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KVD Q&A from the Southern Challenge

June 10, 2008

Highlights from a Strike King Q&A session with Kevin VanDam after the Southern Challenge in June, 2008. KVD finished 2nd, and 1st place in the following weekend.

Question: What did you know about Wheeler Lake before this tournament?

VanDam: I’ve fished three or four BASS Tournaments at Wheeler Lake, and I’ve fished three at this time of year. So, I had some knowledge of the lake to pull from before beginning the tournament.

Question: What did you expect to do at Wheeler?

VanDam: I knew that the bass would be moving out, and the best pattern would be fishing the grass off the flats.

Question: What did you learn on practice days?

VanDam: I looked at many areas I’d fished before searching for patches of underwater grass. Fishing with Kevin VanDamI found only 10% of the grass of what I’ve found during other tournaments at Wheeler Lake. I knew immediately that wherever there was grass this year, there would be a competitor’s boat sitting on it because all the competitors know the most-productive pattern at Wheeler is fishing over grass. At about 10:0 am, I began searching for areas to fish that weren’t on top of grass. I abandoned my plan to fish the grass, since it was also everyone else’s plan.

Question: For what kinds of regions were you looking?

VanDam: I was searching for structure, like channel ledges, drop-offs and humps as well as ridges, depressions and ditches. I was looking for depth changes without grass that might hold bass. I looked all the way from upriver to the dam to find unique bottom changes without grass that would hold bass and not be a place where most anglers were fishing.

One of the real keys to winning the tournament is determining what other competitors will do, where they’ll fish, and what type of lures they’ll use. Then, use a different pattern using a variety of lures, so you don’t have to divide-up the fish you find on those spots with the other competitors. Strike King Red Eye ShadThe majority of the field concentrated on fishing the grass around the Decatur flats. I knew they’d be splitting up their catches between each other because that’s the most-common and generally successful pattern.

Question: What did you learn about baits and lures during practice?

VanDam: I found many shallow-water drop-offs and ledges where I caught bass on a 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad. When I identified drop-offs and ledges in 5 to 7 feet of water, I’d fish with the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad. The 3/4 –ounce Red Eye Shad is a new Strike King lure that is incredibly effective for fishing deep water in the summer.

Question: What color shad were you using, Kevin?

VanDam: I was using the Sexy Shad color and fishing it on 12-pound-test fluorocarbon line.

Question: Were you catching many bass in practice?

VanDam: Yes, and catching a 1 to 1.5-pound bass was easy, but I was trying to catch bass weighing 2+ pounds. I found three or four locations to catch 2- to 4-pound bass with the Red Eye Shad. I began to look for deeper ledges to catch bigger fish with my Strike King Series 5 Crankbait in the Sexy Shad color. Strike King also had a chartreuse version of the Sexy Shad that I fished to catch bigger bass in deep water.

Question: Let’s talk about the first day of competition. Tell me where you fished, and how you caught your bass.

VanDam: I had a late draw to leave on the first day. Since I was the 78th boat to leave the launch site, I decided to fish a shallow drop-off less than 1/2-mile from the launch site. When I pulled up on the spot, I immediately caught a limit with a couple of very-nice bass. I caught all the bass on that spot with a 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad in the Sexy Shad color.

Question: What made the spot able to hold bass?

VanDam: This was a small ridge about 3 feet from the surface. On either side of the ridge, the depth dropped off to 5 feet. Strike King Red Eye ShadThere was a small amount of current where the bass were holding to feed on shad. I discovered the bass moved on top of the ridges early in the morning.

Question: How were you running the Series 5 Sexy Shad crankbait?

VanDam: I used a medium-fast retrieve. I’d cast the Series 5 to the top of a ledge, reel it down to 5 to 7 feet, and when it came off the 10- to 12-foot drop-off, the bass would bite.

Question: Were you using a stop-and-go retrieve or steadily retrieving the bait?

