ESPN Elite Series

MARBURY, Md. — Charlie Hartley put on quite a show Saturday, moving from 18th place into the runner-up spot in the Capitol Clash presented by Advance Auto Parts.

But the real show took place early Saturday morning when Hartley rode his skateboard from the boat parking lot to within two feet of his bass boat, which was moored at the Sweden Point Marina launch area.

"I was on TV for skateboarding when I was eight or 10 years old," said Hartley, who celebrated his 43rd birthday Thursday. "I was famous for skateboarding long before anybody knew about me and bass fishing."

Hartley takes his skateboard everywhere he goes, but particularly loves the setup at Smallwood State Park.

"This is one of my favorite launch ramps for skateboarding," Hartley said. "There's this long sidewalk from the parking lot to the marina. It's not too steep, so you don't get going too fast."

Hartley sounded like he was going plenty fast about 5:15 Saturday morning when he suddenly appeared on his skateboard, stopping just short of his boat.

"It looks cool until you fall and break your arm," Hartley laughed. "Then you'll hear, 'I told you not to ride that skateboard.' I still love doing it."

Hartley's wife, Tracey, didn't know much about his skateboarding youth. But occasionally Hartley would stop and talk to a kid who was skateboarding, then ask if he could try it.

"I'd get on it and do some tricks," Hartley said. "My wife said, 'You're pretty good on that.'

"Then one day she asked me to help her bring in the groceries, and there was a brand new skateboard in one of the bags. She told me it was for me."

Hartley has been skateboarding to boat launch ramps all over America ever since.

Fishing with one eye open

Chris Lane relied mainly on one eye to move from eighth place to fourth place Saturday. When he woke up Friday morning, he said it felt like something was in his left eye. That foreign object has never cleared and by the time Lane came to the weigh-in Saturday, his eyelid was almost swelled shut.

"It affects your concentration," said Lane, who still managed to match Britt Myers for big bass honors Saturday with a 5-9. "You have to take a break and relax.

"I bet I stopped fishing about 30 times today. Not a long break. Just a few minutes."

Lane was exploring medical treatment options after the weigh-in Saturday. He may be fishing "pirate style" Sunday, with a patch over his left eye.

Rookie Race Stays Tight

Casey Ashley and Derek Remitz have battled back and forth all season long for the Toyota Elite Series Rookie of the Year title. This week was a perfect example of the entire season.

Ashley weighed in 18-0 pounds Thursday and was feeling pretty good about himself. Then Remitz brought 17-10 to the scales.

Remitz moved into fourth place Friday with 31-9 over two days, while Ashley dropped to 16th overall with 27-9.

Saturday they both ended up out of the top 12 cut, as Remitz finished 19th with 36-10 and Ashley was 35th with 32-2.

"That's a weird deal," said Remitz, who lives in Hemphill, Texas. "It's like when I do good, he does good, and when I do bad, he does bad."

Remitz added some points to his lead in the race this week. But the Elite Series finale at Lake Toho will determine the winner, and it's still way too close to call.

"It's going to be a tight race, no doubt," said Ashley, who is from Donalds, S.C. "I think I've got a good shot at giving him a run at Toho."

Dead fish kill Klein's chances

Nobody felt worse about four dead bass than Gary Klein did Saturday. Particularly after the dead fish penalties dropped him into 13th place, 1-pound, 1-ounce, behind Grant Goldbeck, and caused him to miss the Sunday cut.

"I caught four fish early," Klein said. "Then I fished this area that was covered in green slime between to weed lines."

Klein had no way of knowing it, but the slime was clogging his livewell port screens. After about an hour of fishing the slime, Klein checked on his fish and all four were belly up. Klein's total would have been 39-12 without the dead fish penalties:

CULLING OF DEAD BASS IS PROHIBITED. For each legal dead bass presented to weigh-in officials, the competitor shall be penalized the following, to be deducted from their daily score: 1 Dead Fish — 4 oz., 2 Dead Fish — 10 oz., 3 Dead Fish — 18 oz., 4 Dead Fish — 28 oz., 5 Dead Fish — 40 oz. The Tournament Director or his designees shall have sole authority for accessing penalty points.

"I got the screens cleared as quickly as I could, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point," Klein said.

Editor's note: Check in daily during the tournament for live video of the weigh-ins and a realtime leaderboard at 3 p.m. ET Thursday through Saturday. ESPNOutdoors.com will air Hooked Up, the live Internet show, on Sunday at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon ET. The full Hooked Up show begins at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, leading into the final live weigh-in and a realtime leaderboard at 3:45 p.m. ET.

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