From his cowboy boots down to his hometown roots

Story and photo by Michael Pearce

For two hours, Possum Kingdom Lake fishing guide T.J. Ranft stared at slack lines in the water. His high-tech fish finders were telling him that a big school of fish was directly below his boat, but all the fish seemed to have bad case of lockjaw.

Ranft ended the stalemate by breaking one of the cardinal rules of fishing. Instead of being quiet in the boat, he started tapping on the bottom of his watercraft over and over with the toe of his boot – and then, as he began to explain his actions to his bewildered guest, the rod tips began to buck wildly.

The fights were impressive, with the anglers catching sand bass (also known as white bass) that averaged 15 inches long, as well as striped bass that averaged about 4 inches longer. The fish, as silvery and bright as polished chrome, were as fat as footballs from the good life within the lake’s fertile waters.

‘Thumping’ the dinner bell

The technique Ranft employed to entice the fish is called “thumping,†and his theory is that the sounds and vibrations trick the fish into thinking a school of their own is feeding on shad, their favorite food. Both striped bass and sand bass are voracious predators that prefer to feed in schools, and the competition to get a meal can be intense.

“I’ve had several clients comment on how their father or grandfather always lectured them on the importance of being quiet,†Ranft said. “Then out here they learn they could have caught more fish had they made more noise. It’s kind of funny when you think about it.â€

Ranft has countless anecdotes of how fast the action can be when he’s thumping for clients, and he said there have been several times when he’s had eight lines active at once. The legal limit of five striped bass per angler can be attained in less than an hour when the fish are biting, he said.

But a great day fishing isn’t as simple as motoring to just anywhere on the lake and doing the angling version of a lively Irish jig. An old axiom says that 90 percent of lake’s fish live in just 10 percent of the water, and oftentimes stripers and sand bass are even more congregated.

Using electronic fishing gear, Ranft said he often finds schools of fish close by underwater structures, such as a bend in the old Brazos River channel, or near submerged brush or trees.

“It’s not uncommon for one end of the boat to be reeling in fish while the other end can’t get a hit,†Ranft said. “One of my most important jobs is being able to keep the entire boat over fish.â€

Fishing the right bait
Having the right bait is almost as important as the location, Ranft said.

Ranft uses live shad to catch the stripers and sand bass on his fishing trips, but finding them can be either boom or bust. He said he catches shad from the lake by throwing out big, circular fishing nets.

Keeping the shad alive requires moving, oxygenated water, and Ranft keeps a series of huge, circular bait tanks by his home in Garland. This stockpile of shad gives Ranft quick access to bait, which allows his clients to get in as much fishing as possible with no time lost searching for bait.

Ranft’s understanding of the complexities of finding fish, combined with his penchant for acquiring bait for his clients, are two big reasons why his business has shown steady growth. Casual anglers also are learning that it’s cheaper to hire experts such as Ranft a few times a year than it is to maintain a fishing boat – and they average far more fish and fillets per day, too.

On his recent fishing trip, Ranft and his guest continued to catch fish as long as Ranft kept thumping his steel-toed boot against the bottom of the boat. They changed to another location just before sundown – and, just like before, nothing took the bait until Ranft started thumping the bottom of the boat.

“I just use my boot, but people can buy electric thumpers for their boats,†Ranft said. “Some people use old broomsticks or old fishing poles to do the tapping. I don’t think it makes much difference what you use, but I do know that doing the thumping can make a huge difference in catching fish.â€

The gallon bag of tasty fillets he sent home with his guest certainly helped prove Ranft right.

Ranft, who has been guiding on weekends and holidays much of his young life, is hoping to go into the business full time in the near future. To learn more, visit the website Ranftguideservice.com or the Ranft Guide Service Facebook page, or call (940) 452-8439.