Kevin VanDam

Memories of Classics past

February 19, 2008 – bassmaster.com

The Bassmaster Classic was once the Big Enchilada, the only show in town for the fledgling outdoor writer. If you received an invitation to the Classic, you had tapped into the motherlode, a vein of gold that could supply a struggling outdoor writer with enough material to solicit the big magazines for freelance assignments for the coming year.

My first Classic was in 1988 on the James River. Being in the same room with pros like Denny Brauer, Guido Hibdon, Hank Parker and Rick Clunn seemed surreal at the time, while jockeying for interviews alongside big-time writers like Tim Tucker, Wade Bourne, Steve Price and many other “masthead men.”

The destination was Rome. The Classic was the Vatican. Ray Scott was the Pope, dressed in buckskins and a cowboy hat. And some of us sinners made the most of it.

Like a few hoodlum outdoor writers back then, once the daily deadlines were met and all social obligations complete (including an open bar at Ranger Night) the elites would retire to smoke-filled hotel rooms and begin the nightly defilement.

It didn’t matter how much beer you consumed — as long as you could deliver final wisdom in the wake of four brutal boat rides as a Classic press observer, everything was good. But the system worked only if you didn’t whine about a severely damaged spinal column and bruised ribs. Once you wimped out, you lost your ticket to the big show and the respect of your peers.

Let the Hype Begin as Classic Week is Here

February 18, 2008 – basszone.com

Greenville, SC. – Every one of the 50 BASS anglers that are on duty next week have been thinking of the first launch of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell since the Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens and Federation Nation Championship and Bassmaster Weekend Series schedules finished in the fall of last year.

As Classic week commences and the competitors have had three full days of official practice last week. Based on those three days of practice, each of the anglers has been planning and strategizing what they believe it will take to hoist the Bassmaster Classic Trophy over their head amongst the fireworks and confetti.

The BASS ZONE caught up with nine Classic competitors who shared details of their practice periods, what their basic plans will be and what they think it will take to take their place among bass fishing’s version of champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

Tim Horton – 9th Classic
Like Hartley, Muscle Shoals, Alabama’s Tim Horton found the fishing to be slower during the practice period.

The 35-year-old has experienced tour-level success in his decade on the trail with a variety of tactics – everything from a crankbait to a football head jig to a flipping stick, and he doesn’t expect to have to go to anything too off-the-wall this week. “It’s going to be pretty standard stuff.”

But he’s firm in his conviction that the only way to win is to plumb the depths. “You’ll need deep fish to win,” The YUM Baits pro revealed. “You can get bit shallow, but I don’t think you can win it exclusively shallow.”

Even a warm front won’t change that, in his opinion. “We’d all like for it to get nice and warm, but even if that happens, those fish that are 30 to 50 feet deep won’t feel that for several weeks.”

Ish Monroe – 5th Classic
At 33-years-old, Monroe has proven himself a very capable angler on the biggest stages; and this year’s Classic is no different. He said he spent more time trying to figure out which style of fishing it would take to win the tournament.

“I’m looking to fish deep,” the Hughson, Calif. pro revealed. “I feel pretty confident that I’m on good starting limits, but am still looking for the winning fish.” Monroe said that he will use the one remaining practice day on Wednesday to try and further dial in his game plan.

Skeet Reese – 9th Classic
The 2007 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year said that he has mixed emotions about the Classic at Lake Hartwell. “I got a lot of good bites last week, but I know that a lot of the other guys did as well,” The Lucky Craft pro said. “I think this tournament is going to be one of attrition, its going to be very tight.”

Reese said that he had to go shallow to find his better bites, and said that the main reason was that finding quality bites deep at Hartwell was like sifting through the proverbial haystack. “They’re there,” said the man in yellow. “But there is so much submerged cover that it takes a long time to locate them.”

He also revealed that locating them is also complicated because the lake fishes so large. “I got turned around a couple of times, and had to stop and get my bearings on my Lowrance to get where I wanted to go next,” he said. “There are a lot of cuts and islands that can cause a guy to get disoriented.”

The Champion Boats pro staffer said that he thought the weights were going to be a little heavier than what some of the other anglers were saying. “I think the winner will have a 20-pound day, and then follow it up with two 18-pound bags,” Reese said. “It will take two kickers one day and a solid kicker each day to win this event.”

