VanDam Stuns Birmingham, Sacks Shocking 19 1/2

The outcome seemed almost a given. Even as Kevin VanDam made his way from the stage to his boat, some reserved shouts and cheers went up from the Birmingham, Ala. crowd. There was an icy air – a palpable electric current that seemed to signal the best who's ever been was about achieve the inevitable.

There wasn't the tension then emotional outpour like when Takahiro Omori won and feel to his knees in a heap of emotion. There wasn't an NBA-height leap like when VanDam edged out Martens at Pittsburgh.

VanDam simply weighed the biggest bag of the tournament and won by a mile.

Maybe that's more what it's like when a champion achieves such a level of dominance in a sport that a win is expected before he even enters the arena. Maybe it's

more a function of technology – readers watching BASS's Internet coverage on cell phones pretty much knew VanDam had it locked up.

But if one thing was certain, this Bassmaster Classic at Lay Lake – or more specifically, the final moments of today's weigh-in at the Birmingham-Jefferson County Convention Complex – scribed a new page in sports history.

VanDam's victory – secured by an unthinkable 19 1/2-pound bag from beat-up, used-up water – cemented him as perhaps the most dominating pro athlete in sports history.

It marked his third Bassmaster Classic title – only Rick Clunn, at four, has more. He begins the Elite Series season as the reigning Angler of the Year (AOY) for the second consecutive time (he's won five BASS AOY titles). He surpassed the previously unimaginable mark of over $4 million in career BASS earnings, and $4.5 million in combined BASS and FLW Tour winnings. And he's been the No. 1-ranked angler in the world for most of the past decade.

He clinched the win fishing close to the launch in crowded Beeswax Creek. As the first boat out on day 1, he had his choice of spots to fish. He didn't head for what others in the field felt would be the best spot in Beeswax – that's where runner-up Jeff Kriet fished all 3 days.

Instead, VanDam made an abrupt left turn from the launch, went under the nearby bridge, put down his trolling motor and moved little for 3 days. As he predicted in practice, that specific area had the right combination of elements to not only hold up for 3 days, but actually improve as the expected warm weather arrived.

Kriet's spot, on the other hand, petered out and he weighed a respectable but ultimately insufficient 14-05 today. Kriet started the day 2 ounces ahead of VanDam, but finished 2nd by a massive 5-pound margin.

Todd Faircloth, who also fished Beeswax in the vicinity of VanDam and Kriet, faded hard today when he brought 12-05 to the scales to end the Classic more than 7 pounds behind VanDam.

Local favorite Russ Lane finally got his bite to turn on in Spring Creek. He bailed on Beeswax and weighed 18-01 out of Spring – a bag second only to VanDam's – and improved two spots to finish 4th.

And Brent Chapman rode Beeswax to a 16-12 sack today and a 5th-place finish.

Rattlebaits with some cranks mixed in were the ticket in Beeswax, but 6th-place finisher Mike Iaconelli threw a grub in there too. For Ike, today marked his third consecutive championship Top 10. He finished 2nd in both the 2009 Classic and Forrest Wood Cup.

In the end, this Classic didn't come down to which pattern prevailed. It was determined by choice of starting spot – a choice that was complicated by arctic-like weather and muddy water during practice. Water temperatures in the low-40s seemed to shock the fish (and the anglers).

But Beeswax, which dominated the tournament, was the warmest of the creeks. It also had some of the only coontail in the fishery, and is a popular release site for local events.

VanDam: 'An Honor'

> Day 1: 5, 19-08
> Day 2: 5, 12-07
> Day 3: 5, 19-07 (15, 51-06)

In his post-Classic remarks, VanDam didn't single out the trophy itself as much as the competitors, fans and everyone else involved in the sport.

Things could have easily gotten ugly in Beeswax, but they didn't. And that had as much to do with his win as anything, he said.

He was first boat out by virtue of his 2009 AOY title.

"Anytime you go out as the first boat, you're going to get your choice of where you want to go," he said. "But the area I went to – I didn't have any other competitors around me. The only person who came to the area I fished on the first day was Tak (Omori). He came back there and started fishing. I'd already been in there all day and I pretty much caught 99% of what I weighed. I think he fished around a little bit and I left at 2:30. Brent (Chapman) was fishing in the same area. He kind of came back to the bridge, (but) turned around.

