# Reel Lady finishes in 12th for Angler of the Year Standings



## Reel Man (Jul 4, 2004)

It's unofficial but according to my calculations Reel Lady Marcia Rubin has finished in 12th place in the Womens Bassmasters Angler of the Year Standings qualifying her to fish the Championship event in February. She finished just 2 points above 13 place finisher Kathy Hurst. What a nail biter because Kathy Hurst finished 1 spot above Marcia at the final tourney on the Red River. Had she finished 2 spots abover her Marcia would have been out. Congratulations Marcia!


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## lakeslouie (Jan 11, 2006)

Great job on the finish!! One would only wonder where you'd have finished barring the first tournament with all the distractions with personal and family matters. Once again, CONGRATULATIONS!!! 
Note: This is a lesson in perserverance we all can learn from.


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## mbass8dor (May 9, 2004)

Congratulations Marcia!
What a great year! Can't wait to see you on stage at the Championship, Great job on the water.


Tom


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## Nipididdee (Apr 19, 2004)

Nice job Reelady.!% Make sure to write your checkin times down on your hand and set an alarm!!!


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## ncraft150 (Apr 5, 2004)

Congrats!!!


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## williamonica0214 (Aug 1, 2006)

Congrats !!!!!


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## TritonBill (Apr 9, 2004)

Congratulations Marcia!! You had an outstanding year! Keep us up to date on all your adventures!


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

sweeeeet !!!


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## ranger487 (Apr 5, 2005)

Great Job and keep up the good fising.

Mark


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## Nickadams (May 1, 2004)

Congrats!!!


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## mikie_fin (Jun 25, 2004)

Congrats to Marcia!!!!!!!!!! Here is the article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/news/story?id=3035983


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## Marshall (Apr 11, 2004)

Congrats, you deserve it, now go win this thing!!!


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## captnroger (Apr 5, 2004)

congrats Marcia! Way to go girl.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Way to go!!!


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## KSUFLASH (Apr 14, 2004)

Super Congrats!!!!!!

Flash----------------------out


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Congratulations Marcia! You are representing us OGF'ers very well and you have a lot of people here rooting for you. Best of luck in the championship event.


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## fishon (Apr 20, 2004)

*Impressive* and way to go!!!!!!!!

That little lady of your's is something else!!!


Frank


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## booyah (Oct 11, 2004)

Hey I was on Bassmaster site and they have a write up on Marcia. Her top 12 finish got her into the WBT Championship...Way to go!!!! I go to the classic every year...See ya there Marcia.  
Walt


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## Reel Lady (Jul 4, 2004)

