The two most recent winters delivered record-low temperatures across much of the South. Last year at the Lay Lake Bassmaster Classic practice, some of the shallow, still waters actually skimmed over with ice. And this year at the Louisiana Delta Classic practice, air temps were frigid and the water temps were in the low-40s. Area anglers remarked they'd never seen the water that cold.
Overall, fish were highly uncooperative across the initial 3-day practice – especially the Florida-strain largemouths that reside in the Lake Cataouatche area. Many pros practiced right through the area, never got a bite and wrote it off. A great many of them instead opted to make the 4-hour round-trip run south
toward or past Venice, near the juncture of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.
A select few, however, recognized what Cataouatche could be if a warming trend developed.
The air and water did warm significantly by Wednesday, when the pros launched one more time for a short practice day. The water temp had shot up 15 degrees and after the following off-day, they figured it'd be close to the magic 64-degree mark. If that did happen, the giant Floridas would certainly move into Cataouatche and begin to spawn.
And boy did they ever. Consecutive fog delays cut into the Venice fishing time – some pros there only had an hour to fish on day 2, a little more on day 1 – while Cataouatche exploded with big Florida females.
The bite in Cataouatche wasn't easy. The fish moved in to spawn and weren't fixed on eating. It took reaction baits to trigger them, and that's where Kevin VanDam comes in. He's probably the best reaction-bait fisherman in the history of the sport, and he won the Classic by a massive 10 1/2-pound margin.
He did it with a spinnerbait and a crank in a pond off Lake Cataouatche, and he made the winning move on day 2, when he ditched the spinnberbait and went to a square-bill crank. Everyone else fishing around him eventually switched too, but he was way ahead of the curve and loaded the boat while others scratched their heads. At the same time, he recognized that the way to catch the fish was to make repeated casts to the same cover element – something the other contenders were slow to realize.
The victory marked VanDam's fourth Classic title (his third in 6 years) and it pushed him past the $5 million mark in career B.A.S.S. earnings.
Here's a closer look at how he did it.
Practice
VanDam won the 2001 Classic on this very same body of water. That year, he fished Bayou Black. In fact, this year's winning area was brackish water in 2001 – the result of environmental degradation and saltwater intrusion. But the Davis Pond project diverted freshwater from the Mississippi back into the marsh, the state of Louisiana stocked Florida largemouths in Cataouatche and virtually overnight, the area began to kick out mammoth catches.
VanDam, who was well aware of Cataouatche's famed reputation, said he didn't come and scout prior to the cutoff. He did start official practice on his previous winning spot, but it was cold and muddy and he pinpointed numbers, not quality.
"This time of year, things change fast," he said. "I (had) an idea of what areas potentially hold fish, but I ruled out Venice long before (practice). I knew the Mississippi would be cold – I live where it starts and I knew there was no way you could fish 3 days there without being fogged in. I wasn't going to gamble that.
"I went to an area in Bayou Segnette. It was cold, but when I saw what the lake looked like, and all that grass out in front of that barrier – you don't have hard bottom in very many places of the Delta, but bass need a hard bottom to spawn. And it had all that bait out in front of it. I kind of said, 'This is going to be the place.' I checked it two times in practice and never got a bite.
"But on Wednesday, the official practice day, it warmed up and we were looking at a warm front coming in and I thought, 'This is the pace to win, no doubt.' I had three bites back in there (on Wednesday), but one was an 8- or 9-pounder. I made up my mind that I'd gamble on this place. From the first moment of day 1 it was like lights-out back there. I knew I made the right decision."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 19-03
> Day 2: 5, 22-08
> Day 3: 5, 28-00
> Total = 15 69-11
As the day-1 fog began to dissipate, it was clear that Cataouatche would be crowded. VanDam and eventual runner-up Aaron Martens literally touched boats, Scott Rook was right there too, and several others like Brandon Palaniuk and Derek Remitz were in the vicinity.