"Tak came up to me the second day of the tournament and said he had no idea how many fish were there. He had every right to get on it the second day, but he told me, 'You won't see me in there again.' That's the class of anglers we have on the Elite Series. It's one of the things that makes it special out here – to compete with these guys. I can tell you it's an honor to fish with them throughout the year."

About the hordes of fans that followed and watched him all 3 days, he thanked the fans while onstage and remarked that they were the best he'd ever seen. They didn't affect his fishing at all – and might have even helped, because other competitors maybe saw all those boats and turned around.

He also commented that, although he didn't make the same Classic-style leap like he did at Pittsburgh, this title – this Classic win – means as much to him as anything he's accomplished in his long career.

"I can tell you that I'm worn out," he said. "Classic week is a busy week. And the way I was fishing is pretty physically demanding – making a lot of casts. There are a lot of other demands on your time – a lot of my family's here, and you have a lot of sponsor commitments. So I apologize for being maybe not as excited as I could have been on the stage.

"But believe me, this means everything to win the Bassmaster Classic. It's what I dreamed about as a kid. It's very special and I'm going to enjoy it. It's one of those things – everybody that's ever fished a bass tournament dreams about being on that stage. I'm as motivated as ever. I'm not going to retire. I'm 43. I don't know what I'd do. I love to compete and I love the people you get to be around in this sport."

And he was quick to discard the common analogy that he's the Tiger Woods of bass fishing.

"There's a bunch of dang good people in our sport. We don't have all these issues and controversies. That's why I definitely don't like the Tiger Woods analogy. (Problems like that) are surely never going to happen to me. But you don't hear about that (in our sport). Outdoorsmen and fishermen are good people and we're passionate about what we do."

VanDam threw a Strike King RedEye Shad rattlebait in gold and gold sexy shad all 3 days of competition. As he previously described when he won the Toho Elite Series, the RedEye Shad shimmies when it falls – something he feels no other rattlebait does. He got most of his strikes by bumping or ticking cover, jerking the bait away from it, then letting it flutter to bottom.

Just as critical as the bait, he said, was he used the new Mustad KVD Elite Triple Grip trebles on the RedEye.

"Treble-hook lures are known for losing bass," he noted. "I'd been working for years to try to figure out ways to increase the number of bass I land with crankbaits of all sizes. I finally got Mustad to build the hook I wanted. It's extra short, so you can fit large hooks on a smaller bait without tangling. I used two No. 2s on the RedEye and two 4-pounders that I caught in the back – I landed them."

The full details of his winning pattern, plus pattern information for the other top finishers, will be posted soon.

2nd: Kriet Fished Clean

> Day 1: 5, 16-07
> Day 2: 5, 15-10
> Day 3: 5, 14-05 (15, 46-06)

It wasn't like Kriet, the day-2 leader, gave away the Classic – his bag was third-best of the day. He just couldn't hold off VanDam, who continues to build his case as the greatest competitive bass fisherman of all-time.

"I fished probably as clean a tournament as I've ever fished," said the 40-year-old Oklahoman who's still in search of his first tour-level win. "A 14 1/2-pound sack isn't bad – if VanDam hadn't caught them, I'd have won. I don't know what else I could've done."

He's worked extensively with a sports psychologist in recent months and was confident throughout the offseason that he'd fare well in this event. During practice and the start of the tournament, he had the cold-water conditions he'd hoped for, and even made good adjustments as the air and water warmed.

He'd planned on catching his fish well offshore, which is his specialty. He had to switch his focus to a rattlebait in the grass and still whacked them better than all but one competitor.

"I fully intended to catch them deep, shaking the Big Bite Squirrel Tail Worm. I thought I'd catch them on a jig and on finesse stuff. It might've worked out better that the water was muddy and forced me to change.

"I really thought I'd win this thing, but I guess that's another one of the visions I've had that didn't happen. I thought I'd be in the thick of it, but I thought I'd catch them a totally different way."

He said it was somewhat of an odd scene in Beeswax today as each of the top contenders had their own cadre of spectator boats.

"It'd be all quiet and everybody would be fishing, then you'd hear hooting and hollering over here when somebody would catch one, and then clapping over there (in one direction) and then more clapping over there (in another direction). I'd always look around to see who it was, and I'd be like, 'Oh, that's Kevin Wirth; he can't catch me.'

"I kind of got spun out a little, though, when (VanDam) was jacking them before I ever got a bite."

