VanDam Turns 50: ‘It’s Just A Number’

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Don’t look now, but the most successful professional bass fisherman of all-time is turning 50 years old on Saturday.

That’s right, Kevin VanDam is hitting the half-century mark. Don’t worry, though, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, he says his unquenchable thirst for competition and the inimitable drive to succeed that have defined him for more than a quarter-century haven’t faded one bit.

He still gets excited on a tournament morning. He still enjoys the process of figuring out patterns and, most importantly, he’s still having fun. The 2017 season was VanDam’s 27th year as a tour-level pro, a number that still startles him.

“It feels like 10,” he said this past spring as he tried to envision what turning 50 would feel like. “That’s ridiculous.”

So is his list of accomplishments:

> 7 B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year titles/1 FLW Tour Angler of the Year title
> 4 Bassmaster Classic wins
> 24 B.A.S.S. wins
> 9 Elite Series victories
> 20 2nd-place finishes (B.A.S.S. and FLW)
> $6.5 million in career tournament earnings

For all he’s accomplished, it’s as though his success has accelerated time in his mind – that with each triumph comes more in the way of sponsor commitments or demands on his time, things that conspire against his ability to enjoy and savor his achievements.

Eventually, he’ll decide enough is enough, but that’s not happening anytime soon.

Much was made about the so-called slump that followed his win at the 2011 Classic. He went the next 49 Bassmaster tournaments before recording another victory in May 2016. For the sake of comparison, in the 49 tournaments preceding the 2011 Classic, VanDam won eight times.

That slump is nothing more than a blip now.

“His slump was a career for most Elite Series anglers,” said Mark Zona, Bassmaster TV analyst and host of “Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show.”

Since the start of the 2016 season, VanDam has posted three full-field Elite Series victories along with a win in the inaugural Classic Bracket event. That’s four wins in his last 17 B.A.S.S. tournaments – a very VanDam-esque ratio.

While at a media event this past April, VanDam sat at the end of a table on a covered porch and looked out over the driving range at the Cypress Bend Golf Resort, Spa and Conference Center along the shores of Toledo Bend Reservoir. During an hour-long interview, he reflected on his career up until then – he’d just finished 29th at the Toledo Bend Elite Series – and how he and the sport have evolved over time.

Health-wise, he says he’s rock solid other than an “annoying” elbow issue and some subtle changes in his vision. His twin sons are now sophomores in college and he and wife Sherry still try to carve out family time every year despite a schedule flooded with appearances and tournaments.

As he hits a milestone in terms of age, it’s only natural to start wondering how much longer BassFans can expect to see VanDam casting off the front deck of a Nitro.

The answer is simple: As long as he damn well pleases.

Below is a Q&A BassFan conducted with VanDam earlier this year:

> BassFan: Do you feel like you’re 50 years old?
> Kevin VanDam: I don’t. Right now, I’m dealing with an elbow issue. It’s not debilitating, but it’s annoying. My eyesight, far away is no problem, but my up-close eyesight has changed. I still don’t wear readers to tie knots, but I should. I’m smart enough to know. I’ve been there. I’ve watched a lot of other people that I really look up to go through the twilight of their careers.

I learned so much from Denny (Brauer) early in my career. You look at guys like Denny and Hank (Parker) that go out on their own terms. And then there are other guys who just don’t. I have a lot of other interests. I’ve got twin boys. We have our foundation that we want to focus on and I have a lot of other passions and hobbies and things I’d like to do while I can.

When I looked at turning 30, that was kind of weird. Forty came quick and it really didn’t bother me at all. The thought of 50 a year ago bothered me a lot and now it really doesn’t. It’s just a number. I do understand. Our sport is physically demanding and there are a lot of guys who are out there that I wouldn’t say are extremely athletic, but my style and my pace is. Watching the coverage we have now with things like Bassmaster Live and to be able to see the detail we can see, even with Major League Fishing, you get a closer look at your competition. It’s extremely intriguing to me to watch other highly successful anglers and look at their style, their pace.

> BF: So when you’re watching those broadcasts, you’re not focused on what they’re tying on, you’re paying attention to how they carry themselves?
> KVD: One of my biggest things is efficiency. You manage your equipment for efficiency and more casts on the water. Whether it’s casting angles or presentations or the thought process of ‘What is the most efficient way to work this flat?’ It’s risk-reward based on do I finesse slow to get bit or can I burn a crankbait or a spinnerbait? It’s interesting to me to watch other guys make things work that fit in my realm. To watch (Jacob) Powroznik throw a wacky worm, I can’t do that.