Day 1 was a solid fishing day, but not gangbusters and Martens led, Rook sat in 2nd and VanDam held 3rd.
Photo: B.A.S.S./Seigo Sato
Along with a bait change, VanDam also stopped moving and made repeated casts to the same stump. That was a key difference, and something the other competitors weren't doing, he says.
By day 2, the water had reached the magic mark and fish flooded into the area. Everybody caught them in Cataouatche, but VanDam caught them best. That's because early in the day he sensed that the fish began to bump his spinnerbait. They weren't eating it and he needed to trigger their latent aggression, so he switched to the new Strike King KVD 1.5 square-bill crank – a bait very similar, at least in appearance, to the ultra-popular Lucky Craft RC 1.5 – and once he dialed in the color, it was game on.
He carried the lead into day 3 and never looked back. He whacked a 28-pound sack on the final day with the crank.
Winning Pattern Notes
Following are some unabridged quotes from VanDam about the area, the pattern, his technique and his decisions.
"The one thing I've learned over the years in tournament competition is that you have to trust your instincts. The thing that probably helped me more than anything and what won this tournament is some experience I had in the past with knowing how fish react to these types of extreme weather changes. Based on time of year, and with the full moon, I knew those fish would be in that area on Friday. Whether it's cold or not, they're coming. If it had been cold, I would have caught them on a (Strike King) RedEye Shad. It got warm and on the first day I caught them on a spinnerbait. But I saw 2 hours into (day 2) that it had already started to change. They weren't wanting to eat. When they first move in it's unbelievable, and on Wednesday that was the beginning and I think I could have caught some real giants. But it changes by the hour when conditions are like that. They were pretty extreme (weather changes) and the bass move fast."
About the spinnerbait bite: "Aaron and I pulled up the first morning in fog. I threw a spinnerbait out there – I had the area pretty well lined up. Really, four of us knew what was going on in there – Scott Rook, Derek, Aaron and myself. We were the ones who really had that dialed in the first day. A couple of other people kind of came in and around. All of us spent time there. Right away, Aaron started cursing – he was throwing a spinnerbait. A couple hours into it, I had five or six come in and bump it – ram into it. What happens is, when they start thinking about spawning, they don't want to eat anymore. You have to make them react. The key in the beginning, and why a lot of guys missed it to start – a lot of guys went in there and didn't catch much at all – is these fish wanted that bait real slow. I was really slow-rolling it. I saw a lot of guys winding real fast, but I knew that wasn't the deal. You had to move it real slow."
About his switch to the crank on day 2: "By the end (of day 1) the spinnerbait bite was dwindling. It had changed that much. I could tell. The second morning, we had a short day and I fished (the spinnerbait) for an hour and had three bites and five misses. It was time to make a change. Knowing the way the fish were banging that bait, I knew I had the perfect medicine – a new square-bill we just came out with (at Strike King). It's only been on the market for a month – the KVD 1.5. It comes in a 2.5 and I threw both, but the 1.5 was the deal. I experimented through colors but pretty much caught every bass that second morning on chartreuse with a black back, (although) I did catch one 4-pounder on the spinnerbait. The water color in there, and when the bass get funky, they don't like bluegill in there. A firetiger or chartreuse/black-back in stained water around the spawn is real good."
About the importance of that day-2 change: "I do think I won it on day 2. You don't want to jinx yourself – but I was pretty confident going into (day 3) that I'd figured out what I needed to do. I was watching the other guys and they weren't doing it. The thing I've learned, out of all the top fishermen in the world, and I've been around all of them – I've fished against Roland Martin and Hank Parker and all them – is the guys who are really good, and Aaron is one of those guys, they're very perceptive. They notice little, bitty things. Like the first day when we went in there, there were mullet everywhere in practice, but Aaron said, 'Where did all the mullet go?' He was exactly right. Today, the (place) was alive with bait again. Those perceptive skills are what separate really good anglers – something like noticing how a fish hits a bait or doesn't hit a bait."