3rd: Faircloth a Little Bummed

> Day 1: 5, 18-02
> Day 2: 5, 13-12
> Day 3: 5, 12-05 (15, 44-03)

Faircloth started the day just 3 ounces out of the lead, but ended it more than 7 pounds back.

"It's a good finish, but it's not where I wanted to be," the soft-spoken Texan said. "When you get into position to win the Classic, you just want to do it. Third place, people say that's great, but that's not what I came here for.

"It's a career-changing thing and it's something that I don't have. It definitely would've been a notch on the old belt."

If he had it all to do over again, there's not much he'd change.

"I was in the right area, I found the right fish and I fished a clean tournament. I didn't lose any fish. I just feel like the fish got split up between too many of us.

"I have no idea how (VanDam did what he did today). He's a magician."

He had only two fish from Beeswax at 10:00 today. He made an unproductive run to a backup area before returning, and he stayed the rest of the day.

"It was a place downlake where I started the first day and caught a limit and I got a couple of decent bites in practice there. I went down there for about an hour, then I came back and had my limit in an hour.

He primarily targeted points and flats with grass that was a ways out from the bank, and his main weapon was a Sebille Flatt Shad lipless crank.

4th: Strong Showing from Lane

> Day 1: 5, 14-01
> Day 2: 4, 11-10
> Day 3: 5, 18-01 (14, 43-12)

Russ Lane turned in a much better performance than the last time the Classic came here in 2007, when he ended up 24th as a hometown favorite. He said he's fished as many as 70 tournaments in a single year on the Coosa chain, and this time the spotlight wasn't nearly as unnerving.

"Last time I let you guys (media) rattle me a little bit and I let all the attention I was getting go to my head," he said. "This time I took it in stride and made all the right adjustments.

"The main thing right now is I'm fishing well and my confidence is extremely high. Things are clicking and I'm going to win one pretty soon."

His long history on Lay was the main reason he came up with a big bag today – he'd been watching the conditions ripen for days and knew right where to go. He began the day in Beeswax, where he'd caught all of his weigh-in fish over the first 2 days, but compiled most of the stringer in Spring Creek, which had previously been too cold to surrender such a haul.

"I knew a week ago what was going to happen in Spring Creek today, and it was game-on as soon as I got there. I was flipping small, isolated mats. A lot of the mats in there look the same, but I just happened to know some of the better ones."

5th: Chapman Recovered

> Day 1: 5, 13-00
> Day 2: 5, 8-02
> Day 3: 5, 16-12 (15, 37-14)

Chapman imploded on day 2, but had a good enough day today in Beeswax to salvage a 5th-place finish.

"I feel good about it, considering how my day went yesterday," he said. "You can't have a day like that and expect to win, unless you had some kind of miracle. That's what I went out and hoped for and it didn't happen."

About whether he's surprised that VanDam could catch 51-plus-pounds this week, he said: "It's not a surprise. It's just frustrating, I guess you could say. It seems like every time I make the Top 6 that guy's always in there. That's how it goes though. He deserves it. He's amazing."

6th: Iaconelli Gambled

> Day 1: 5, 14-09
> Day 2: 4, 12-03
> Day 3: 5, 10-09 (14, 37-05)

Iaconelli said 2nd place or 10th would've been all the same to him today, so he sought out new water in an attempt to wander into a huge stringer. That didn't occur, but he doesn't regret the move.

"I gambled a lot today and spent a lot of time on the outboard looking for new water," he said. "I thought that stumbling onto something was my only way to win.

"In the Classic, anything other than 1st is not what you want. To be honest with you, I'm semi-happy considering how tough this tournament was. I converted 17 bites into a 6th-place finish, so I consider that pretty good. The only one of those I lost was today and it cost me one place in the standings, but that doesn't matter."

His fish came on a combination of a Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shad grub and a Laser Lure lipless crankbait.

"I'm going to focus on the positives – I'm fishing good and I'm making the right decisions."

7th: Herren Shocked

> Day 1: 5, 9-07
> Day 2: 5, 13-15
> Day 3: 5, 12-07 (15, 35-13)

Trussville's Matt Herren fished from Beeswax all the way to the Logan Martin Dam today, but couldn't break the 13-pound mark and finished 7th in his second Classic.

