Sondra Rankin's Blogspot
Lake Travis Austin, TX
Sondra Rankin

Hello, Fishing Fans!

First of all, I want to thank you so much for taking your precious time to read my thoughts! My fans are always my most appreciated reward from fishing!

I'm heading home right now from Austin, TX, about half way home actually. No, I'm not driving.... :) I have such bittersweet feelings from this recent FLW Tour event. I'm so happy to have this season kicked off but am so disappointed it wasn't kicked off to a better start. I ended up in 175th place! Wow! Not exactly where I wanted to stand in points at the end of the first tournament, but we all know that fishing is NEVER guaranteed! I did beat 25 other competitors... That's better than nothing, right? LOL!

The elements I faced at Lake Travis were severely harsh. Well, harsh for a KY gal, that is. Our take-off's each morning were freezing, literally. I fished in 17 Degree weather, (I don't know what the Celcius is for that), for two days straight! I dressed properly, but 70 mph in a scooting Ranger in those conditions will make anybody cold! I had to deal with the eyes of my rod freezing solid with ice and the 30 mph winds that literally cut through my skin! I cannot tell you how many times my mind drifted away to the tropics and a sandy beach when I should have been paying attention to my bite!! Or, lack there of, I should say! I survived to say the least, even if at times, there was a loss of focus!

Fishing in the "back of the boat", my ultimate success depends on my draw partner. My draw is a random computerized pairing with a "front of the boat" partner, (considered a pro on the tour), and basically, I fish where they take me. My first day partner caught four small keepers that weighed around five pounds. I had two fish for 1.13lbs. They were some monsters, let me tell ya! My second day partner only caught two keeper fish all day. The second day I had two bites, but unfortunately, did not make the length limit no matter how hard I stretched!. Literally, I had two bites per day during the event, day one, two keepers, day two, two shorts. I fished very patiently and stayed extremely positive throughtout the event, which in my opinion is VERY crucial. Unfortuanately, I didn't prevail, but however, learned quite a bit after-the-fact about this clear water, rock bottom lake.

To add to the horrible conditions of record breaking icy weather in TX, the lake was 43ft. low due to a lack of rain in the area. All the "honey holes", so to speak, were completely out of the water! From what I understand, the pro's that had a bit of success at this event were targeting deep water off of points and finding structure 20 - 30 ft deep under boat docks. The fish had started to pull up the week before the tournament and during practice, a lot of the pros were catching them in 5 - 10ft. of water throwing a shallow running crankbait. This extreme cold front did push them back down, WAY down! Unfortunately, my second day partner was still targeting that shallow water pattern and I was at the mercy of a chunck and grind speed fisherman hugging the bank. There's really not too much I can do from the "back of the boat" in that type of situation. But, I hung in there!

I also learned a bit more about drop shotting that I'd not known about previous this event. I've always rigged my drop shots with Berkley Gulp! three inch minnows, leeches, or finesse worms and let the bait fall to the bottom, twitched it, drug it and reeled it in to repeat the process. I ALWAYS get bites with the Berkley Gulp! and suggest to anybody reading this to buy some of these baits while finesse fishing and give it a try! I did get my two short fish on the second day by doing this and probably would've had more bites if we'd have been fishing a little slower instead of hugging banks. I did however, hear that other anglers were catching the FIRE out of them with these drop shot rigs but was concerned that I wasn't getting near the bites. I find out AFTER the tournament that these fish were so affected by this abnormal cold front that they were mostly only biting a stationary bait. What these anglers were doing to get these bites that was different from my presentation, was tossing out their drop shot rigs, let it fall to the bottom and holding it there, perfectly still. If they raised up on it, didn't feel a bite or pressure, they reeled in and tossed again. Seriously, they weren't moving the bait at all! These bass were locked up by this front and VERY deep, lethargic and wanting an easy meal. Another angler told me that he would toss out his drop shot rig, let it fall to the bottom, wind it up four or five cranks, then let it sit there suspended in the water motionless. Other anglers were catching these finicky fish on the float 'n fly technique, which I'm not that familiar with. (You can search it on the internet for more detail, I know I will be when I get home!)

On a different topic, I truly enjoyed working the Chevy booth during the Fun Zone events prior to the two final days weigh in. I was honored to share the autograph table with Jimmy Houston, a childhood hero of mine, Larry Nixon, David Fritts, Dion Hibdon, Luke Clausen, and Kim Stricker! There's so much more involved in fishing these tournaments than most people could ever imagine. It is definately my interaction with the fans, the children, the women in the sport, that encourage me to keep on keepin' on! To see the joy on a child's face when I share a picture with them, or to see the attentive eyes of a lady that is learning about the sport from me, or even moreso, to see the reaction of the fans who are realizing the intensity of our game as we earn the respect and encouragement from such an ever growing number of people around the world!

I hope that I can reach the youth, the ladies, and the diehard fishing fans everywhere! I will always work diligently, patiently, and with the passion and love that inspires me daily, regardless the ups and downs that accompany the fishing trail. Again, I thank you for your time! I thank God always first and foremost for giving me the ability and the drive to keep me afloat, Chevy Trucks for getting me to the events safely, and Berkley Trilene XT for puttin' 'em in the boat!

Eat. Sleep. Fish!

Sondra Rankin

Paducah, KY