Kevin VanDam

VanDam has Grand smile after Day One

June 21, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com

GROVE, Okla. — Two weeks ago, after a merely human 39th-place finish on Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake, Kevin VanDam wasn’t a happy man. But the two-time Bassmaster Classic champion and three-time BASS Angler of the Year was smiling again after the opening day of the Sooner Run presented by Longhorn Tobacco on Grand Lake.

“When things go your way, it makes you happy,” said the 39-year-old VanDam.

Things went VanDam’s way Thursday to the tune of a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 11 ounces, to put him atop the leaderboard. Rookie Marty Robinson of Landrum, S.C., is second with 20-0. Mike Iaconelli and Ben Matsubu are tied for third with 19-8. Another rookie, Lake Amistad winner Derek Remitz, rounded out the top five with 19-1.

Everyone is catching fish. Of the 116 pros, 102 weighed limits. But the key is, can you catch a few four- and five-pounders in that limit?

High Water Hurts Grand’s Deep Bite

June 21, 2007 – bassfan.com

If there’s one factor that hurts a deep bite more than any other, it’s mud. Limited water clarity shrinks the strike zone to a point where you pretty much have to hit a fish on the head to catch it.

So it’s no surprise that, in the wake of flood waters, Bassmaster Elite Series pros had to chuck pretty much everything they knew about Oklahoma’s Grand Lake. Tomorrow’s competition here marks the 7th stop of the Elite Series tour, and high water has largely blown out the lake.

Last week, heavy rains in southeast Kansas and southwestern Missouri filled Grand well above full pool. But the Grand River Dam Authority kept as many as 21 flood gates open, and the water level has been steadily falling. As of noon today, water elevation was 746.42 feet.

Normal elevation for this time of year is 744, so the lake’s still within the bounds of flood pool.

What that means for anglers is that a lot of debris is floating in the lake, which can make long runs more time-consuming. It also means the water’s muddier than normal. One plus, though, is there’s been water in the bushes.

Grand Lake has been full of rain water, but it’s emptying fast

June 20, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com

GROVE, Okla. — Severe storms have peppered the lower half of the United States the past few days, but few can compare to the rain event of the Midwest last week. As much as fourteen inches of rain pounded areas of southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri and to many Elite Series pro’s, it must have seemed like all of it flowed into Grand Lake in northeastern Oklahoma, site of The Sooner Run presented by Longhorn Tobacco.

Ashley Arrives

June 10, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com

MONETA, Va. — Casey Ashley sat backstage as Sunday’s weigh-in cranked up, playing it as cool as he could under the circumstances.

The 23-year-old rookie Elite Series angler was on the verge of a giant career leap — maybe. He carried a 4 ½-pound lead into the final day of the Blue Ridge Brawl presented by Advance Auto Parts, the sixth event of his rookie season. But he had only four fish in his bag, one short of a limit.

Would it be enough? He’d have to wait, being the last angler to weigh in.

He looked around at the other finalists: Boyd Duckett and Takahiro Omori, both Bassmaster Classic champions; Dean Rojas, a former BASS record holder; Skeet Reese, the current Angler of the Year points leader; and Dave Wolak, the 2005 Rookie of the Year among the backstage crew.

“Look around,” Ashley said. “I feel awesome, no matter if I win or lose. Why wouldn’t I feel great? I’m sitting back here with the best fishermen in the world.”

A few minutes later, he officially defeated the best fishermen in the world. Ashley weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces, a significant drop from pervious days but enough to overcome a last-day charge by Terry Scroggins and give the rookie angler his first career victory and $100,000.

Anybody’s Ballgame

June 10, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com

MONETA, Va. — Skeet Reese as usual was showing the pressure of leading the Angler of the Year points race and sitting in third place, 6 pounds shy of the lead in another Bassmaster Elite Series event.

Actually, he was relaxing on his boat minutes before take-off Sunday, the decisive day of the Blue Ridge Brawl presented by Advance Auto Parts, bobbing his foot in the air. He looked at the sky. “Clouds,” he said. “A helicopter &” Then he thought about how great it would be if the sky were full of helicopters that would throw water balloons on him when he needed to cool off.

This is the sort of casual attitude that Casey Ashley (1st place, 47-9) would do well to emulate, having taken the lead when previous leader Boyd Duckett sacked only 7-11 on Day Three and fell into a tie for third with Reese.

1,000 casts per catch

June 7, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com

MONETA, Va. — Ish Monroe was sure that someone would figure out how to catch fish on Smith Mountain Lake. He just didn’t figure he’d be among them.

On the first day of the Blue Ridge Brawl presented by Advance Auto Parts, 2007 Bassmaster Classic champion Boyd Duckett sacked 19 pounds, 5 ounces to take an appreciable lead over rookie Bryan Hudgins (2nd, 16-6), who himself took the lead from Monroe (3rd, 16-3), who stole it from Rick Clunn (4th, 15-11).

While most anglers were predicting an average weight of 13 pounds would win this, the sixth event on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour, Monroe maintained Thursday morning that this limpid mountain lake would cough up 18 pounds a day for some intrepid angler.

“Any time the lake has the fish, somebody is going to figure out how to catch them,” he said after weighing his limit. Said Clunn: “I’m not just impressed with my catch. I’m impressed by all the 13-pound stringers.”

SEEING IS BELIEVING AT SMITH MOUNTAIN

June 6, 2007 – basszone.com

Lynchburg, VA – The Blue Ridge Brawl – the sixth stop on the Elite Series trail – has been looming on the series’ calendar like a worrisome mole. Not because the venue at Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake is a gar hole, but because the majority of the field lacks any history on the lake at all. This is only the second time a Bassmaster tour-level event has been held at the mountain fishery – with the first being an Open in 2004 where Virginia native Dave Dudley was crowned the winner.

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the 20,000-acre pond is capable of coughing up some nice limits, but again it’s the relative unknown that has many in the field concerned heading into Thursday’s opener. Much of the lake’s 500 miles of shoreline is heavily developed offering anglers a multitude of targets and the bass endless possibility for cover.

When Dudley won the Open event in 2004, he did so with an 11-pound daily average; however, the tournament was held in mid-October were the bass population were on their fall binge preparing for winter. 11 pounds a day this week would be strong, but it’s possible that you will see the winner average over 12.