"All week long I threw a Santone jig and a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver with a Colmic Matt Herren Signature Series rod and Pflueger reel" he said. "I also caught some fish the first day on a little Alabama craw Bandit 200."

About his finish, he said: "You know, being a local here, I wish I'd done better. But in reality, the lake just didn't suit my style this week. I tried to adapt to what it would give me, but I've won so much money on this lake with a flipping stick in my hand, it's hard to put down.

"I'm totally amazed," he added, in reference to how much weight came out of Beeswax. "When I turned pro 7 or 8 years ago, that coontail didn't exist. I truly didn't think through the whole deal. I thought everybody would have to run around and scrounge to put it together. I'm shocked."

He noted that he used

8th: Two Good Ones for Wirth

> Day 1: 5, 8-09
> Day 2: 5, 10-11
> Day 3: 5, 15-08 (15, 34-12)

Kevin Wirth's sack was by far his biggest of the tournament and completed his climb to a Top 10 finish from 23rd place on day 1. He weighed a 5-09 and another fish over 4 pounds today.

He spent most of the tournament in Beeswax, but a small pocket produced both of the aforementioned big ones.

"Yesterday I pulled in there and saw that the water had jumped 4 or 5 degrees," he said. "It was a little pocket on the outside of a channel swing, and the fish were just constantly moving in there."

He caught his fish on various lipless crankbaits, including a Strike King Red Eye Shad, a YoZuri Vibe and a TD Rattler.

9th: Freeman Reconciles Absence

> Day 1: 5, 9-08
> Day 2: 5, 8-13
> Day 3: 5, 14-06 (15, 32-11)

Federation Nation qualifier Jeff Freeman of Virginia missed the birth of this third child to fish the Classic.

"I'll be there for my daughter for the rest of my life and I can make up for that," he said. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime dream."

He accomplished his main goal of making the Top 10 with his best bag of the tournament today, which included a 4-11 chunk. He threw a worm on dropshot and shakey-head rigs throughout the tournament.

"I just want to keep on having fun and not feel pressured to fish, and whatever happens will happen. I don't plan to (turn pro) unless there's a big sponsor who's willing to pay me to do it."

10th: Omori Made Wrong Choice

> Day 1: 5, 15-07
> Day 2: 4, 8-14
> Day 3: 4, 8-05 (13, 32-10)

Yesterday, Takahiro Omori told BassFans he made the wrong choice. He saw VanDam peel off and head under the bridge in Beeswax. That's where Tak planned to fish. He went up the river, figuring he'd hit Beeswax after VanDam caught a limit and left. Turns out, VanDam camped there for the next 3 days.

So Tak relegated himself to the river. He caught three keepers up there this morning on a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, then went 3 hours without another bite. The current was too slow, he noted.

After that, he ran down to Spring Creek and threw a lipless crank.

11th: Martens Never Caught on

> Day 1: 5, 8-11
> Day 2: 5, 7-09
> Day 3: 5, 13-15 (15, 30-03)

Martens got after a strong bite today down by the dam. It was an area he'd fished a lot over the 3 days, but it finally improved today. And at the very end of the day, he returned to a grass mat where he caught a big one earlier and lost a 6- or 7-pounder.

"(The lake's) just different this time of year," he noted. "I have no experience on the lake this time of year. It fishes completely differently. The last time we were here, 3 years ago, I fished the river a whole lot and never really fished the lake. And when I practiced this fall, I was going where the fish were. That was kind of a mistake. From what I know now, I have a lot better idea of how to fish the lake in February."

Martens flipped a bit today and caught three keepers that way. He added two on the dropshot. The first 2 days, he caught a lot of his fish on a Scrounger head, which he manufactures.

About not fishing Beeswax, he said: "My biggest mistake was probably not fishing where Kriet fished. I fished there in fall. It's really good. I even marked all the grass clumps – it had the prettiest grass in the lake. That's the part that's eating me up. I thought it would get beat up and I never caught on."

12th: Tucker Needed it Warmer

> Day 1: 5, 9-15
> Day 2: 4, 7-04
> Day 3: 4, 12-00 (13, 29-03)

Mark Tucker got into the Classic via the help of double-qualifiers through the Bassmaster Opens and he was thankful for the opportunity.

"It was better than sitting at home and watching it on TV," he said. "It's just a shame that it didn't warm up a little better on those bluffs where I caught them. The quality was there, but it was just so cold.