He said that much of Hartwell’s bass population is deep. “I think 90 percent of the fish are in 30 to 50 feet, and that there is a 75 percent chance it will be won deep; I’m just hoping that I’m in that 25 percent that has the right shallow bite figured out.”

He told The BASS ZONE that, like Horton mentioned, the weather would not make too much of a difference into his game planning. He also said that he is seeing more anglers than some of his other competitors are mentioning. “When I am fishing the limit areas, I am seeing more boats around, but when I am targeting what I believe are winning fish, I pretty much have the water to myself.”

Monroe told The BASS ZONE that he thinks it will take predominantly largemouth to win the tournament, but that it wouldn’t surprise him to see some spotted bass mixed in. Whatever the species an angler weighed, Monroe felt that it would take significant weight to win. “It should take around 48 to 50 pounds to win; it seems to be a pretty good fishery.”

Classic forecast calls for mild temperatures and, yes, rain

February 17, 2008 – espnoutdoors.com

Assuming the weather forecast for next week’s Bassmaster Classic on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell holds true, it will reinforce the old adage: If you want it to rain, invite BASS to hold a tournament in your town.

“There’s a very good chance of rain, it looks like, for late Friday and going into Saturday” of the Classic, said Doug Outlaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service weather forecast office serving the Greenville, S.C., area.

It could rain as much as an inch or two. And it will follow a forecasted inch of rain this weekend, and while it won’t be enough to offset the area’s yearlong drought, any rain is good news in the Southeast.

Outlaw said the week leading up to the Classic will also be slightly warmer than normal seasonal temperatures. With a front dragging in rain from the west, anglers will practice Wednesday under cloudy skies and with breezes of 10 to 15 mph.

The chance of rain will increase from about 30 percent Thursday night to 40 percent on Friday. And although models aren’t terribly reliable more than a week out, Outlaw did venture to say that “Saturday will be the best chance of rain.”

According to Sam Anthony, a semi-retired longtime guide on Hartwell, the rain won’t be enough to affect the bass, which he says are largely suspended more than 30 feet deep and will probably stay deep until about the second week of March.

While the forecast temperatures include highs near 60 degrees, Anthony said the fish won’t move up to spawn until the nights warm, and those are expected to dip into the high 30s.

Bobby Knight gives his take on the Classic

February 17, 2008 – Bassmaster.com

LUBBOCK, Texas — The old coach shuffled onto midcourt, took one look at Timmy Horton’s long blond locks, and told him point-blank: “I can’t take anyone with long hair. You look like a (expletive) advertisement for women’s products.”

That’s hardly how Horton, the 2000 Bassmaster Angler of the Year, is used to being addressed. But then, this was Bobby Knight talking. And Horton, along with fellow 2008 Bassmaster Classic qualifiers Gerald Swindle and Boyd Duckett, came to Texas Tech’s campus to get a lesson from the General, knowing they could be tempting a dragon.

Knight next grilled Swindle, the 2004 Angler of the Year and winner of zero career BASS tournaments. He asked whether the bass pro had been in another business before he took up fishing. Swindle said he had been a carpenter.

“You must have been (expletive) good in business, because you haven’t won anything in fishing,” Knight barked back.

Then he noticed Boyd Duckett, the winner of last year’s Classic, getting a chuckle.

“You think you’re sitting here with two friends,” Knight told Duckett. “These two guys are rooting against you like hell in this tournament, now. They don’t want any repeat in this.”

This scene unfolded in mid-January, the week after Knight had notched his 900th coaching victory, extending his career record for men’s basketball. The anglers had agreed to join an ESPN crew to shoot promotional footage for the Classic, which will take place Feb. 22-24 on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell. (Those clips will begin airing with the Classic coverage Saturday, Feb. 23, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2.)

At the time they didn’t know Knight was less than two weeks from announcing his retirement. Nor did they know that, more than just playing the role of the irascible old cuss for the cameras, Knight, a dedicated angler himself, would offer them some genuine coaching.

Cold Water, Lethargic Fish Make The Hunt Difficult

February 15, 2008 – bassfan.com

Bassmaster Classics come in all shapes and sizes. There have been small-weight events, slugfests, contests decided by ounces and those by pounds, but the best any BassFan could hope for would be a Classic that puts the premium on savvy.

