By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

There's really only one word that describes Ray Hanselman's 2015 season in the Texas Rayovacs: Dominant.

The 42-year-old hunting and fishing outfitter from Del Rio completed a clean sweep of the division's events over the weekend by winning the finale at Lake Texoma. It was only fitting that that it was a complete rout – his winning margin over runner-up Bradley Hallman was 12 pounds.

He took command of the derby on day 2 when he weighed a tournament-best 23-02 stringer. He averaged a little over 19 1/2 pounds per day en route to becoming the first Rayovac competitor to will all three events in one division in a single year.

His 58-13 total left the rest of the Top 10 far in his wake. The triumph came on the heels of victories at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in April and Lake Amistad (his home lake) in February.

Here's how he did it.

Practice

Hanselman launched his boat from four different ramps during his 5 days of practice and got a good look at most of the lake as the water level continued to rise from recent rain.

"I got so few bites in practice that I didn't really know what I had," he said. "It was really hit or miss and it was hard to put together a pattern."

He wasn't thinking much about winning another event – his main objective was achieving a high enough finish to secure the Angler of the Year (AOY) title.

"I felt like I could just play the course and catch five fish a day, and if I did that I'd have a real good shot at (the points title). I was hoping to catch 12 to 15 pounds a day, maybe sneak into the top 10 and get out with my points."

The first 2 days of practice were windy and rainy and he had a fair amount of success fishing fast-moving baits. That action subsided when the conditions slicked off, but he was able to entice a few quality specimens to bite a frog.

"On my second cast of the last day of practice I caught a 5-pounder on the frog, and that made me realize I might have something there."

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 17-02
> Day 2: 5, 23-02
> Day 3: 5, 18-09
> Total = 15, 58-13

Hanselman caught 12 of the 15 fish he took to the scale on a Strike King Sexy Frog. He picked up two by flipping a Strike King Slither Rig (the tactic that carried him to victory at Rayburn) and pulled one off a bed with a Senko that he'd torn in half to reduce its profile and slow its fall rate.

The vast majority of his fish were were in mid-lake pockets, sitting on the inside edge of vegetation. Some were spawning and others had completed the reproduction ritual.

"There didn't have to be much distance between the bank and the brush, depending on how the bank dropped off," he said. "If there was at least a foot of water, there'd be fish there – as long as they had enough to cover their backs, I could get a bite.

"Some I could get the boat back to and some I couldn't. I made some monster casts to the ones I couldn't get to."

He said a lot of the places he fished are well-known Texoma haunts that many competitors had written off due to the blood-red color of the water when practice got under way.

"It helped me that a lot of those places hadn't been beaten up. It was such heavy sediment in the water that it settled fast."

He hooked and lost two big smallmouths on the morning of day 1 before switching his focus to largemouths. He quickly boated a quartet of 3 1/2-pounders and picked up a similar fish in the afternoon to round out his sack.

He boxed a 5-pounder early on day 2 and had 19 pounds or so by 10 o'clock. Several upgrades throughout the day pushed his bag well past 20 pounds and set him up for yet another win.

His first fish of the final day was a 2 1/2-pounder, and he boated a 5 just three casts later.

"That first one wasn't very big, but it helped me settle down a bit," he said. "Then after I caught the 5, I was feeling pretty good about things."

Winning Gear Notes

> Frog gear: 7'10" heavy-action Power Tackle swimbait rod, Shimano Curado 300 casting reel (7:1 gear ratio), 65-pound Sufix 832 Advanced Superline, Strike King KVD Sexy Frog (spring frog).

> Many anglers will use a lower gear-ratio reel in such situations, but Hanselman said the 7:1 was perfect. "That rod pulls so hard that it's doing all the work and I like a fast reel to pick up line quickly as the fish is headed my way. One fish I caught I set the hook so hard that I cartwheeled him 20 feet. The line wrapped around the tip of the rod and I hand-lined him in, and he came off in the net."

> Flipping gear: 7’6” heavy-action Power Tackle No Ratz casting rod, same reel and line, 1/2-ounce Strike King Slither Rig (Okeechobee Craw), 7/0 unnamed octopus hook, unnamed beaver-style bait (junebug).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "The momentum and the confidence I gained from the last two tournaments allowed me to relax and take it one fish at a time and really pick places apart. Plus, I rented a house there and filled it with people I know and trust, and the whole environment felt right. That part of the game is very important."

> Performance edge – "The boat, motor, rod, reel, line and baits all have to function like they're one piece. It's like a mechanic's tool box and when you've got everything you need in there, you can close the lid."

Notable

> Hanselman would like to fish the FLW Tour next year, but will do so only if he can make the logistics work. "My family is my top priority and if it works, I'll do it. If not, I'll fish the Rayovas or the (Bassmaster) Central Opens. I've got two young boys (7-year-old Mason and 3-year-old Miles) and a great wife (Misty), and when I'm gone it's hard on her. I'm gone a ton in the winter guiding hunters and when you add in the tournaments, that's about 3 months out of the year."

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