He had his limit-fish on today, but it came off when he tried to swing it into the boat.

13th: Crochet Satisfied

> Day 1: 5, 9-05
> Day 2: 5, 10-11
> Day 3: 5, 8-15 (15, 28-15)

Classic and Bassmaster Elite Series rookie Cliff Crochet of Louisiana used a suspending jerkbait and a trick worm to compile three consecutive limits.

"I'm satisfied with my performance," he said. "I would've liked to have caught more, but I ended up in the Top 15 and I have to be thankful for that.

"I didn't even catch a 3-pounder the whole tournament. If I could've gotten a 4- or 5-pounder every day, that would've made a big difference."

14th: Pace Thought He Had 'Em

> Day 1: 5, 16-03
> Day 2: 1, 2-06
> Day 3: 4, 9-06 (10, 27-15)

Cliff Pace is still a little more than baffled about what happened to his bite, but he's taking it all as a learning process. He's still quite young, and feels he has lots of things to learn.

But this does mark his second Classic where he thought he'd found the winning fish. The first was at Harwell in 2008, when he finished 2nd.

In summary, he found a large group of quality fish in practice. He stuck a big bag of them on day 1 and sat in 4th. They pulled a 180 yesterday and got lockjaw. He fished them again today and they bit better, but still not the way they were supposed to.

"I stuck with the jig again today - a 1/2-ounce V&M football with a V&M Mudbug," he said. "We were supposed to have a little wind and I thought that would help. I thought I could win with those fish. I left there at 10:00 and came to midlake and caught a 2-pounder, and I probably could have stayed and caught another, but honestly, in the last 2 hours I thought (the big-fish spot) would really get good. It never happened.

"I don't feel good about my finish at all," he added. "It's great to get to this event, but it's all about the guy who wins. I know what finishing 2nd in the Classic will do for you. That's two Classics now where I felt like I had the fish I needed to put it together. I had the fish found in both to put it together, but something outside my control for some reason made them not cooperate. It makes for a frustrating situation.

"These guys put it together every day, day in and day out, and their patterns get better and your pattern's dying. Maybe it comes with time and hopefully I'll get better at it. And now that this one's over, it's all about getting to it again next year."

15th: Lane Back and Forth

> Day 1: 5, 7-13
> Day 2: 5, 12-09
> Day 3: 5, 7-15 (15, 27-11)

Bobby Lane once again mixed it up between his limit area up north and his flipping area to catch his third straight limit.

“I went to my limit spot and caught a limit, but then I tried to go back to the place I found yesterday and flip up another couple bigger bites, but that didn’t work out," he said.

He used a shakey-head rig at his limit area.

16th: Same Deal for Kiriyama

> Day 1: 5, 10-03
> Day 2: 5, 7-03
> Day 3: 5, 10-04

Kota Kiriyama's bag – compiled via a finesse rig far up the river – was his best of the tournament by 1 ounce.

"It was good to be in a Classic in Alabama (his adopted home state)," he said. "It was all about decisions – where you start and how you start. I had another thing in Beeswax and I fished the first afternoon in there, but I was too late."

17th: Quinn Muddled Through

> Day 1: 2, 5-12
> Day 2: 4, 9-13
> Day 3: 4, 11-07

For a guy who never weighed a limit, Jason Quinn turned in a very strong finish. He was suffering from food poisoning today and said he spent the first 2 hours lying on his front deck.

"When you look at the fish I did weigh in, they were all good quality," he said. "There just weren't enough of them.

"I thought if I ran all new water today, I might stumble across a big bag. I lost one about 4 pounds that would've finished off a good limit."

18th: Niggemeyer Credits Jones

> Day 1: 5, 13-03
> Day 2: 5, 7-04
> Day 3: 4, 6-05 (14, 26-12)

James Niggemeyer missed 2 days of practice with the flu and credited fellow competitor Alton Jones with helping him salvage a decent finish.

"He pulled me aside the last day of practice and said he had an areas that didn't have big weight, but I could catch some keepers there, and if I wanted it, it was all mine," he said. "I went there every single day.

"That speaks to the kind of guy Alton is for him to look out for his fellow competitors like that."

He caught his fish on a combination of a Strike King rodent and finesse worms.

19th: Biffle Baffled

> Day 1: 5, 14-03
> Day 2: 5, 10-06
> Day 3: 1, 1-14 (11, 26-07)

Tommy Biffle plummeted 13 places with his one-fish bag today. He was mystified as to why he couldn't get a flipping bite going.

