Not only are Kevin VanDam and Denny Brauer the No. 1 angler in the world and the best bass fisherman of all time, respectively, they are also good friends. After more than a decade together as two of the best bass fishermen ever to walk the planet, VanDam knows a thing or two about how Brauer operates on the water. In other words, how he wins.

In the following, VanDam shares his thoughts with BassFans.

Amazing Feel

"The thing that strikes me most about Denny as an angler is that he can feel when he has a win within his grasp, and he goes for it," VanDam says. "He may be in 40th place -- it doesn't matter. He's not afraid to come in last. It's not about the money and he doesn't fish conservatively for the points.

"In my mind he's absolutely the best at recognizing that window of opportunity and capitalizing on it. I've seen it too many times. He can feel it and he does it.

"A good example is when we were at High Rock Lake, a few years before he won the Classic." (That was in 1995 and also a Classic. Mark Davis won.) "Denny finished in last place, and going into that tournament he really felt he was going to win," VanDam says.

"They dropped the water level and (conditions) changed, but he knew (the area he was fishing) was his best opportunity to win." Brauer finished last "and it didn't bother him. I'm sure people teased him, but he knew that's how he had to fish to have an opportunity to win and he had the confidence to do it. He didn't try to go in on anyone else's water and do what some other guys do. He did what he did and suffered."

But in 1998, when the Classic returned to High Rock, Brauer fished the same area and won. "They didn't drop the lake overnight on him and he won," VanDam says. He blew it away, Denny Brauer style." He won by nearly 10 pounds.

Versatile and Smart

Brauer is known to favor flipping and pitching, but "he's much more versatile than most people realize," VanDam says. "He's not just a flipper. And he's very good at articulating a pattern, at knowing and understanding the intricacies of a pattern when he finds it, and capitalizing on it.

"He understands how fish are positioned and what it's going to take to get them to bite in a certain situation," VanDam says. "It doesn't matter whether that's with a spinnerbait, jerkbait, topwater or whatever."

Goes For It

"That's obviously why he's won a lot of events," he notes. "Denny's record shows that he wins a lot, and he's either winning or somewhere down in the standings because he's always going for the win.

"He's not fishing for 2nd or a Top 10 finish, he's fishing for 1st place. He finishes 2nd, 3rd or 4th occasionally, but a lot of times he swings for the fence and gets a foul tip. But the thing is, he also connects quite often." (Only Roland Martin, Rick Clunn and Larry Nixon have more wins on the BASSMASTER trails than Brauer's 12.)

Taught VanDam

VanDam also goes for the win, but he wasn't always that way. Brauer's example changed him.

"Hanging around Denny, seeing the mentality that he has to go for the wins, encouraged me to do the same," VanDam says. "Early in my career I was really geared to always making a check or having a good finish. I fished a little conservatively.

"But I watched him win a lot of different events, and realized that it just takes that determination and confidence in a pattern and area, and the ability to grind it out and get that win. That's one lesson I learned from Denny."

VanDam Voted For...

Despite all that praise, of course the fans want to know: Who would VanDam vote for as the best of all time?

"That's a tough one," he says. "Clunn has 28 Classics in a row and 4 Classic wins. It's tough to beat that. I probably would have to vote for Clunn.

"But if it was the best tournament angler in recent years, over the 10 or 11 years I've been fishing, it would be an easy choice for me," VanDam says. "Not that Rick hasn't had some great accomplishments over the last 10 years, but Denny's really had a tremendous time."