Kevin VanDam

The top 6 lures of 2009

September 27, 2009
(basszone.com, September 25, 2009)

Norman, OK. — When Skeet Reese credited a large portion of his winning catch at the Red River Bassmaster Classic to a Lucky Craft Redemption spinnerbait, it appeared that the tide might have turned.

While no Elite Series angler travels spinnerbait-free, the lure category had not consistently played a major in top catches over the past several years. But things can change. At Falcon in 2008, the Carolina rig came out of “retirement” and produced a large percentage of the top finishers’ catches. Would this year see a similar rebirth of some other lure category?

Not likely.

The lures that dominated Elite Series competition in 2009 were largely the ones that had produced the big catches over the first three years of the tour. There were slight variations and aberrations, of course, but for the most part the status quo was maintained.

The following is a list of six categories that made a substantial impact on tour this year. For the record, the Langill Lures Hover Trap did not make the Top Ten.

Keep on Crankin’
This year diving plugs made a lot of money for several Elite Series anglers. That was the case at obvious crankfests like Kentucky Lake (where the winner used various cranks, but not as his primary tools) as well as shallow water dinkfests like the Mississippi River. At the latter event Kevin Short used a (Zoom) WEC E1 to grind out some critical bites. While that was the only time a hand-carved shallow-running bait played a prominent role in a victory, among the deep divers certain names showed up time and time again in the top five: The RC 2.5 (both the regular and deep-diving versions); the Strike King divers, the Fat Free Shad and the Switchback Shad.
At some events, multiple anglers keyed onto a particular body style, such as at Guntersville where winner Aaron Martens used the RC 2.5 DD and runner-up Skeet Reese used the regular version. Skeet used it again to finish high at Kentucky Lake. The Strike King Series 5 and 6 made appearances at or near the winner’s circle at Guntersville, Kentucky Lake and the Alabama River – in the Kentucky Lake event Kevin VanDam used a prototype quicker-diving Series 6XD and came up just short of Bobby Lane’s winning catch.

Take it Easy on the Beaver
Does anyone fish a flipping tube anymore? The answer, of course, is yes. Mark Menendez used one to win at Dardanelle, but in recent years beaver-style soft plastics have become the bait of choice in most flipping situations. For example, VanDam used a Strike King rodent to finish as runner-up to Menendez. At the next tournament, VanDam claimed the trophy over second place finisher Matt Herren, who was using (what else?) an 1/8th ounce Strike King Shakey head jig with a four inch 3X finesse worm.

Tommy Biffle has won countless thousands of dollars on beaver baits – assumedly both the original and his new Gene Larew versions – and they contributed to his win at Wheeler and a near-win in Iowa. Chad Griffin used a beaver part of the time on his way to winning at Oneida.

Get it in Your Craw
There are several soft plastics that have refused to be pushed aside by the beavers. Then 10-inch worm remains a stalwart for structure fishing events and various finesse products are still used when the bite is tough, but the one flipping regular that has remained in the rotation is the craw.

VanDam used a Rage Craw as part of his smallie smorgasbord at Smith Mountain Lake, as did fellow top five finisher Greg Hackney. Kelly Jordon used a Lake Fork Tackle Baby Fork Craw in Virginia as well. Kevin Short did the same with a Zoom Speed Craw on the largeheads on the Mississippi.

Craws remain in heavy rotation on the backs of jigs, too. For example, Biffle used a Gene Larew craw on the back of his Rattleback jig in his Wheeler win and Denny Brauer used a Rage Craw on the back of his signature Strike King jig to make a run at the title on Dardanelle.

Swimming Along
While swimbaits didn’t come out of the storage compartments at every tournament, at key times they continue to impress. As expected, they played a key role for some top finishers, including winner Jason Williamson, at Amistad. He used an Osprey to catch the tournament’s biggest bag (34-12) on the last day. That limit included a 10-04 pig.
But the big hunks of plastic also proved themselves outside of what is typically thought to be “swimbait water” when Bobby Lane won at Kentucky Lake using a Berkley saltwater Powerbait Mullet to coax bigger strikes from his once-in-a-lifetime spot. He said that he could feel the smaller fish pulling at it but wouldn’t set the hook until what seemed to be a better than average fish took hold of the lure. A hundred thousand dollars later, it seemed that he’d done the right thing. It’s only a matter of time until one wins on a body of water thought to be even less suited to the California imports.

Atypical Jigs
The flipping jig still has its place in every tournament angler’s boat – at various times over the course of the year Denny Brauer (once again qualifying for the Classic) and Tommy Biffle (who won at Wheeler and made the top twelve overall) showed that they can still dominate with the lure that has made them most of their money over long and prosperous careers. But at other times the jig played a role in a less traditional sense. The days of a 3/8 or ½ ounce flipping style jig aren’t numbered, but they’re competing for space with their brethren.

Several competitors, including Day Two leader Jami Fralick, used swimming jigs to coax pre-spawn bass in lily pad stems on the Red River during the Classic. Randy Howell returned them to their Alabama roots in the postseason, although he came up a little bit shy of making a run at victory. The football jig, no longer an oddity or a curiosity, continues to play a role at structure tournaments like Kentucky Lake. Chad Griffin used 1 and 1 ½ ounce Ezee Jigs of his own design for part of his winning catch at Oneida, and Ike went to the opposite end of the spectrum, suing a Finesse Gripper Jig to win at Jordan.

Is Finesse Dead?
Finesse may not be dead, but when 20 pounds a day doesn’t get you in the check line at some events, you have to employ finesse tactics sparingly and selectively. KVD did so at Smith Mountain Lake, where his primary tool was a Strike King 3X shakey head worm. It didn’t come into significant play again until three months later at Oneida, where Jeff Kriet made a surge with a monstrous final day limit of smallmouths caught on a small tube with a jighead inside – coming up just short of Griffin. And then at Jordan, Ike used the finesse jig and a Power Tube to win, the first step in the eventual derailing of Skeet Reese’s AOY campaign.

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