"I have no idea why it didn't happen, but I don't have any regrets," he said. "There wasn't much else I could do to catch a big sack.

"It was all right until today."

20th: Swindle Underestimated

> Day 1: 5, 10-08
> Day 2: 5, 7-01
> Day 3: 8-11 (15, 26-04)

Swindle wanted some redemption at this Classic – he had his day-2 weight DQd here back in 2007 in front of a hometown crowd. The curious thing was he practiced in Beeswax and just missed it.

"Honestly, I fished in Beeswax," he said. "I know that creek. I know its potential. It just didn't happen. I couldn't get them to bite in there in practice. In the tournament, I ran in there in the last second and it was too late. You make mistakes. You overlook things. That was the problem right there."

He ran all the way up the river today and that's where he caught his bag.

About his finish, he said: "It is what it is. I'm disappointed. You're always disappointed if you can't win. But dude, you sit back and say, 'How much more can VanDam catch?' That's the part you worry about sometimes. Dadgum. I knew they'd catch some even though practice was tough. I underestimated things again."

21st: Grigsby got Crowded Out

> Day 1: 4, 6-15
> Day 2: 5, 10-07
> Day 3: 5, 8-03 (14, 25-09)

Shaw Grigsby fished in Beeswax Creek throughout the tournament and threw a Strike King Red Eye Shad rattlebait. He never made it onto some of his key spots today because they were occupied by other anglers.

“(Brent) Chapman and (Kevin) Wirth were on the same stretch, but they never moved," he said.

22nd: Solid Finish for Martin-Wells

> Day 1: 5, 6-13
> Day 2: 5, 9-15
> Day 3: 5, 8-04

Another day, another limit for Pam Martin-Wells as her creek end produced for her again.

“I came over during the prefish period and found (some fish), but when competition began I couldn’t get them to bite,” she said. “I then went far back into a creek where they didn’t have anywhere to go, where they were concentrated. That creek had a couple sweet spots in it that were real key.”

She caught all of her fish on shakey-heads and jigs.

23rd: No Size for Rojas

> Day 1: 5, 6-09
> Day 2: 5, 9-05
> Day 3: 5, 8-09

Dean Rojas weighed a limit on all 3 days, but never broke the 10-pound mark.

"I'm just glad it's over – I needed the bleeding to stop," he quipped. "I was real inconsistent and I just caught one here and one there the whole time. I caught a lot of keepers, but there just wasn't any size."

His primary bait was a Big Bite Bush Pig.

24th: McCaghren Slid Further

> Day 1: 5, 15-04
> Day 2: 3, 4-11
> Day 3: 2, 2-10 (10, 22-09)

Billy McCaghren was in 6th place after day 1, but fell precipitously over each of the final 2 days.

"I'm a little disappointed because I was sure I was going to get bit today with the front coming in and the water warming up," he said. "But I just never seemed to get in an area that had any fish.

"The place where I'd been catching them pretty well fizzled out yesterday – it was a real small pocket about 6 miles up the river. I tried to duplicate that area all over the lake, but I was unable to do it."

He caught nine of his fish on a rattlebait and flipped up the other one.

25th: Browning Frustrated

> Day 1: 5, 8-15
> Day 2: 5, 6-14
> Day 3: 1, 2-09 (11, 18-06)

Stephen Browning didn't mince words when he described his finish.

"It's absolutely horrible," he said. "I think the really frustrating thing about this whole event is I just never got an idea of what was going on. I know that a lot of fish were caught out of very few creeks. I just never felt like I was around quality fish. I never had a solid pattern going. It gets frustrating."

He threw a Koppers rattlebait the first day, switched to a flat-sided crank the next day, then flipped today. He got a big bite, but it had whiskers.

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 25 anglers, 17 limits, 5 fours, 1 two, 2 ones, no zeroes.

> BASS said total attendance figures for the Classic weigh-in and Outdoors Expo was 58,478 across the 3 days. That's about 3,000 more people than the 2007 Lay Classic, but nowhere near attendance figures for last year's Red River Classic.

