Kevin Van Dam

VanDam in prime position for Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year

April 8, 2008 – bassmaster.com

There is something ominous that came out of Florida, at least for all the Elite anglers except one.

You may not have noticed it. As a matter of fact, the best guess is the only ones who did were a few of the Elite anglers with lofty goals.

The exception is Kevin VanDam: He doesn’t feel anything but euphoria. The rest of the crowd should be feeling the KVD cloud starting to surround them.

Why is that?

It’s best explained like this: VanDam sucks in Florida, or at least usually sucks in Florida. Meanwhile, the past two seasons, he has been on a personal mission to add a fourth Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title to his resume.

The last two seasons, he’s finished a few points behind Michael Iaconelli and Skeet Reese. And in one of those years — 2006 — he missed an entire event because of a disqualification.

If not for truly inspiring performances from Ike and Reese, KVD would be slapping this sport around like a crippled shad.

Going into this season, or any season for that matter, everyone knows VanDam will be an Angler of the Year factor by the time the last fish hits the scales.

But in this one, there was at least a chance the Florida factor would keep VanDam at bay long enough for one of the Elite anglers to get a lead and make the race interesting.

You can’t say it won’t be interesting at this point. But VanDam certainly hurt some feelings at the Kissimmee Chain.

Victory by Elias caps a record-breaking week in Texas

April 6, 2008 – bassmaster.com

ZAPATA, Texas — Falcon Lake was full of big surprises this week, but maybe none bigger than Paul Elias jumping from fifth place Sunday to win the Bassmaster Elite Series Lone Star Shootout presented by Longhorn.

And the fact that Elias edged Terry Scroggins by a mere 4 ounces to win the $100,000 title made this event even more of an eye-opener. Scroggins entered the day in the 12th and final spot among Sunday’s finalists — 21 pounds, 8 ounces behind Day Three leader Aaron Martens.

In a tournament that established Falcon Lake as “the best bass fishing lake in the world,” according to several Elite Series pros, all 12 anglers Sunday went over the 100-pound mark and entered the BASS “century club.”

Six of them broke the previous BASS four-day, five-bass limit record of 122-14, set by Steve Kennedy at California’s Clear Lake on April 1, 2007. Elias now owns the mark at 132-8, averaging almost 7 pounds for the 20 bass he brought to the scales over four days.

“I had the best day on the water that I’ve had in 32 years of tournament fishing,” said the 56-year-old, Laurel, Miss., resident.

Elias knew it would take something like that to overcome Aaron Martens, Mark Davis and Byron Velvick, who had been among the tournament leaders the previous three days. Martens had led all three days. He started Sunday with a 7-7 advantage over Davis, 7-12 over Velvick and 14-11 over Elias.

“I knew Aaron would have to have a train wreck, and Mark would have to really drop off,” Elias said. “I thought I would have to catch 40-plus pounds to win. It was just one of those days.”

Martens, Velvick sitting on New York City for bass

April 5, 2008 – bassmaster.com

ZAPATA, Texas — If we were talking about people, the Falcon Lake sweet spot Aaron Martens and Byron Velvick have shared the last two days would be considered a high density residential area. Maybe even the highest-density residential area known to man. Or bass.

As the Bassmaster Elite Series pros prepared to take off at 8 a.m. Saturday for the third day of the Lone Star Shootout, presented by Longhorn, Velvick started adding up the numbers that have put them at the top of the leaderboard, with 79 pounds, 13 ounces, for Martens and 76-9 for Velvick.

“We’ve caught 280 pounds off that spot,” said Velvick, who was adding in the totals from their co-anglers both days. “That’s just what we’ve weighed in. That’s not counting what we’ve culled. You’re catching a 6-pounder and throwing him back. Catching a six-pounder and throwing him back. So it’s probably more like 400 to 500 pounds off that one spot in two days.”

Velvick, a former contestant on ABC’s “The Bachelor” show, stopped and considered the words that had just left his mouth.

“As I’m saying those numbers, I can’t believe what I’m saying,” he continued. “I’m telling you that, and I’m thinking, ‘My God, that’s crazy.’”

