The news that Kevin VanDam won the recent Grand Lake Bassmaster Elite Series with a Strike King crank isn't new to BassFans. But in the pattern information that follows, he divulges key details about his equipment and strategy that he said made all the difference.
Practice
VanDam finished 22nd at Grand last year, and he returned this year to find the water considerably muddier and higher – the result of heavy rains and flooding in adjoining states.
To help remove some of the high water, the Grand Lake Dam Authority pumped water heavily, and the lake continued to fall throughout practice.
The no-brainer deal as practice began was to flip the miles of flooded willows along shore. "It was hard not to look at," he noted. "I think the majority of the field thought that was going to be the deal.
"I practiced in the willows for a little while. I caught one good fish, and had a few small ones, but it just didn't feel right to me. I knew from the year before, with as many bass as we caught fishing offshore structure, that probably a lot of fish didn't move into the willows."
He also figured that since the water was dingy, and moving, the crank was going to be a good bait. He felt the current would pull the shad to the main-lake points, and the bass with them. So he quickly started to hit some points.
"I started to catch a few fish – not anything real big – so I started running different types of points," he noted. "At about mid-morning of the first practice day, I hit a school of fish on a nothing-looking gravel and chunk-rock point. And they were quality fish.
"I think I could have caught a real big stringer in four of five casts, but I only needed to catch two to know they were there."
He connected with those fish in 4 or 5 feet of water, and when he saw that, he "knew" there had to be other schools like it on other points. He spent the rest of practice exploring and expanding that pattern to other points.
"I kind of narrowed it down. I didn't catch a lot of fish, and I didn't catch a real big fish, but I caught a good one here and there and enough keepers to be able to catch a limit in a day. And I felt I'd have a chance to catch a big stringer if I was able to hit one of those big schools."
Days 1 & 2
> Day 1: 5, 21-11
> Day 2: 5, 21-08 (10, 43-03)
Each morning on days 1 and 2 VanDam hit a school of big fish, "and pretty much whacked them."
The first morning, he and his co-angler caught "25 fish in a row" and the bite lasted for about an hour. He caught 18 or 19 pounds there by 8:00.
"That gives you a lot of confidence," he said. "After that, I kind of practiced a lot – ran a lot of points that looked good – and ended up catching two or three more that I (weighed). I tried to stay off my best water, and caught my biggest fish later in the day."
On day 3, VanDam noticed something wrong – the white bass weren't around, which meant the shad weren't there either.
The reason he tried to avoid his best water was spectator boats. He had at least 50 boats with him, and he wanted to tread lightly on his best stuff.
He went to his best spot the morning of day 2, where he'd whacked them the day before. "There was another competitor sitting on that spot, which kind of surprised me, but somebody was there," he noted. "So I went to another place that I thought was similar, and that I felt had the potential to have a good school on it too.
"I went there and lambasted them. I had 18 or 19 pounds in 10 casts."
He was basically done fishing by noon, so again, he ran a bunch of good-looking points in order to stay off his best water.
Days 3 & 4
> Day 3: 5, 16-03
> Day 4: 5, 18-12 (10, 34-15)
> Total = 20, 78-02
Day 3 was VanDam's worst of the tournament. He said he "didn't hold anything back" and fished everything he knew. So what was the problem?
"In my mind, the cloud cover and rain hurt," he said. "I thought it would make what I was doing even better, because in those conditions they typically move shallower and get more aggressive – they're not quite as tight to cover and the crank is a good way to catch them.
"But I noticed real quick a few things out there that I didn't like. What really told me something was really off was that the white bass weren't up around the bass. If the white bass weren't up there, the shad weren't up there."
He took that clue and felt the shad might be out a little deeper, so he moved deeper too.
"That's how I ended up catching my fish," he said. "They were just very unaggressive that day. I had a chance for a good bag, but I lost a couple of good fish that day.
"I had three good ones and two smaller ones," he added. "The only difference between that and any other day was that I didn't catch five good ones. It was my toughest day for sure. But it helped me figure out what I needed to do – I had to cover both shallow and deep on those spots."
