I’m dictating this column on Father’s Day. I’m on the second leg of a 19-hour drive home to Florida after fishing the Bassmaster Opens EQ tournament at Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula. My Toyota is in high gear so I can have some time today to spend with my wife, Madeline, and our three children.
The importance of a father in today’s world means more than it did when I was a youngster. To raise children in a Christian household and keep them on the straight and narrow is getting harder every day.
I couldn’t be more grateful to Madeline for bringing up our children with a Christian platform. To see the humility and respectability reflected in my children means the world to me as a father.
I put fishing in front of everything sometimes. The more I do this the more I realize there’s more to life than just fishing.
The last 10 or 15 years have flown by so fast that it almost makes me wish I could go back in time and grab a few of those moments to spend a little more time with my children.
It seems like just yesterday I was saying that my kids were 3, 5, and 7 years old. Now Amberley is 13, Bobby Lane III is 15 and Alexis is 19. But looking back, I made sure I didn’t miss anything when I was home.
I want to thank my mother and father, Rover and Peggy Lane, for raising me Arnie, Chris and Kelly to be humble and respectful and to know how important God is in everything we do.
To all the moms and dads out there, keep your foot on the gas and raise your kids in a godly manner so they’re prepared for what they’re going to face when they go into the world on their own.
When I get home, we’re all going to the beach for a week. I’m also looking forward to fishing with Bobby. It’s rainy season in Florida, and the bass should be biting. That will give me a chance to test a prototype frog I’ve been working on with Berkley.
I’m looking forward to ICAST in early July. It will be great to spend some time with my sponsors and to get rejuvenated for the final four Opens EQ tournaments.
We’ll be fishing at some old and new venues. There’s sure to be shakeups in the point standings. I’m lagging behind, but I still have time to work my way up the ladder on my journey back to the Elite Series.
The final EQ tournaments will take place at the St. Lawrence River in late July, then to Watts Bar in Tennessee, to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri and finally to Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes, which is home water for me. That last tournament might be the one that carries me to the Elites.
I’m excited about heading north to Waddington and catching some huge smallmouth from the St. Lawrence on Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Flat Worms.
When I get home from that one, I’m going to happily smell like Maxscent.