Martens, who weighed in the second-biggest five-bass limit in BASS history Thursday with 42-0, said he had caught two 8-pounders and a 7-pounder in another location. But the majority of the record pace he’s set in holding the lead here for the first two days of the tournament have come from this ultimate sweet spot in Falcon Lake’s Arroyo Del Tigre (Tiger Creek, for you gringos).

Unbelievably, it could get even sweeter today. Temperatures were in the low 60s under clear skies when the top 50 anglers after two days of competition left the Zapata County Public Boat Ramp this morning. For the first time this week, the wind isn’t expected to hit double digits all day long.

Records Will Fall

April 5, 2008 – bassmaster.com

ZAPATA, Texas — If Matt Reed’s practice is any indication, Falcon Lake could produce numbers that will shatter everything in the BASS recordbook.

Proof of that starts Thursday when the Bassmaster Elite Series pros begin the Lone Star Shootout presented by Longhorn on this 83,654-acre Rio Grande River reservoir.

Reed caught a five-bass limit estimated at 48 pounds during one of the three practice days this week at Falcon.

“It was the best day of fishing I’ve had in my life,” said the 35-year-old Madisonville, Texas, angler, “especially when you consider that I was pulling up on one spot, catching one, and then going somewhere else.”

The BASS single day record for a five-bass limit is 45 pounds, 2 ounces, set by Dean Rojas on Florida’s Lake Toho in January 2001. Several of the Elite Series pros think that record and Steve Kennedy’s four-day total weight mark of 122-14, set last year at California’s Clear Lake, are in jeopardy this week.

“If Kennedy’s record isn’t broken, something went majorly wrong,” said Mike McClelland, who has won three Elite Series titles over the past two-plus seasons of the tour. “I don’t think 20 pounds will put you in the top 50 after the first day.”

In the first two Elite Series events this year, both in Florida, first at the Harris Chain of Lakes and then at the Kissimmee Chain last month, every angler in the field was hoping for a 4-pound bass that would make a world of difference in his total weight each day. A 4-pounder isn’t likely to stay in the livewell long, if at all, this week, according to Reed.

“The guys that fish team tournaments down here won’t put a 4-pounder in the livewell,” Reed said. “I’m going to put a 4-pounder in the livewell, until I catch something bigger. On the second day of practice, my little one (of his 5 biggest bass) was 7 pounds. But I didn’t catch one over 8 that day.”

ALMOST 80 POUNDS IN TWO DAYS……AMAZING

April 5, 2008 – basszone.com

Zapata, TX – With pre-tournament reports making Falcon Lake appear to be a bass-fisherman’s nirvana, where a five-fish bag of bass could tip the scales at better than 50 pounds, the first day’s results left nothing to be desired. To even be considered a contender on the first day, 30 pounds was the requirement

The requirement had many in the 109-angler field stumped because a 30-pound bag is almost mythical. To some, getting to, or at least near, 30 pounds was easy. But to then find yourself culling six-pound fish in order to crest the hump became…well, stupid. As with the Florida venue, the big bite is key. The difference is at Falcon you had to view “big” at a different angle.

The Lone Star Shootout, the third stop on the 2008 Elite Series schedule, would have been better billed as “The Lone Star Livestock Show” with all the donkeys that crossed Thursday’s weigh-in stage. Ultimately, it was the bag of mules that Aaron Martens hoisted onto the scales that took top honors.

Martens, like the other 108 anglers that crossed the stage after him, was awestruck at the fishing – noting that if the weather (and wind) cooperated, all the records were at risk. The wind, which rocked the lake Thursday, blew again Friday out of the north; however, it switched to the southeast by day’s end, still maintaining a steady 20-mile-per-hour stride.

FLIPPING OUT AT FALCON LAKE

April 3, 2008 – basszone.com

Zapata, TX – In a word, what is soon to unfold in this dusty border town could best be described as “unbelievable.” At least that’s the word that was repeatedly thrown out in an attempt to try and frame what’s going on at the third stop of the 2008 Elite Series at Falcon Lake.

This week’s Lone Star Shootout will be just that, and all fingers point to the record books suggesting that every one of them will be re-written by the time Sunday comes. 78,000 acres is a lot of water to cover and certainly affords a ripe inventory of possible ways bass will be caught, so when asked to describe the go-to bait or area, the pros just grin and say, “yes.”

