released in Spring 2009.
In a Redbone tournament, both spinning and fly tackle are used. Bobby Lane of Lakeland said he’s dusting off his fly rod in preparation.
“I think I’ll start working with the fly rod this week before I get there,” Bobby said. “We’ve done some fly fishing in the past for bass and for bluegill or anything that bites, but we’ve never taken it to saltwater. I’m really looking forward to catching a bonefish. That’s a species with awesome power and I can’t wait to see if I can catch one of decent size, be it on spinning or fly tackle.”
The Lanes will experience a tournament format and rules that are markedly different than that of a Bassmaster event. In the Redbone competition, each legal fish earns points based on how it was caught. A bonefish taken on a fly, for example, nets 200 points for the team, while a bonefish landed on a saltwater plug is worth 150 points. Fish must be at least 18 inches, and they are released at the boat after the catch is recorded by the boat’s guide. The team that amasses the most points by tournament's end wins the event.
Excited by the prospect of new fishing experiences, the Lanes also are looking forward to being a team once again.
“It’ll be the two Lane brothers in the ‘front of the boat’ — competing together instead of against each other (as on the Elite trail),” Chris said. “It puts us back into the old days when we fished team tournaments together all the time.”
After the Islamorada event, the EOSS will round out the year with two more events, one scheduled for Nov. 21-24 in the Bahamas and the season-ender, a sailfish tournament set for Dec. 12-14 out of Islamorada.
ANOTHER FISHING FIRST FOR A WOMAN. When Kathy Crowder of Sherwood, Ark., won the co-angler competition last Saturday at the Bassmaster Central Open on Lake Texoma out of Denison, Texas, she didn’t realize until later that she had also scored a first for her gender.
“I had no idea,” said Crowder, who became the first woman to win a co-angler competition in a Bassmaster Open tournament. “I was out to win a $3 bet with the two co-anglers I travel with. It was a just-for-fun, bragging-rights bet on who would do the best.”
Crowder’s Open win came just one week after Kim Bain-Moore of Alabaster, Ala., became the first woman to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic. Bain-Moore earned her berth by winning the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year title at the WBT Championship on Oct. 25 in Crowder’s home state of Arkansas on Lake Hamilton.
Crowder’s milestone in Texas wasn’t her first “first.” She said she was a member of the 2007 BASS Federation Nation Arkansas state team, and as such was the first woman from Arkansas to make it that far on the Federation Nation’s long road to qualify for a Classic.
At Texoma, where she’d never before competed, she came from eighth place on Day 2 to land the win with a 20-pound, 10-ounce three-day total. She bested a field of 29 other co-anglers who had made the final-day cut from the 144 who started the tournament. She won a $32,000 Triton/Mercury boat rig and two $300 bonuses for having the Day 1 and Day 2 co-angler Purolator Big Bass, a 3-15 and a 4-2.
“Luck definitely met opportunity for me every step of the way at Texoma,” Crowder said.
She kept a fishing diary of the event, in which she noted: “Who you draw when you’re the co-angler has as much to do with your success as the skills you bring with you to the ramp.”
Her “draws” were pros Aaron Johnson of Bossier City, La., on Day 1; Logan Sherrer of Shongaloo, La., on Day 2; and John “Nick” Aber of Piedmont, Okla., on Day 3. Johnson finished 139th and Sherrer 105th, so Crowder has reason to credit her ability as much as her luck.
Taught by her father, Crowder has been fishing since she was 3 years old. Her competitive fishing career took off after she met and married Cliff Crowder, who also competed in the 2008 Central Open circuit, but on the pro side. They’ve been entering local and regional events together since 1996.
She’s a 27-year veteran of Entergy Corp., where she’s a senior analyst. Her years of service with one company means she has accrued enough annual vacation time to follow her dream: to compete in 2009 on the pro side in the Bassmaster Central Open circuit, and shoot for a Classic qualification.
In her diary, she wrote: “I want to earn a spot to the Bassmaster Classic. … I know it’s going to be hard out there, competing on the other side.”
IN BOAT OR BIRD, STONE FLIES. As planned, Bassmaster Elite Series pro Marty Stone of Fayetteville, N.C., got a ride Oct. 29 aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle, an aircraft capable of Mach 2.5 -- or 1,875 mph.