VanDam: I was reeling the bait on a steady retrieve. There were so many easy-to-catch bass holding on that spot that I didn’t have to give the Series 5 any type of erratic retrieve to get the bass to bite.

Question: Kevin, where did you decide to go first on the second day of competition?

VanDam: On the second day, I decided to visit the second spot I fished during the first day of competition – where I’d located the school of 3-1/2-pound bass. When I reached the spot, I didn’t get a single bite off my crankbait, which was so effective on the previous day. So, I changed my bait to a Strike King Football head jig and caught two, 2-1/2-pounders. After this, I felt confident that the school of bass from the day before was holding in the same place. I began to alternate baits with the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad in the Premier Pro-Model spinner bait. When I went back to fishing the Series 5 crankbait, I caught another bass. The crankbait bite began to pick up again.

Strike King Series 5 CrankbaitWhen I’d caught 17 pounds of bass at this place, I decided to remain here for the rest of the day to protect the spot from other anglers. I stayed until about 1:00 pm and then went to check other areas. I tried to catch a kicker fish for my stringer on one of the other sites. But I didn’t catch a fish for culling. That night I decided that on the third day of competition I’d return to this same area and fish there all day long.

Question: Kevin, what did you do on Part Three?

Van Dam: On day three, I left the dock in the order of finish from the previous day. So, I was the fourth boat to leave the ramp. I planned to run straight to my primary spot. When I reached my spot, the fishing was slow. Then the bite picked up, and by 9:00 am, I had 20 pounds of bass in the boat. I decided to stay away from the place where the bass were biting, but to protect the spot, I fished around that region. While fishing around my primary spot, I caught two more bass that allowed me to cull up from a 20-pound stringer to 22 pounds and 12-ounces of bass – the biggest one-day catch of the tournament.

Question: What did you do on the last day of the tournament?

VanDam: I ran to my big-fish spot where I’d caught the majority of my bass. I used all the same baits I’d used the previous day. Bass seemed inactive the fifth day, and I had a hard time getting one to bite. I hooked quite a few big fish that I lost. I’m convinced I had the opportunity to win that tournament, but I just had too many fish get off my hook. I lost this tournament because of 8 ounces.

Question: Kevin, what were you doing to make the fish bite?

VanDam: Most people have a difficult time making bass bite when they don’t want to bite. Because I knew where the bass were holding, I made multiple casts to this spot using different baits. The secret is to use multiple casts to the same spot with different lures in hopes that one of the lures convinces the bass to bite. Also, I worked my baits in different ways to get that reaction strike I knew I needed. I fished the Carolina-rigged worm and the Football Head jig, hopped the Sexy Spoon and cast a 3/4 –ounce spinner bait. Every now and then, one of the fish would react and bite a lure.

Question: Is that what you usually do in an area where you know bass are holding but won’t bite?

VanDam: I throw them everything including the kitchen sink to get them to bite.

Question: On the last day, on what did you catch your bass?

VanDam: Two of the fish I weighed in were caught on a Football Head jig, two were caught on a crankbait, and two were caught on a Sexy Spoon.

Question: What kind of Football Head jig were you fishing, and what kind of trailer were you using?

VanDam: I was fishing a 1/2-ounce black, brown and chartreuse Football Head jig. The color is called Texas Craw. I was using a green-pumpkin Rage Craw trailer on the back of the jig. I cast the lure out and dragged it on the bottom to get the bass to bite. I kept the crawfish bouncing on the shells on the bottom, slowly and steadily, just like a crawfish would move on that shell bottom.

Question: How did you lose the winning bass?

VanDam: The bass were taking the crankbait, which had treble hooks. Often when they jumped, they’d throw the bait. You’re always going to lose some fish on a crankbait. To prevent losing bass, I use a crankbait rod that has soft action and really-sharp hooks, changing them several times throughout the day. I keep my hooks perfectly sharp and try to keep the bass from jumping, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do to keep the bass from jumping off.