That’s why the Hartwell Classic might go down as one for the ages – one that’s decided not by who’s camped over the biggest school of fish, but by who makes the best on-the-fly, instinctive decisions.

That’s what creates uncertainty, and the excitement that comes along with it. And if reports from the official 3-day practice hold for next week, this baby could go right down to the final hour.

What follows are highlights from several pros about their 3-day practice.

Auten Trying To Make Things Work

Todd Auten, who lives up the highway in Lake Wylie, S.C., doesn’t like what he’s seen so far. He’s a shallow-water fisherman, and the bite he wants just isn’t there. He’s not too stoked about what he’s found deep, either.

“It’s real slow for me,” he said. “It’s not really happening. I’m catching a few fish – getting a few bites – but I’m trying to shake off everything I can get to bite, so it’s hard to say what kind of practice you’re getting.

“I’m doing a lot of looking – trying to find the right water,” he added. “I actually put in different places every day, and fished different areas of the lake, instead of running around everywhere, trying to find where I might want to concentrate.”

He reported water temperatures that ranged from 46 to 50 degrees, and noted that sun could possibly push water to 54 degrees back on the shallow flats. That mid-50s mark is still dreamland at this point though.

Todd Auten’s one of the pros who’s trying to make the shallow bite work, and so far it hasn’t.
“I think most of the fish are probably still deep,” he said. “I’m a shallow-water fisherman. I’ve got some deep stuff, but I’m just trying to make what I like to do work. It’s not working real well. I’ll probably have to drop back and punt.”

He added: “I don’t know if I can catch five deep or not. It’s slow out there for me too. I think it’s going to be one of those tournaments were you just find a good area, then stay around in there and hope you catch a decent limit.”

Anglers starting to realize they need to abandon the shallow bite

February 14, 2008 – bassmaster.com

With the Classic only seven days away, anglers aren’t sure how to react to what’s happening during their three-day practice.

Reigning champion Boyd Duckett hardly practiced at all the week before last year’s tournament on Lay Lake, saying the weather was going to change and it would be a waste of time.

Cold temperatures are forcing guys deep if they want to catch anything of substance on Hartwell this week, but who knows what the weather and spawn might be doing next weekend?

“This time of year, it’s so volatile, you never know what’s going to happen one day to the next,” John Murray said. “It could be that by the time the tournament starts next week, you can throw out everything you learned, except for running the lake.”

Murray’s a special case, because there’s not much the weather can do over the next seven days that would pull him toward the shore. He just hopes the weather will do something to make the deeper fish more active.

“I like to fish deep, and there are a lot of deep fish on this lake, but I just can’t get them to bite,” he said. “There’s always going to be a shallow bite and the fish are going to be more aggressive shallow, but I think a guy can put together a real nice limit deep.”

Brent Chapman, on the other hand, came into to practice hoping for the beginning stages of a spawn, and instead was met with freezing temperatures.

After spending three-fourths of his practice the first two days sticking to what he had hoped, he decided to give in and wet a little more line. It wasn’t long before he caught his biggest fish of practice.

“I’ve had to fish a lot deeper and do some things that aren’t my strengths,” Chapman said. “I at least feel like I’m on the right pattern. I’d like to be able to find a few more spots, but this lake is so big, it’s hard to get a good feel for the entire thing.”

Lake Hartwell turns tough

February 14, 2008 – bassmaster.com

For the 50 contenders, the 2008 Bassmaster Classic on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell has already begun.

The anglers hit the water Tuesday through Thursday for three official practice days, their first look at the water since the off-limits period began Dec. 15, and their last chance to whip their game plans into shape before the start of the Feb. 22–24 Classic.

The full field will compete Feb. 22 and 23 before the top 25 face off on the final day for the $500,000 first-place prize and coveted title of 38th Bassmaster Classic champion. Daily weigh-ins will be at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, S.C. Doors will open at 3:30 p.m. ET, and admission is free.

Practice days are for scouting, and what most contenders discovered were cooler-than-expected water temperatures and gusting wind that made boat positioning a challenge. A cold front moved in Tuesday — the low Wednesday morning was 29 — keeping bass in deep water. That leaves a big question mark for contenders who planned to tap into productive shallow-water techniques next week.