About how he fished the crank: "What helped me a lot being able to throw the crank was I could find stumps. I saw when the water was low and a little bit clearer that there's not 30 feet of water in there where there's not a stump. It's like a swamp that flooded. So I knew how many stumps were there. I learned (on day 2) what I had to do, and (on day 3) I went out there to a certain area where the stumps were close, put down the Power-Poles and fan-casted. With the crank, I'd make multiple casts to the same stump. I got a fish (on day 2) where I made four or five casts to the same stump, then caught (it). At that point I was like, mmm hmm, I know exactly how to fish – real methodically. I don't think the other guys got that (on day 2). Today I started by doing the same thing and it didn't take long at all. In the first half hour, I made four casts to the same stump and had a 4-pounder eat it."
Photo: BassFan Store
Here's the winning KVD 1.5 crankbait by Strike King. VanDam designs baits for the techniques he uses and says he's 'fortunate' to have companies that grant him 'a lot of leeway' in the design process.
Winning Gear Notes
VanDam said he used the same rod/reel/line combination to crank that he used to win the Elite Series post-season in Montgomery, Ala. last summer.
With the crank, he employed his signature series Quantum Tour KVD cranking rod, which is a fiberglass/graphite blend.
He used a 5.3:1 Quantum casting reel and 20-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon.
As noted earlier, his crank was a square-bill Strike King KVD 1.5 in chartreuse/black-back. He replaced the factory trebles with two No. 2 Mustad KVD Elite Triple Grip trebles. They're heavier hooks and didn't bend or turn over when banging stumps or fighting big fish.
His spinnerbait was also his signature series – a 3/8-ounce Strike King in chartreuse/sexy-shad with a Colorado and a willow-leaf blade. It's available exclusively through Bass Pro Shops.
A few other gear notes from VanDam:
About the KVD 1.5: "The unique thing about the lure is I spent over a year working with our lure designer to try to build a bait that's unstable when you reel it in. Most baits wobble, either tight or wide, but mainly come straight back to the boat. This bait doesn't do that. It doesn't matter if you reel fast or slow. It just kind of kicks around and that's what triggers the bass. It's inconsistent and it tells them it's something they should target. And the bait really deflects (off wood) well. It just jumps when it hits."
About his tackle as a whole: "I'm just really fortunate to work with a lot of great companies that allow me to work with them – build (tackle) for the techniques I do. Quantum – I have my own signature-series rods and reels. I do a lot of work with Strike King to design baits. The RedEye Shad – I designed it to fall the way it does. This 1.5 is the same thing. This year at Kentucky Lake I won with the new 6XD – super deep diving, again with features not in other lures. It's harder to come up with a good hardbait. It has to have all the right attributes. The action say on a jig, or a spinnerbait, it's pretty easy. But when we need to make molds, add weights, it's hard. This week I needed the whole (tackle) system to make it happen. That's why I feel real fortunate to work with companies that allow us a lot of leeway in designing products. You know, I saw Berkley had a big announcement this week: 'Baits designed by the pros.' What a novel idea."
About his new fish-activation device: "Another thing I used, and that you'll be hearing a lot about, is in the past we had BSX units. I'm part of a new company called HydroWave. It came right down to the wire. (Jeff) Kriet and I were the only two – we were supposed to have eight prototypes here. I used mine throughout the week. There was a little glitch and we only had one sound pattern and one volume. It was a pretty aggressive pattern. But I have a lot of experience with the technology and (day 3) was the day I knew there were louder and more aggressive shad sounds in the water. And with the wind we had, and the cloud cover, the bass would be more active. I think (the HydroWave) really made a big difference. I was really making a lot of casts, but most of the bass I caught (on day 3) were 30 feet from the boat. That's where it really makes a big difference – when you're closer to where they really hear it. Bass are very competitive by nature and when they hear the sound of another bass eating something, it definitely makes a difference. I've made a lot of money on that technology."
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
