As a Michigan native, Kevin VanDam grew up throwing a lot of spinnerbaits featuring painted blades for smallmouth.
Some of the willow-leaf blades were painted chartreuse, others were painted white, and when retrieved at a high speed, smallies often crushed them in the typically clearer waters of the Great Lakes region. During a trip to Table Rock Lake in Missouri for a media gathering in the late 1990s, VanDam first discovered painted white blades paired with a unique skirt color named for a side dish usually served with fried fish proved just as effective.
“Stacey King is my buddy and a legendary pro, and he was the first one to show me this blade and skirt color they call "coleslaw” that’s fairly popular with serious anglers around the Ozark reservoirs like Table Rock and Bull Shoals,” recalled VanDam, a seven-time B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year.
Sure enough, while the skirt is primarily white (like creamy mayonnaise-covered cabbage), it has just a few strands of orange to look like the carrots that make the popular side dish complete. And while you’ll not find any chartreuse in a great dish of your momma’s slaw, there’s even a very slight hint of that, too.
“It looks like skirt color you might use in dirty water," VanDam added, "but to me it always performs best in really clear or barely stained water on a cloudy or rainy day with about a 15-mph wind blowing."
“Those painted white blades and that peculiar skirt color make an awesome silhouette," he added, "and while a plain white skirt under painted white blades might get the job done - “coleslaw” sounds way better – and it dang sure taste better, too - even to the bass."
To mimic big gizzard shad, VanDam prefers a 1/2- or 3/4-ounce Strike King spinnerbait tied to 20-pound fluorocarbon line spooled on a large-spool casting reel with at least 6.6:1 gearing and a 7-foot, 4-inch heavy-action rod to handle the heavier lure.
As for his favorite meal where coleslaw is served on the side, “Oh, hands down, it has to be deep fried yellow perch anywhere around the Great Lakes," he said. "That’s a staple dinner where I’m from, especially on Friday nights. And if you’re feeling just a little adventurous, you can even put your slaw on top of the fried perch on a fish sandwich and eat it that way – it doesn’t get any better than that."
