By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
With established FLW Tour stars constantly crossing over and young-to-middle-aged studs continually coming up through the Opens ranks, it's unquestionably harder to win a Bassmaster Elite Series event these days than it's ever been.
Somehow, Kevin VanDam keeps getting it done.
The greatest angler in the history of the sport notched his 25th career B.A.S.S. victory on Sunday at Oklahoma's Grand Lake. It was his fourth full-field Elite triumph in the past two calendar years and his 10th on the circuit, which is twice the number that anybody else can claim.
His 18-07 bag gave him a 4-day total of 83-04, which left him slightly more than 5 pounds clear of runner-up Tommy Biffle.
"The longer I do this, the more I truly appreciate (winning) and the more sentimental I get," said the seven-time Angler of the Year and four-time Classic champion. "I put so much pressure on myself to perform for my family, and it's hard."
Biffle caught a day-best 20-15 to conclude with 78-02. Roy Hawk, a first-year Elite competitor who was 2nd at the season opener at Lake Martin, finished 3rd with 77-00 after catching a 15-07 stringer.
Bradley Roy ended up 4th as a 20-10 haul pushed his aggregate to 75-03. Seth Feider completed the top 5 with 73-11 (15-11 on day 4).
Here are the final numbers for the remainder of the top 12:
6. Brandon Lester: 73-00
7. Greg Vinson: 72-09
8. Paul Mueller: 72-00
9. Randall Tharp: 71-01
10. Jordan Lee: 68-10
11. Fred Roumbanis: 63-02
12. Cliff Crochet: 58-05
The victory was VanDam's second at Grand – he also prevailed there in 2007 (the second year of the Elites). Now he's off to Kentucky Lake, where he won in 2008 and 2010, for the second of back-to-back events.
The milestone triumph is akin to Cy Young's 500 wins in baseball or Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in basketball – in all probability, it'll only be achieved once. The way VanDam is going, though, 30 wins certainly isn't out of the question, or even 35.
VanDam endured a slow morning, but the action eventually picked up.
He moved from 76th (his placement at Martin) to 28th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. Hawk is the leader in that department with a 14-point advantage over Justin Lucas.
Slower Day for VanDam
> Day 4: 5, 18-07 (20, 83-04)
VanDam's final-day stringer was his only one of the event that didn't exceed the 20-pound mark. He'd been catching a 16- to 17-pound limit within the first hour each morning, but that didn't happen on day 4 – he had only one fish to show for his first couple hours of work.
He eventually boxed a 6-pounder, and that was followed by some other high-quality specimens.
"Catching that big one kind of kicked me into high gear," he said. "The rest of the day was awesome."
While most of the field targeted actively spawning fish, his primary focus was pre-spawn females holding in the 8- to 10-foot depth range. Some were enticed by a Strike King Structure Jig, but the majority came via a Strike King KVD 1.5 square-bill crankbait.
“Today was a tougher bite for me. I caught fewer fish, but I was focusing on the locations that were producing the largest bass. It proved to be the right decision."
Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published this week.
2nd: Biffle Bounced Back
> Day 4: 5, 20-15 (20, 78-02)
Biffle's finish was his best since he notched the most recent of his four Elite victories at the Mississippi River in 2013. It offset a 107th-place showing at Martin as he seeks his 20th Classic qualification and first since 2014.
Tommy Biffle's finish was his best since his victory at the Mississippi River in 2013.
"It feels good, but it'd be better if VanDam wasn't in the tournament," he quipped. "I'd liked to have won, but 2nd isn't bad."
He went through about 20 keepers and his bag included a 5-pounder. A Gene Larew Biffle Bug was his primary bait over the last 2 days, when he combined to catch 43 pounds.
"The good thing is I'm going to Kentucky tomorrow and I should have another good one there as long as they don't suck the water out of the bushes. I usually do pretty good there and it should be the same deal – spawning or getting ready to."
3rd: Hawk Stays Hot
> Day 4: 5, 15-07 (20, 77-00)
Hawk has competed in two Elite events and doesn't yet know what it's like to finish outside the top 3.
"I can't even describe it; it's like I'm dumbfounded," he said. "I was waiting to weigh in today and some guy comes out of the crowd and asks me, 'You're a rookie? How old are you?' I was like, well, I'm 30-something. No wait, I'm 40-something (he's 47).