He didn't connect with a big school the morning of day 4, but did catch a 4 1/2-pounder on his first stop, then a 4 on his second stop. His strategy was to run as many of his spots that morning as possible, since the morning bite all week had been best.
VanDam said his Biosonix unit was key, and he could watch as the activity level in his fishing area picked up.
"It didn't take me long until I had a pretty decent limit, and then from there, it was just a matter of grinding it out. I just kept hitting points, moving, and picking up a fish here or there. I'd cull up a little at a time.
"My smallest fish was about 3 pounds. I knew I'd have a shot at it, but honestly, I didn't feel very good about my chances when I came in. The weather was good and sunny and I felt like it would be a good fishing day for those other guys."
Winning Pattern Notes
VanDam noted that he saw rookie Marty Robinson running some of the same water, and Robinson was "definitely running the same pattern." In other words, Robinson could have easily connected the final day and outpaced VanDam. Didn't happen though.
"I kept my confidence up, fished my tail off, didn't waste any seconds, and kept my bait in productive water from start to finish," VanDam said.
That "productive water" was mostly main-lake points and main-creek points. He wanted to be close to the outside of the creeks, because the water "was running 24/7" and he felt that the most active fish would be closer to the current.
Winning Gear Notes
> Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Quantum fiberglass cranking rod, Quantum Energy 750PT casting reel (5.1:1), 12- and 17-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 5 and Series 6 crankbaits (sexy shad).
He cranked with 12-pound line when he wanted the bait to run deeper.
The sexy shad color is his own creation, but BassFans will soon be able to purchase it. "I caught every single fish I weighed in the tournament on those two baits," he said of the Series 5 and Series 6. "It's a color I developed for Strike King and they're going to be introducing it. It's the same one I won Guntersville with. Shad vary from region to region, and to me, it's important to match the hatch. We're doing it." (Meaning, Strike King will release regional color variations of shad like sexy shad).
Here's a look at a Strike King Series 6 in sexy shad.
He swapped out the stock hooks on the cranks with new trebles from Mustad – No. 4s on the Series 5 and No. 2s on the Series 6.
"That was pretty critical," he noted. "Mustad has new 3X extra-strong UltraPoint trebles they just came out with this year. I was having a lot of problems with hooks in practice – bottom-fishing is so rough that I was bending hooks and tearing points pretty quick.
"But those Mustads, with a bigger diameter, held up great to all those rocks – especially with the 17-pound line. Even with those, which is the most durable option out there, I probably changed hooks 50 times on baits during the course of those 4 days. But I lost very few fish over the course of the event."
Another key equipment deal, he added, was his Biosonix BSX fish-activation unit.
"At Guntersville it was a big factor during the shad spawn there, and it was here too – there's no doubt about it. When you can get a school up, and keep them biting for 45 minutes to an hour, for me, I know the Biosonix plays a major role in that.
"A lot of times I'd be sitting there with the unit running, making the same cast (over and over). All of a sudden I'd start to see baitfish present, and smaller fish chasing the shad. I'd see the activity level in the area just increase. There's no doubt in my mind it made a major difference."
Another thing he noticed numerous times was that when he sat on a spot and ran the unit, he'd eventually get back on the trolling motor. When he fired it up, shad would spray out from it. "They were right on the speaker where the shad sounds were coming from.
"I ran a more aggressive shad pattern on the Biosonix than I normally would," he added. "I kind of learned from Clarks Hill and Smith Mt. that even under high, bright skies, and not a lot of wind, a little more aggressive pattern will definitely activate the baitfish. I think that excited the bass."
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "Meticulous detail to my equipment, from having the right color bait – the sexy shad – to constantly changing hooks, to retying often with the right size line. And also the confidence I had to be persistent in the areas and cast and cast and cast without catching anything, until finally I'd trigger one. It all boils down to having a lot of confidence in my equipment and what I was doing."
> Performance edge – "To me everything's an integral part – from the depthfinder to the Biosonix, fluorocarbons, hooks, the bait. It's a total package."
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