Yes to everything it seems as there isn’t a program that could be written for the week that won’t produce a 20-pound stringer each and every day; however, 20 pounds a day won’t sniff the top 50 this week…and back to “unbelievable” we go.

It’s going to be a shootout, the likes of which has never before been seen. Tales of 50-pound practice days, while hard to fathom, have happened. Usually, when you ask an Elite Series pro what Friday’s cut-weight will be, you get a solid answer that might vary by one pound between 10 different anglers.

At Falcon, the best you can hope for is a sheepish grin and a dazed look with some stuttering response of “big…just big man.”

KVD….IT IS ALL ABOUT WINNING

April 3, 2008 – basszone.com

Zapata, TX. – If Kevin VanDam’s illustrious tournament career didn’t already intimidate many of his competitors, then his recent Florida victory no doubt put some of them over the top. Competing in a state that was deemed to be his Achilles Heel, he put any doubts to rest about whether he could win when a lake didn’t appear to fit his strengths.

We’ve all heard it before: “Don’t let Kevin get mad at them.” When he doesn’t do well, or struggles on Day 1, he often comes back to crush the field as the tournament progresses. But how does he make that happen?

“I practice for our type of events,” he said. “The transition can be tough for a lot of rookies who are used to fishing one or two day events. In a three or four day event, you don’t want to burn up your spots in practice. I may miss the mark on the first day, but the way I practice, by covering a lot of water, I have a lot of options as the tournament goes on. I might catch 10 pounds, then 15, then 18, then hopefully 20, while a spot fisherman will start at 20, then drop to 15, to 12, then seven. He’ll run out of fish or spots.”

He understood why the fishing public may have been surprised by his most recent victory: “When you think of Florida, you don’t think of KVD, you think of Peter T, who’s a superstar down there. But I can adapt myself to the style of fishing. It’s different today than it was five years ago. You can’t hop around as much as you used to. I know that and I practice for that.”

But despite those perceptions, Kissimmee might not have been his most rewarding recent win.

“I’ve had some good finishes in Florida, some seconds and thirds,” he said. “I’ve also had some bad ones. But winning at Guntersville last year actually meant more to me than most. I had always done well at Guntersville, lots of top fives, and I’d been in position to win several times.”

Would it be especially meaningful to him to win with a technique other than his famous power fishing one-two punch of cranking and spinnerbaiting? Perhaps with a dropshot or swimbait?

“It doesn’t matter to me what I have to do to win. Over the years, I’ve learned my strengths and weaknesses and I adapt my style to the conditions. Power is my strength, but I grew up fishing finesse. Everyone remembers that at the E50 at Lewisville, I won on a spinnerbait, but I dominated the early rounds on a shakey head. I caught one almost 12 pounds and had a 15 pound lead.”

Falcon predicted to be BASS record-breaker

April 3, 2008 – bassmaster.com

ZAPATA, Texas — The consensus among 109 Bassmaster Elite Series anglers ranks Falcon as the best lake ever for a BASS tournament site, and predicts no record in the book is safe this week at the Lone Star Shootout, presented by Longhorn.

Boyd Duckett believes Steve Kennedy’s four-day tournament weight record is definitely history. Kennedy set the mark of 122 pounds, 14 ounces, at California’s Clear Lake in March 2007. In fact, Duckett, the 2007 Bassmaster Classic champion, thinks the 12 anglers making the final cut here this week might all surpass Kennedy’s mark.

Jeff Kriet won’t go that far, but he did say, “I don’t think the record can help but be broken this week. This lake is so good and these guys are so good, it’s going to get pretty nasty.”

“This is uncharted territory,” Dean Rojas said. “We’ve never been at a place with so much potential for so many big fish to be caught. It’s off the chart. You don’t know how to gauge it.”

Competition began at 8 a.m. Thursday under cloudy skies, 10 miles-per-hour east-southeast winds and 74-degree temperatures. The clouds are predicted to give way to mostly sunny skies around noon, when the temperature will start rising to a predicted high of 96. The winds may gust up to 25 miles per hour today.