I'm finally back from my 3 week long adventure and SOOOOO happy to be home in MY bed with my dogs curled up beside me  
Yes....adventure would be a great word to describe my time away....
For those of you that didn't know, I was in 16th place for Angler of the Year prior to the Red River tournament. I was only 40 points from 12th place, and it is the top 12 ladies that will fish the Championship. Moving up to 12th was "do-able", but I knew that it would take a high finish on a river that presented itself to be very "moody" and unpredictable. Not only that, but I was fishing a true "River", and a very muddy one at that! Living in Northeast Ohio kind of makes it difficult to fish anything around here that would be similar to the Red River. 
My practice on the Red was not good, and to be honest just didn't see how I was going to pull a high finish out of these conditions. 
My bites were few and far between, and I even went one day of practice with not even so much as a BITE let alone a keeper fish on my boat! 
Because of the scarcity of bites, if I did luck out and catch a "keeper" fish, I would mark that spot on my GPS and leave that area without attempting to pull another keeper out of the same area. There was NO way I was going to stick all of my fish just days before the tourney.
I'm thinking that that strategy is what saved my rear on day one of the tourney when I brought in 11.5 pounds which put me in second place. Unfortunately though, that area did not hold up for the duration of the tourney (as I knew it wouldnt because it was a small area). I really only had 3 (small) areas that I had caught a keeper fish, and really had no back up plan if those areas didn't pan out. How I handle this situation is just to do a little "Marcia Style" fishing, which means...I just "Go Fishing"  New water...New lures....new techniques. Dont ask me how or why this "Marcia Style" kind of fishing works, but it has as it has earned me 5 out of 7 checks with the Women's Bassmaster Tour over the last two years. I guess it's called just following my instincts or gut feeling. 
Second place out of almost 100 ladies...Oh yeah...that sure felt good let me tell you!!!!  
Day two was real tough though and only managed 3 keepers for 3.5lbs... I would have had a limit, but lost two fish on the way to the boat. 
Day three was tough too. As the matter of fact, I didn't have a keeper on the boat at 12:00! I was beginning to see my dream slip away. I mean, I KNEW that I had to have a good day today or it was over....No WBT Championship for me....
At this point, I picked up my G. Loomis dropshot rod that was still rigged with 6lb test GAMMA from 2 months ago. Dropshotting was not part of my gameplan for the Red River, so I consider myself very lucky that I kept that setup on the boat with me during the tournament. I put on my "confidence" bait which is a 3 1/2" Live Magic Shad made by Lake Fork Tackle. 
All I knew was that what I was doing earlier was not working now and it was time for a change.
On my first cast with my dropshot setup I caught a short fish! Hey, short fish is better than NO fish! 
Awesome...maybe I'm on to something! A few casts later I caught my first keeper. Weeded through some more short fish and ended up with my second keeper at about 1:00pm. They were both bigger than my fish yesterday, but they still were not quite what I was looking for :B 
I told Charlotte, my Co-Angler that I really needed just ONE more fish in order for me to feel like I had a chance of making the Championship. Time was running out though. 
So this is when I decided to risk fishing "new" water. I felt like I had the "bait" that they were wanting....now I just needed to find the fish. Being that that the areas that I had been fishing were pretty small, I felt like I had a better chance at finding fish in "virgin" water because I really picked apart the water that I had been fishing pretty good. 
I watched another lady angler fishing in this area that looked real good to me.
A deep little shaded corner off the main river that had overhanging trees, stumps, laydowns, and lots of different types of vegetation. 
So I watched this woman pick apart this "corner" very closely because I wanted to see if she pulled any keepers out. 
The only fish that I saw caught was by her co-angler, and oddly enough, the Pro left the area very shortly after that catch. Weird huh? I kind of thought so...I mean, why LEAVE fish to FIND fish????????
So, I went and fished this area after she left. I had noticed that she was only targeting the "outside" edges of this area. Weedlines, stumps, laydowns....you know, the "obvious" targets. What she didn't realize was that right behind this "canopy" of tree limbs there was a small opening, kind of like a little tunnel behind the cascading limbs. Nice and shady too!
One problem though....there was an abundance of snakes all around, and hearing the "Kerplunks" of them falling out of the trees and into the water was a regular occurance on the Red River...lol
But, I knew that I needed that last fish real bad! This was when I made the decision to take the front of my boat under and behind that wall of tree branches. It was so tight under there that I could not stand up and had absolutely no room to cast.
I ended up swinging my dropshot setup like a pendulum right next to this little patch of grass that was butted up against the steep bank and also had a 4" log sitting right next to it. 
I felt my line get heavy almost immediately, and set the hook by simply reeling as fast as I could because there was absolutely NO room to set the hook. 
I'm reeling in like a nut and then I see this 4" log coming right toward me. Darn...It's only a log. But you know those logs can sure put up a good fight sometime!!!! lol
I kept tension on my line....JUST in case.....and much to my suprise, I felt the surge of a fish!!!! So with my 2 month old 6lb test GAMMA, I managed to reel in not only this 4" log, but also a Bass that weighed over 3 pounds!!!!!! 
Charlotte did a great job netting it, but she was sweating it because she knew how much this fish meant to my future.
It was by FAR the most awkward fish catching experience that I have ever had, and I consider myself extremely lucky that I was even able to get that fish on the boat. Once again...the Live Magic Shad was the ticket  
That fish helped me earn my 12th place spot for Angler of the Year and it also is solely responsible for my trip to the upcoming 2008 Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship to be held February 21-23 2008 in South Carolina on Lake Keowee. 
I'll be weighing in on the Bassmaster Classic stage! Once I realized this, it all hit me big time. 
Me...on the Bassmaster Classic stage....holding up two BIG fish.....making the Victory lap with the American flag flowing behind me (in my "Walleye" boat...lol)
My odds have never been better, don't laugh! I've got a one in 12 chance of making this happen!!! I just have to work real hard on not letting the pressure of this tournament effect my fishing. 
On another good note....Co-Angler Debbie Pegoli (also from Ohio) also qualified for the Championship. I think it would be totally awesome if the Ohio Girls could bring it all back to Ohio, don't you? Yup...light line and all...lol
You see, I am definitely in the minority by choosing to fish with almost all spinning tackle and light line. It appears to be a "northern" kind of thing I suppose. One thing I know for sure is that my preference to use a spinning reel and light line has not hurt me, as the matter of fact, it may have been a key element to my success out on the water 
Those Southern ladies all think I'm crazy when they see me fishing nasty stuff, or topwater in thick weeds with my spinning reel and 8lb GAMMA...lol
My response is always the same, and that is that I have an incredible amount of confidence in my line. I also think that my Loomis spinning rods allow me to "play" the fish a lot better than I could if I were using baitcasting gear. I have found that your drag settings are absolutely KEY to fishing with light line. Personally, I just feel like I have better control over my drag on a spinning reel than I do with a baitcaster.
Either way....I'm on my way to the Championship, and I just want to thank all of my Ohio friends for their friendship, support and BELIEF in me since I began my journey into the world of "Professional Bass Fishing" with the Women's Bassmaster Tour. 
I've got lots of photos and videos to share....Now I just have to find the time to upload them to my computer! lol
Here is a link to the story from ESPN's website.
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/news/story?id=3035983


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## Tredder (Nov 8, 2004)

Great write up! Felt like I was right there with you during the whole thing. You ought to consider submitting some of your stories to the mags as I'm sure you'd get published pretty quick. In fact, I think most of my favorite magazines could use an infusion of some creative writing like yours.


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## Net (Apr 10, 2004)

Wow, what an exciting story Marcia! At the end of the tourny trail you should consider getting published. Best of luck at the championship!


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## mikeshookset (Feb 28, 2005)

concratulations marcia great job!!!! bring it back to ohio as i know you can you have the dedication and the skills it takes


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## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

that right there is the right up of the year, i dont think anyone can top that, congrats def overcame tough conditions to strive forward in ur search of bigger rewards.


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