BassFan Q&A
VanDam On Texas Troubles And Wrong Decisions

Photo: BassFan Kevin VanDam says the competition now is tougher than it's ever been.

He scored a mediocre 45th at Falcon, then failed to check at Amistad. And although he doesn't factor it into his performance evaluations, the team he captained finished dead-last in the PAA-sanctioned Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC).

The Texas trip-up seems somewhat magnified, since he saddled up in the Lone Star state immediately after a decisive win at Florida's Lake Toho.

BassFan sat down with VanDam to ask about his Texas troubles. That conversation is summarized in the Q&A below.

BassFan: You have a win this season, but alongside that, you've had a few struggles, all of which puts you at 8th in the BASS Angler of the Year race. How would you evaluate your performance so far this season?

I've had a couple of good tournaments, and I've also had a couple I'm not too happy with. Texas was not good to me at all.

It's all in the decisions you make at the time. In Texas, those were such good lakes that you can't hardly bounce back if you get behind at all. And that was really the case for me. Especially when we lost that day at Amistad – that makes it tough. When you've got to make the Top 12 in 2 days, instead of 3 days, it's a challenge.

Do you lump the TTBC in there too?

No, not really. I don't really look at that. I had some bad luck there, but when your three other teammates don't have a good day – or no good series at all – that's the way it goes.

Were you trying to force your bites in Texas, did you pick the wrong areas? What happened?

I probably overthought it. Well, I definitely did. I overthought the situations more than anything else, especially at Amistad. I knew the areas and what to do to catch the big ones there, but it really didn't happen for me.

I didn't catch any real big ones, so I kept searching deeper, trying to do different things – trying to find them elsewhere – when I should have stuck with what I know happens down there.

And Falcon was kind of the same. When you're catching 5-pounders, it's hard to leave when you need to go to a place to catch 7s or 8s.

Murray's next week. Are you in one of your "mad" moods where you're ready to turn things way up?

I try to do well at every event, and you can't always do that. I can get mad every week, but that doesn't mean I'll end up having good results.

I'm going to try my best there (at Murray). It's been a long time since I've been there. I'm sure the lake's changed a lot since I've been there, but I do like the lake.

About your points standing, do you think a lot will change in the points over the next month through Murray, Wheeler and Kentucky Lake?

We're not that far into the season, but there's already a lot of guys who are really strong. If you look at the Top 10 in the points standings, it's pretty stout. And there are some new faces too.

It's amazing how that is every year. Guys will get hot and really have a good year. But you can also be sure that some of those guys in the Top 20 right now, you won't even see them in the (Bassmaster) Classic. There's so much more fishing yet to do.

This upcoming swing, and then north to the Mississippi and on to New York and the smallmouths – on paper, it looks to suit your style perfectly.

I just go out and take every event for what it is and do my best. I looked forward to going into Texas this year. And last year, I looked forward to going to Champlain, Buffalo and Oneida. I did well there, but I didn't do fabulous or anything like that.

I have a lot of confidence in those places – I'm real comfortable with them – but I also seem to do better sometimes in places that are new, or that we haven't been to during that time of year before.

You just have to get into the right rhythm and get a couple of key bites in practice that key you into the right pattern.

And I'll tell you, it's so much tougher now than a few years ago. Guys are so much more competitive overall as a field. I'm sure probably half the field was up at Kentucky Lake this past week. I know a lot of guys went up there before the off-limits.

I think that's just the nature of the sport. Guys are driving to do better and working harder at it and practicing more.

Notable

> VanDam's headed to New York with his family today to appear Saturday morning in Times Square for the FOX & Friends Weekend show, which airs on the FOX News Channel from 7 to 10 a.m.