In 2015, Ray Hanselman enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in tournament fishing history, but he still may not be the most accomplished competitor in his own household. By his own reckoning, that honor would go to his wife Misty, who was part of a national champion equestrian team at Texas A&M University.
“She’s not the type to brag about it,” he said. “She wears her Aggie class ring, but not that (championship) ring.”
Judging by his demeanor and the company he keeps, Hanselman shares that low-key approach. Fellow Texan and Classic competitor Keith Combs, who has known Hanselman for years and occasionally roomed with him during Elite Series competition over the past two seasons, warned not to expect any excessive celebrations should Hanselman win the 2020 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk. He said that the humble resident of Del Rio spends more time outdoors than just about any of his colleagues and may be the best topwater fisherman he’s ever seen, but he’s not to one to brag.
If Hanselman was the type to boast, the first topic would be that magical 2015 season, when he fished a total of five tournaments and won them all. The first was a major team tournament in Texas, and he followed that up with three straight FLW Series Texas Division events. For those who thought he’d be lost outside of the Lone Star state, that notion got put to rest when he won the Series championship on the stingy Ohio River, where he beat his closest competitor by a Texas-sized margin of more than 8 pounds.
He’s no stranger to tour-level championships, either, as that performance placed him in the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup on Wheeler Lake, where he finished a respectable 20th. Nevertheless, in his inaugural Elite Series season of 2018, he failed to qualify for the 2019 Classic, ending up 55th in the Angler of the Year race. Early season bombs on Grand Lake (83rd) and Kentucky Lake (101st) put him behind the eight ball and negated the strength of four money finishes. In 2019, not only did he increase the number of checks, but he avoided the stinkers, too, and ended up 29th overall, well inside the Classic cut.
“Last year, when I knew that I wasn’t on the right deal, I just fished free. One thing that I still have a hard time with in the Elites is that if you’re not looking at 20 boats within 20 acres, you’re not on ‘em. I’m used to fishing places like Lake Amistad, so now when I get a late boat number it’s still hard for me to drop the trolling motor and say, ‘Good morning, boys.’ At Cayuga, 90% of the fish were in a one mile square space. I like to find my own deal, far away from everybody, but sometimes I just have to swallow my pride and get in there with them.”
His second best Elite finish of 2019 was a 12th-place effort on Guntersville, site of the upcoming Classic. When he heads back for the official practice period, he’ll start where he left off.
“I wasn’t out in the current,” he said. “I was on the back side of a bar, mostly, on a pretty big school of fish. I wouldn’t think that they would go too far, and I plan to spend the first day or two of practice trying to relocate them.” He’s hardly a local to Guntersville – believe it or not, Seth Feider’s Minnesota home is 100 miles closer to the Big G than Del Rio – but it fits his style of fishing just fine. “It’s a grass fishery, the kind of lake where I did the majority of my learning, places like Amistad and Sam Rayburn.”
Guntersville is like his home fisheries in another key way: It’s loaded with big fish. The first 5-, 6- or 7-pound fish that he lands during the event will be one of hundreds or perhaps thousands that has ridden in his livewells over the year.
“I know what they eat and what triggers them,” he said. “I can do finesse if I have to, but I’m more comfortable with fish that are 5 or bigger. They’re a little bit harder to trigger because they’ve seen the puppet and the strings, but once you do, they’re still a predator.”
Despite that big-fish knowledge, one of his worst finishes of 2019 was at Lake Fork, which he described as distinctly within his wheelhouse.
“I got hung up on a big one on a bed,” he recalled. “It was a Toyota truck fish.”
On the flip side, one of the highlights of his 2019 was turning 2018’s 73rd place finish on the St. Lawrence into a Sunday appearance – seventh place – during his sophomore Elite campaign. One thing that he’s good at is evening out the peaks and valleys, never getting too high or too low. Nevertheless, Hanselman believes that at some point he’ll be able to recapture the mojo that made him so unstoppable in 2015.
“It’s definitely possible,” he said. “I believe that you have to have the confidence to make your own luck. I keep looking back at that year, reading the articles and watching the videos.”
After an offseason of guiding hunters, fishing and helping with his sons’ 4-H events, Hanselman has finally turned his attention back to the Elite schedule, and to the big deal that will occur after the first regular season event.
“There’s no added pressure,” he said. “I’m just going to go fishing. It’s just doing my job.”
The modesty seems to run in the family, and if all goes right one weekend in March, there may be an additional championship ring coming home to Del Rio.