>BF: What accomplishments are you the most proud of?
> KVD: I think the way I’ve gone about competition in general. I don’t fish like other people. I don’t get to pre-fish. I don’t get to spend time on the water. I don’t go out with local people. I try to do my own thing. I’ve gotten beat lots of times because of it, but my overall consistency and performance has shown that it works pretty well. If you look at career stats and average number of finishes in certain levels, I didn’t have the highs and lows until recent years. My level of consistency was already really good with my game plan and the way I did it. It’s changing, though, because you’re competing against the best fields every year and I take bigger risks than I ever have.

That drives my wife crazy because the last couple years, I’ve had some of the poorest finishes because I have taken some risks. Last year, after I won the Bracket event and had a Classic spot, I really gambled at the Potomac River instead of going with the sure thing and it killed me. Hindsight is 20-20 and if you’re in the same position, you’re going to do the same thing again. If you want to contend for Angler of the Year, you have to manage your risks.

> BF: Are you still having fun?
> KVD: When it’s not fun for me, I’m done. There are times when it’s not, for sure, but then there are a lot of times when it really is. Listen, you have to absolutely love it and live it because the amount of work you have to put into it to be competitive ... if you're not giving it 110 percent, you’re not going to be here long.

> BF: You referenced the younger generation of anglers who’ve established themselves in the pro ranks. It’s conceivable to think in 5, 10 or 15 years, you and your contemporaries will have moved on and retired. How do you see the next wave of pros carrying the torch forward for the sport?

> KVD: It’ll be very similar. You look at any sport and you think everybody is replaceable. The NFL proves it every week. It’s not like I think I’m unflappable or invincible by any means. My time is coming, too, where I’m just not going to be able to be competitive on the level that I want to set for myself. Physically, right now I can still fish it at the pace I set for myself. I’m as busy as I’ve ever been on and off the water. There’s no way around it. You’re either all in or you’re out. With sponsors and appearances, there is no way to just say, ‘Hey, I’d like to scale back and give myself another a month a year.’ The industry is too competitive.

> BF: Do you have any regrets at this point of your career?
> KVD: I have a lot of things I look back at or decisions I made at events and things like that where I can say, ‘Hey, I could’ve won this or that.’ Again, it’s easy to Monday morning quarterback. I don’t have any regrets, though. I’ve always based my business decisions on what I think are long-term opportunities and try to associate myself with like-minded companies and the people that have the best stuff. I get to use what I think is the very best. You want to be able to compete with the things that help you do your job.

It’s not always been that way. I’ve worked with a lot of companies that have come full circle, like Quantum. When I started with them early in my career, they didn’t have the best equipment. Now, every year, we’re very involved in the development of next year’s stuff and the products we want. There have been a lot of things there that have helped me.

> BF: Would you consider any of your competitors to be a rival of yours?
> KVD: The media and the fans really do, but our group is uniquely different than any other sport. People think that Mike Iaconelli and I are rivals, but you’ve seen us sit and talk. (Editor’s note: The night before this interview was conducted, VanDam and Iaconelli sat at the same table for dinner and discussed myriad topics, including their shared passion for vintage fishing lures. Iaconelli even offered to buy VanDam’s collection of vintage Wiggle Warts. VanDam declined).

(Mike) is the consummate student of the sport and the history of the sport. He remembers 25-year-old stuff. That’s what’s different about us. The Bears and Packers are not eating dinner together after a game. We spend a lot of time on the road together. Our families are there. A lot of the kids all interact together. Obviously, we’re very competitive on the water and everybody wants to win, but off the water, there’s a lot of good people and for the most part, most everybody gets along pretty well.

> BF: Your day on the water at a given event is different from other competitors based on the following you have. How have you had to adjust your decisions on the water to account for spectators?
> KVD: Another big thing for me is controlling variables that I can control. Variables that are out of your control, you have to be aware of them, but you can’t let them get to you. Other competitors in your area, spectators on the water, the weather – I can’t control those, but I have to be very aware of them. You have to plan how to approach an area. The Classic, especially, is an example with the entourages people have. I’ve had it work in my favor. At Lay Lake, I basically had the back of Beeswax Creek all to myself because I plugged it with spectators. I’ve had just as many times where it’s hurt me. I came this close (at Toledo Bend) last year to not winning because of that. This year, John Murray won and I bet he didn’t have a person watching him. I’d have never been able to fish that spot again. Every time we go to Kentucky Lake, it’s a one-shot deal. I get one day to catch them off a spot. It’s not something where I can save some for the next day.

> BF: Is there a solution for that?
> KVD: The majority of our fans are not there to hurt us at all. They’re not trying to get in your way. To go to Conroe with the entourages we had and think that you’ll be able to throw a popper on a seawall, it’s not going to happen. It’s impossible for me to do that and I know it so I take it out of my playbook. You have to work around it. I don’t look at it as a detriment. You just have to adapt to it and change. There’s nothing I can do about it so why get wound up about it.