Day 3 (Final) Standings

1. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 15, 51-06 -- $500,000
Day 1: 5, 19-08Day 2: 5, 12-07Day 3: 5, 19-07 --

2. Jeff Kriet -- Ardmore, Okla. -- 15, 46-06 -- $45,000
Day 1: 5, 16-07Day 2: 5, 15-10Day 3: 5, 14-05 --

3. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, Texas -- 15, 44-03 -- $40,000
Day 1: 5, 18-02Day 2: 5, 13-12Day 3: 5, 12-05 --

4. Russ Lane -- Prattville, Ala. -- 14, 43-12 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 14-01Day 2: 4, 11-10Day 3: 5, 18-01 --

5. Brent Chapman -- Lake Quivira, Kan. -- 15, 37-14 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 13-00Day 2: 5, 8-02Day 3: 5, 16-12 --

6. Michael Iaconelli -- Pittsgrove, N.J. -- 14, 37-05 -- $23,000
Day 1: 5, 14-09Day 2: 4, 12-03Day 3: 5, 10-09 --

7. Matt Herren -- Trussville, Ala. -- 15, 35-13 -- $21,500
Day 1: 5, 9-07Day 2: 5, 13-15Day 3: 5, 12-07 --

8. Kevin Wirth -- Crestwood, Ky. -- 15, 34-12 -- $21,000
Day 1: 5, 8-09Day 2: 5, 10-11Day 3: 5, 15-08 --

9. Jeff Freeman -- Max Meadows, Va. -- 15, 32-11 -- $20,500
Day 1: 5, 9-08Day 2: 5, 8-13Day 3: 5, 14-06 --

10. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, Texas -- 13, 32-10 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 15-07Day 2: 4, 8-14Day 3: 4, 8-05 --

11. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, Ala. -- 15, 30-03 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 8-11Day 2: 5, 7-09Day 3: 5, 13-15 --

12. Mark Tucker -- Kirkwood, Mo. -- 13, 29-03 -- $14,500
Day 1: 5, 9-15Day 2: 4, 7-04Day 3: 4, 12-00 --

13. Cliff Crochet -- Pierre Part, La. -- 15, 28-15 -- $14,250
Day 1: 5, 9-05Day 2: 5, 10-11Day 3: 5, 8-15 --

14. Cliff Pace -- Petal, Miss. -- 10, 27-15 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 16-03Day 2: 1, 2-06Day 3: 4, 9-06 --

15. Bobby Lane -- Lakeland, Fla. -- 15, 27-11 -- $13,750
Day 1: 5, 7-13Day 2: 5, 12-09Day 3: 5, 7-05 --

16. Kotaro Kiriyama -- Moody, Ala. -- 15, 27-10 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 10-03Day 2: 5, 7-03Day 3: 5, 10-04 --

17. Jason Quinn -- Lake Wylie, S.C. -- 10, 27-00 -- $12,900
Day 1: 2, 5-12Day 2: 4, 9-13Day 3: 4, 11-07 --

18. James Niggemeyer -- Van, Texas -- 14, 26-12 -- $12,800
Day 1: 5, 13-03Day 2: 5, 7-04Day 3: 4, 6-05 --

19. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, Okla. -- 11, 26-07 -- $12,700
Day 1: 5, 14-03Day 2: 5, 10-06Day 3: 1, 1-14 --

20. Gerald Swindle -- Warrior, Ala. -- 15, 26-04 -- $12,600
Day 1: 5, 10-08Day 2: 5, 7-01Day 3: 5, 8-11 --

21. Shaw Grigsby -- Gainesville, Fla. -- 14, 25-09 -- $12,400
Day 1: 4, 6-15Day 2: 5, 10-07Day 3: 5, 8-03 --

22. Pam Martin-Wells -- Bainbridge, Ga. -- 15, 25-00 -- $12,300
Day 1: 5, 6-13Day 2: 5, 9-15Day 3: 5, 8-04 --

23. Dean Rojas -- Lake Havasu City, Ariz.15 -- 24-07 -- $12,200
Day 1: 5, 6-09Day 2: 5, 9-05Day 3: 5, 8-09 --

24. Billy McCaghren -- Mayflower, Ark. -- 10, 22-09 -- $12,100
Day 1: 5, 15-04Day 2: 3, 4-11Day 3: 2, 2-10 --

25. Stephen Browning -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 11, 18-06 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 8-15Day 2: 5, 6-14Day 3: 1, 2-09 --

Big Bass

> Michael Iaconelli -- Pittsgrove, N.J. -- 6-10 -- $1,000