“It was awesome, it really was,” Stone said. “Words can’t do it justice, no matter what I say or what anyone writes.”
Stone had to train how to handle possible scenarios, from blacking out to bailing out.
“I didn’t have to parachute out, I did not get sick and I walked off on my own power. That was three moral victories right there,” he said.
His flight was out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. He was treated to an exercise that involved two F-15Es. Stone rode in the seat behind a pilot whose code name is “Twister.” The second Strike Eagle was piloted by the base flight commander — an honor in itself, Stone said.
His flight began with a “maximum performance takeoff.”
“What that means is the jet gets into the air quickly,” Stone said with an emphasis on “quickly.”
“You taxi down the runway, then get 50 to 70 feet off the ground, and the pilot pulls dead back. You go from being level to straight up in the sky — vertical — at 450-plus miles an hour. We went from 50 feet to 10,000 feet in the blink of the eye.”
Stone said he was constantly under the force of between 4.5 and 6 G’s. He said the feeling can’t begin to compare to even a downhill ride on “the most radical roller coaster in the world, which can pull about 2 to 2 1/2 G’s.”
Stone, of course, wore a G suit, which inflates at the legs and abdomen to force blood back into the head. But the effectiveness of the suit isn’t automatic: Failing to perform the required muscle-squeezing and breathing regimen can result in the rider losing consciousness.
Stone didn’t fail, or he would have missed seeing two in-flight tanker refuelings and a 30-minute exercise in aerial combat.
He also got to take the controls.
“I went straight for a little while, I turned it left one time, then I turned it right, then I turned it back left, then I spun it around twice and the last time I spun it around, Twister said (very calmly), ‘Marty, you’re doing great other than you’re flying it right into the dirt.’ I let him have the controls back.”
So after the incomparable experience of a 90-minute ride in a Strike Eagle, can Stone ever again get a rush from the world’s tamer experiences — say, an 80-mph run in a bass boat?
“It’s a totally different feeling going across the water at 75 or 80 miles an hour. It’s smoother in the air — up until the point you turn. But I know my place in the world — it’s behind the wheel of a bass boat, not up there. As incredible as it was, as much as I loved it, I don’t belong up there.”
He walked away with a reinforced admiration of the high skill level and physical capabilities of the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
“When you get into the military branches that are special operations or special services, or these pilots I was with, they are the most incredible athletes you’ll ever meet,” he said.
ONE TO WATCH. For BASS Federation Nation Championship contenders, Wednesday-Friday is the homestretch of the road to the 2009 Bassmaster Classic. Six of the 55 championship competitors will end up with the coveted Classic berths.
Bassmaster.com will provide coverage of the competition at Milford Lake out of Junction City, Kan. Live, streaming video will begin each day at 4 p.m. ET.
Anglers will launch daily at 7:05 a.m. CT from Milford State Park South Ramp. The daily weigh-ins will begin at 3 p.m. CT in Heritage Park in downtown Junction City. All events are free and open to the public.
The victors in each of six geographical divisions will win spots in the Feb. 20-22 Classic on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La. They’ll be part of a 51-angler field vying for the Classic crown and $500,000 first-place prize. More information can be found on Bassmaster.com.
FRALICK’S BIG BONUS. “He’s been not only my dad, but my fishing buddy my whole life. So I fished (the Opens) mainly to hang out with Dad. To make the Classic is just a bonus. And he’s as excited as I am.” — Jami Fralick of Martin, S.D., after qualifying Nov. 1 for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic through the Bassmaster Central Open circuit. The Feb. 20-22 Classic on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La., will be his second Classic appearance. Now a Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Fralick earned his first Classic berth, in 2005, through the BASS Federation Nation Championship.
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit Bassmaster.com. Visit ESPNMediaZone.com. for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video, audio clips and more.
About BASS
For 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multi-media platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive Web properties in Bassmaster.com and ESPNOutdoors.com, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content – from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage – to passionate audiences.
The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Women’s Bassmaster Tour and the Bassmaster Classic, the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS sanctions more than 20,000 events annually.
BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.
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