> BF: Has your interpretation of a successful event or season evolved over time?
> KVD: It really hasn’t. What I look at is my decision-making during an event based on what I saw and believed in practice. I still have had a lot of events that I’m really satisfied with that may have been 30th-place finishes.

Toledo Bend this year was one that was a tough event. You could see the turmoil on the leaderboard from day to day. The only disappointing part of it was the final day when I couldn’t get that one key bite. Up to that point. I junked it up to get there. I could’ve had a 12-pound day on day 1 and not even made the cut. Even though I finished 29th, for what I found and what I saw in practice, it wasn’t a failure.

> BF: Your competitive fire is one of your best-known traits. Do you feel it still burns as hot as it used to?
> KVD: Last offseason was a different one for me in that I go at a pace commitment-wise to my family and sponsors that doesn’t leave me the time that I’d always like for preparation. I made a commitment to stop and say, ‘I’m going to have all of my tackle and everything ready.’ I knew when the season started and with the Classic being after the first two events, once we got to Okeechobee it was going to be 100 miles an hour. I literally went through every tackle box and changed every hook and organized all of my plastics. I started to have things set, knowing I had this batch for Okeechobee and this batch for this set of equipment to go to Conroe. By doing that, it really gives me a whole different level of confidence.

> BF: What, if anything, keeps you awake at night?
> KVD: I spent a lot of time during competition thinking about the day I just had and the next day and what I’m going to do. It’s crazy when I look back after a tournament the difference in my mindset. This year’s Classic is a great example. My mindset after day 1 was ‘I think I’m going to have a shot to win this deal.’ The next day the wind direction changed and the fishing changed. It took me a while, but I caught up and was still somewhat in contention, but I still thought I had a really good game plan to take a shot at it on the final day. Then on the final day everything I learned and believed just disappeared. That happens all the time, but you have to trust your gut. At times, it bites you and other times it doesn’t. Another great example of the opposite was the 2016 Elite Series at Toledo Bend. I didn’t have a great practice and didn’t have a bunch of places where I knew I could pull up and kill ‘em. I had a few bites and it all came together in the tournament. On the third day, I caught five keepers all day and had 25 pounds. I stayed the course. I didn’t scramble and go to the bank just to catch a couple. I was going to live and die by the sword. Trusting your instincts – the more I’ve done it and understand how important winning is, the more I gamble like it. It’s going to bite you more than it saves you.

> BF: What level of importance do you attach to winning another Bassmaster Classic and/or Angler of the Year title?
> KVD: I have never competed for the records. I want the fifth one and sixth one and the 10th one, but I still truly … it’s a cliché for people say they went out and swung for the fence today. That’s a cop out to say I got lost or whatever. I’ve said it plenty of times, too, but you have to truly believe it in your own mind. If you’re going to take that risk and try to win and the Classic is the one event where I strategize and gamble and come up with that game plan to be in contention. I’ve been in contention many times and been within striking distance on the final day to win and not been able to do it. A couple of the ones I won – Pittsburgh and New Orleans the first time – those were stress sandwiches. You just have to trust your gut and instincts and that’s what I truly try to do. You need to be realistic and honest with yourself and know that, ‘Hey, the best I can do is come out of here with a 25th place.’ You have to compete like that on the Elite Series just to make sure to make the Classic. You can’t take unneeded risks and make stupid choices because it’s too competitive.

> BF: What is a day in your life like away from the tournament scene?
> KVD: We always have something to do. I try to stay organized at home. That’s probably the one thing that Sherry has done more for me than anything else is helping with staying organized. What a timesaver it is in every aspect of life. I am the worst. I can’t stand to be in the office. She drags me in there and I have to go through these emails or make these phone calls. I do anything I can to speed that process up, but it’s really important. It’s like your tackle organization and having everything in place at home, it makes you more efficient.

I don’t sit still. I never have. I can’t. There’s always something that’s going on that I have to do. There’s always a project to be working on. It’s endless.

> BF: To that end, what do you do and where do you go to get away from it all?
> KVD: One of the things that we do is, and it’s something we have to schedule, is to make family time. We have to plan well in advance for a vacation or a weekend. Weekends are really rare. Sherry has been really good about that and getting those things in there. With the boys now in college, that’s a whole new challenge. When I’m off the water, one of my favorite things to do is to be on the water. We got a pontoon boat about five years ago and didn’t think we’d enjoy it as much as we do. A lot of our friends have bigger boats so we’ll go and spend a couple days with the pontoon boat. We fish, too. The kids will ski and we’ll hang out and swim. The other thing about that is we have a trailer, too, because we like to explore. We’ll go to a chain of lakes and go look at houses from the water and look at wildlife. Northern Michigan is a cool place to explore.