(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part story that covers Kevin VanDam's winning Toho Elite Series pattern. Part 1 discussed his practice and competition. Part 2 covers his gear and techniques.)
Since the lipless crank was invented, it's been used to fish the grass, and the traditional method is to "rip" it off the grass when it snags, which often triggers bites. VanDam did a lot of that in the hydrilla, of course, but according to him, there's a special way the Strike King RedEye shad falls after he kills his retrieve, and that made all the difference.
"The key for me was making that bait fall, and the RedEye Shad's different than any of the other lipless baits in the way it falls," he said. "When you're either ripping it through the grass, or fishing it in the open, you just pull it and stop – you yo-yo it like that."
He noted that, especially when it was slick-calm, the fish would only bite on the fall. And all his big fish, including a 9-pounder, bit that way too.
"I'd rip that bait up, let it flutter down, and the way it swims to bottom is the deal," he added. "It shimmies from side to side as it falls. Anyone who's ever fished a Zero or Senko knows what I'm talking about, and no other lipless bait does that.
"We designed it on purpose to do that," he added. "It's pretty amazing. In fact, I'm surprised it took me this long to win a tournament on it – it's that good of a bait. If you take it and drop it in a pool, you'll see that it stays horizontal, just the nose tilts down, it swims just a little forward, and wiggles right and left – like a Zero or Senko falls. That's what we were trying to emulate."
The Color
VanDam let the secret out on his custom color when he won at Guntersville last year. He calls is "sexy shad" and he threw the RedEye in that color, with the addition of a blue-chrome back.
The color's not available yet for the RedEye, but should be as early as next week. He said Bass Pro Shops will be the first to receive their shipment (the order page can be found here).
VanDam said the Strike King RedEye shad falls a lot like a Senko-style bait – with a 'shimmy' – and that made all the difference.
Also notable is he's in the process of developing a whole range of sexy shad colors for different water clarities.
Calling All Schools
During the last hour and half on the final day, when conditions were brutally tough and nobody could buy a bite, VanDam said he turned to his Biosonix unit. He whipped through each of his waypoints in the middle of Toho trying to improve his limit.
He didn't just run the unit, though. He cranked it all the way up in order to trigger the bass to begin schooling. Here's what he said about the process.
"I made a conscious effort to go as close to the spots as I could. I'd go right on those coordinates and try to make them school when it got slick. I didn't have the time to work these areas out. I needed to pull up and catch fish. I knew the Biosonix was my best chance. I'd seen it work before, and it really paid off in that last hour.
"I'd been running it all week on an interval pattern," he added. "I just went out there and ran the volume up high in a continuous shad pattern. The first spot I pulled up to, they immediately started schooling and I caught two quick. I got them to bust in other areas and I culled four times in that last hour to get up to 10 pounds. It was the difference."
Winning Gear Notes
> RedEye gear: 7' Quantum Energy PT crankbait rod (composite), Quantum Energy 750PT reel, 17-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Strike King RedEye Shad (blue-chrome/sexy-shad).
> He did catch a few on a 3/4-ounce RedEye Shad, which isn't yet available to the public.
In the final hour of the last day, VanDam cranked up his Biosonix unit to a continuous shad pattern and said he was able to trigger schooling activity.
> He threw a Strike King King Shad in green gizzard shad on the same setup.
> He swapped out the two stock hooks on the RedEye for two No. 2 Mustad extra-short-shank Triple Grips. "That's the best rod, reel, line and hook combo for landing these fish," he noted. "I've experimented a great deal with it all, and to me, this is the program. I never lost a single bass in the tournament."
> He swapped out the hooks on the King Shad too, using a pair of No. 2 Mustad Ultra Point Triple Grips.
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "Without a doubt, it was the way the RedEye falls."
> Performance edge – "The RedEye Shad, as I said, but there was one other neat deal. Mercury's about to introduce its new Fury prop. They sent some out for people to test, and it's pretty amazing. I'm not blowing smoke. When I didn't make the cut at the Harris Chain, we put on a 25-inch Fury, loaded my boat to emulate a tournament, and the prop cut my hole-shot in half. Then I ran it wide-open and it was 5 mph faster on the GPS than my (previous) Tempest prop. That's a huge increase, and to me, it means an extra 50 casts in a day. It's very impressive."