“I had a shallow pattern developed and I had some deep fish,” said defending Classic champion and Bassmaster Elite Series pro Boyd Duckett of Demopolis, Ala. “There’s no indication of fish moving up, but with this weather front, it’s really difficult to say what will happen during competition.

“I’m pleased that the fish I found in early December are still there. I’m not getting as many bites as I’d like — I don’t know if it’s the effect of the cold front or what — but some are quality fish.”

Elite pro Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., the reigning Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year, said his practice days were his first close look at Hartwell.

Former Classic Champion Mark Davis qualifies for the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series

February 11, 2008 – bassmaster.com

He may have been away for two years, but he was never far away, and now that he’s returning to BASS competition for the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series, Mark Davis admits he’s not only excited but also looking forward to the challenges he faces.

That may not bode well for his competition. After all, Davis is the only angler to hold the Classic championship title and Angler of the Year crown simultaneously. He qualified for this year’s Elite tour by placing fourth overall in the 2007 Bassmaster Southern Open series. Had he placed third, he’d be in this month’s Bassmaster Classic.

Davis won the 1995 Classic on North Carolina’s High Rock Lake, climbing into the winner’s circle after erasing a deficit of more than four pounds the final day. Overall, he’s competed in 13 Classics, so he knows well the joy as well as the heartbreak the event can bring.

“Of course I’m disappointed not to have made the Classic,” says Davis, long considered one of the most easy-going anglers in the sport, “but I’m also very happy to have qualified for the Elite Series.

“When I began fishing last year’s Southern Opens, making the Bassmaster Classic was my only goal, and going into the final event at Lake Wheeler, I was in third. All I needed to do during that tournament was to catch one larger fish, but I didn’t do it and missed the Classic by one position. That entire week I never caught a bass over three pounds, which seems hard to believe, but I never did, and only the top three qualified for the Classic.

“There is only one Classic. It’s always been that way, and for anyone in our sport, it’s easy to understand why just qualifying and competing in that event is every fisherman’s goal.”

A Few Emerge As Pre-Classic Favorites

February 7, 2008 – bassfan.com

Kevin VanDam — Kalamazoo, Mich.
> Qualified through: Elite Series points (2nd)
> Fished: 17 Classics
> Best Classic finish: 1st (2001, 2005)
> Current world rank: 1st
> Insight: Probably the overall favorite – that’s just how good he is. That said, he’s largely struggled at Clarks with finishes of 55th, 50th and 12th. That makes the Savannah chain one of his overall worst venues. Still, he hasn’t lost a bit of fire despite all he’s accomplished and there’s every reason to think he’ll win several more Classics over the coming years.

Hard To Peg Favorites For Unpredictable Hartwell

February 7, 2008 – bassfan.com

The 38th Bassmaster Classic is drawing near – in fact, the official 3-day practice begins next week.

For this go-round of bass-fishing’s “Big Show,” competition takes place at Lake Hartwell along the Georgia/South Carolina border, with weigh-ins and festivities an hour away in Greenville, S.C. Unlike past Classics at popular tour stops like Toho or Wylie, or repeat Classic venues like Lay or High Rock, Hartwell presents more of a puzzle to the Classic field.

First there’s the lake itself. It’s not heavily trafficked within the sport’s upper echelons, although Clarks Hill – another Savannah River impoundment downriver – definitely is. There are enough parallels between Hartwell and Clarks Hill
to at least draw that lake into the discussion. But lack of lake experience certainly shakes up the predictability of the outcome.

Throw water level into the mixing bowl too. Hartwell’s 10 feet below normal pool right now – a result of the drought gripping the American Southeast. Where that’ll position the bait, and the fish, is anyone’s guess. And bait is the key, because the Hartwell bass feed heavily on nomadic blueback herring.

And then there’s the weather, which could do anything. Average temps for this time of year are highs in the mid-50s with lows near freezing. A warm front is currently parked over the lake, but cold weather’s likely to follow. There’s every chance that the field will be picking ice from their guides each morning.

So the fish could still be holed up and suspended in the main lake, they could be moving toward their spawning areas, or they could be already around the bank come opening day.

In all, the setup is everything a BassFan could want in a Classic. Relatively neutral water, a mystery bite, and a strong field.