"I barely know what my own name is right now."
A 5-pounder was the biggest of the eight keepers he caught on day 4.
"I was really surprised that it was as tough for me as it was today and I don't know why it was like that. Maybe it was just because I'd beaten up my most productive areas all week."
Roy Hawk leads the Angler of the Year race after top-3 finishes in each of the first two events.
A 3/4-ounce spinnerbait produced most of his weigh-in fish for the event.
4th: Good Feeling for Roy
> Day 4: 5, 20-10 (20, 75-03)
Roy's stringer was his best of the event and his finish moved him up to 6th in the AOY race.
"I feel great about it, even though I'd obviously have loved to win," he said. "I felt like I was pretty dialed into what was going on and I was able to repeat fairly good bags every day."
He caught about 15 keepers for the day, but biggest of which was a 4 3/4-pounder.
"I caught two good ones in the morning real quick, then I filled out my limit and got one real good one late. It was just steady all day."
Most of his fish for the event came on a creature bait that he flipped and pitched to spawners in 2 to 6 feet of water.
5th: Feider Surprised Himself
> Day 4: 5, 15-11 (20, 73-11)
Feider didn't have lofty expectations when the tournament got under way last Thursday.
"This feels really good because I had a terrible practice," he said. "Things just worked out well."
His day-4 bag consisted of a 6-pounder, a 3 1/2 and "three rats." He handled eight or nine keepers on the day.
"That one big fish saved the day for me. I'd have had 11 or 12 pounds without it."
A Texas-rigged tube produced the majority of the fish he took to the scale.
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 10 limits, 1 four, 1 two.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, MI -- 20, 83-04 -- 110 -- $100,000
Day 1: 5, 21-15 -- Day 2: 5, 20-10 -- Day 3: 5, 22-04 -- Day 4: 5, 18-07
2. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, OK -- 20, 78-02 -- 109 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 16-09 -- Day 2: 5, 18-09 -- Day 3: 5, 22-01 -- Day 4: 5, 20-15
3. Roy Hawk -- Lake Havasu City, AZ -- 20, 77-00 -- 108 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 16-15 -- Day 2: 5, 19-14 -- Day 3: 5, 24-12 -- Day 4: 5, 15-07
4. Bradley Roy -- Lancaster, KY -- 20, 75-03 -- 107 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-12 -- Day 2: 5, 19-09 -- Day 3: 5, 16-04 -- Day 4: 5, 20-10
5. Seth Feider -- Bloomington, MN -- 20, 73-11 -- 106 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 18-07 -- Day 2: 5, 18-11 -- Day 3: 5, 20-14 -- Day 4: 5, 15-11
6. Brandon Lester -- Fayetteville, TN -- 20, 73-00 -- 105 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 17-06 -- Day 2: 5, 26-03 -- Day 3: 5, 17-06 -- Day 4: 5, 12-01
7. Greg Vinson -- Wetumpka, AL -- 20, 72-09 -- 104 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 19-13 -- Day 2: 5, 17-13 -- Day 3: 5, 17-08 -- Day 4: 5, 17-07
8. Paul Mueller -- Naugatuck, CT -- 20, 72-00 -- 103 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 19-03 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 5, 19-07 -- Day 4: 5, 16-09
9. Randall Tharp -- Port St. Joe, FL -- 20, 71-01 -- 102 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 18-05 -- Day 2: 5, 18-05 -- Day 3: 5, 23-03 -- Day 4: 5, 11-04
10. Jordan Lee -- Grant, AL -- 20, 68-10 -- 101 -- $11,500
Day 1: 5, 20-04 -- Day 2: 5, 18-07 -- Day 3: 5, 15-01 -- Day 4: 5, 14-14
11. Fred Roumbanis -- Russellville, AR -- 19, 63-02 -- 100 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 18-09 -- Day 2: 5, 16-03 -- Day 3: 5, 19-11 -- Day 4: 4, 08-11
12. Cliff Crochet -- Pierre Part, LA -- 17, 58-05 -- 99 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 19-11 -- Day 2: 5, 19-04 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12 -- Day 4: 2, 04-10