That forecast of high winds put no damper on Rojas’ thoughts that his single-day, five-bass record of 45-2, set in 2001 at Florida’s Lake Toho, is in jeopardy too.

“I think it is because of the lake we’re on,” Rojas said. “The potential of it falling is pretty good. I’ve never been to a lake like this before.

KVD Ready for Another Shot at Fork

April 1, 2008 – fishpaa.com

It’s rare to see Kevin VanDam’s name in the middle of the standings when an event is complete. Over the course of his career, and in particular during the last few years, it has become the norm to see him either close to the top or in the winner’s circle.

Therefore, it was something of a shock to learn that his team finished 20th out of 40 teams at last year’s inaugural Toyota Texas Bass Classic.

Middle of the pack finishes don’t sit well with KVD, so he’s itching to get back to the lake for this year’s event. He sat down for a few questions about what happened last year and how he intends to fix it in the 2008 tournament.

What went wrong last year?

The thing about it is, with a four man team, a lot of things are out of your control. Our team as a whole missed the mark on the dominant pattern. We had a good game plan, but the wind didn’t allow us to execute it.

What adjustments will you make this year?

It’s not just me. Everyone is going to adapt to the format. We’re all learning how to get the pairings right on the team, to figure out whose styles complement each others. We did a good job with that last year. The problem was that on Fork, with all of the standing timber, you can’t just go from A to B, you have to run in the boat lanes and you may have to idle a mile to get to your spot, and given the time constrictions you have to factor that in. It’s nice knowing your team. For example, Paul Elias is on my team. I’ve known him forever. I actually drew him on Guntersville in the late 80s before I was fishing full time?

What about the other members of your team?

Dave Lefebre, he was on my team last year, so I know he’s a good fisherman. I fished against him in the FLW tournaments before. I also know Jimmy Mason, who used to be in the Elites. He’s a real good structure fisherman and Guntersville is his home lake so he’s used to catching big bass.

Are egos a problem in this sort of tournament?

In general, bass fishermen have big egos, but I don’t expect it to be a problem for my team. Our decisions will be made as a team and we’ll make decisions based on what all four of us think. I don’t have to use my boat and I don’t have to run the trolling motor and I don’t expect anyone on my team to be that way either.

Where else would you want to see the PAA hold one of these events?

Lake Fork is the perfect place for this event and this format. I have to give a lot of credit to the PAA Board, and in particular Gary Klein and Mike Auten. They spent lots of time on this and with all of the tournament experience they have they found a place where this format works, even with Fork’s regulations, without affecting the competition. We worked with the Texas Department of Fish and Wildlife and having a judge in the boat was a slight inconvenience but it maintained the integrity of the tournament.

Triple-digit guarantee

April 1, 2008 – bassmaster.com

Because the upcoming Elite Series stop on Falcon Lake will be a first for the BASS organization, one would think there would be plenty Elite anglers wondering what to expect from the 78,000-plus acre fishery that straddles the Texas/Mexico border.

But even as many of the pros make their first trip to the remote lake in west Texas, there seems to be a consensus about the action that is scheduled to be held April 3-6.

That is — “Think big. Really big.”

This area of the U.S. is known for producing lunker bass. It’s part of the same Rio Grande chain as Lake Amistad which became a buzzword a couple years ago when triple-digit sacks were amassed after four days of fishing. And here’s the scary part — there are anglers who believe Falcon Lake is better than Amistad.

What’s that mean for the Elites heading across Texas’ Hill Country to reach Falcon? Well, for starters, it has some thinking that Steve Kennedy’s BASS tournament record of 122 pounds, 14 ounces (set on California’s Clear Lake in March, 2007) could be history by the time fishing on Falcon is complete.

Alton Jones, who hails from Waco, Texas, is one of those anglers. And it’s not because he’s following a trend being bandied about by Elites and pundits, alike. Jones has, perhaps, more experience on Falcon Lake than any other man entered in the Elite Series field.

The last couple years he parked his RV near Amistad where he would fish during the offseason. This past winter, the RV was parked at Falcon.

“It was the same thinking as Amistad,” said Jones, who won this year’s Bassmaster Classic. “I didn’t have a lot of experience there, but I knew I would have plenty people fishing with me. I checked and I spent 43 days of Falcon during the offseason.”