| Recently I spoke to professional bass angler | | | | fish. That combined with the conditions the |
| Juanita Robinson about her performance in the | | | | weather brought on made for a very tough |
| April 2008 Women's Bassmasters Trail | | | | tournament. Yet Juanita, knocked off her original |
| tournament on Lake Lewisville in Lewisville, Texas. | | | | plans, toughed it out and still ended up in the top |
| Juanita started out strong with a third place finish | | | | ten. |
| on day one but as the days moved on, the wind | | | | Juanitas pattern was a pretty basic one. She |
| moved in and picked up speed, her pattern was | | | | would pull up to the willows and flip the outter |
| damaged. Yet she still managed to finish in the top | | | | edges first. If she didn't get a bite on the outside, |
| ten taking 10th place over all. | | | | she would drop her trolling motor down on a low |
| During her pre-fishing period and the first day of | | | | speed setting and carefully work her way into the |
| the tournament she had located fish in the willows | | | | willows. This is where the braid paid off as she |
| and was able to get them out by flipping a | | | | often had to pull the bass from deep within the |
| watermelon red Lake Fork Tube Craw and a | | | | tangled mess of willow branches. The Parasite |
| Vertical Lures Tube-X rigged with a 3/8oz | | | | weight also shined here as it kept her |
| Parasite weight tied to 65lb Spider Wire braid. | | | | presentation compact and snag free. However as |
| However as the wind changed directions and | | | | the wind picked up and changed direction she |
| picked up speed she found it near impossible to | | | | soon found herself catching every branch and limb |
| make a proper presentation to be productive | | | | there was in her honey hole and was forced off it |
| enough to stick to her pattern. | | | | and had to rely on a 3rd rank back up plan. |
| "It was coming from the side of the boat. It | | | | Next up on the trail is Neely Henry in Alabama |
| wasn't like you could face into the wind and fish | | | | and she is looking forward to it "and thats on the |
| your spots, ya know. If they had been hitting on | | | | Coosa River and hopefully the Coosa River ain't |
| a Rat-L-Trap, a spinnerbait or a crankbait, ya | | | | flooding" she said with a chuckle. She expressed |
| know, I could have stayed out there and done it | | | | that she was afraid that they may get there |
| but when you have to make a good presentation | | | | during a post-spawn. "Hopefully they will have |
| with your bait, you just can't do it with it blowing | | | | already spawned and be getting into their summer |
| that hard." | | | | patterns. Hopefully it's going to be a lot better |
| Juanita went on to explain exactly how tough the | | | | tournament." |
| conditions became on Lake Lewisville, "It was a | | | | I am sure it will be for this amazing angler! Juanita |
| tough tournament. I'll tell ya, we had tough | | | | is one you should never count out in any |
| conditions. They were letting water out to keep | | | | tournament that she fishes. Backed by her |
| the lake from getting too high and then there | | | | sponsors Juanita has all the cards in her favor. |
| was a bunch of water coming in. Plus two cold | | | | This will definitely not be the last time you hear of |
| fronts and high blue skies two days in a row, man | | | | her as we will be staying in touch with Juanita and |
| it just... " she trailed off. | | | | keeping you informed of her journey through the |
| The anglers were also fishing mostly post-spawn | | | | world of professional bass angling. |