Kevin VanDam
Efficient Fishing

Photo: Bassmaster.com Kevin VanDam's "10-minute rule" for practice keeps him moving in search of fish.

No doubt, VanDam is an accomplished angler. But to reach the level he's at now, it takes more than sheer skill with a rod. It takes a total dedication to the sport and a mental involvement few anglers can imagine.

Those who have watched him fish have seen an angler totally immersed in competition. There is no downtime, no wasted effort and rarely a bad decision. To sum up VanDam's style, he fishes efficiently.

Time Is Essential

"At a Bassmaster Elite 50 event on Lake Dardanelle this year, my first-day observer timed my casts for the first hour," VanDam said. "He told me I averaged a cast every 10 seconds."

It's hard to fish a cast in 10 seconds. It's also hard to keep up that pace. At 10 seconds per cast, that's 360 casts per hour, or well over 2,500 casts a day.

"At Dardanelle, I wasn't fishing the entire cast," he said. "The strike zone was about 5 feet long – right around the cover the bass were using. Once I'm through the strike zone, I always reel in as quickly as possible so I can make another cast."

Time management is a major element of successful tournament fishing, and a big part of time management is keeping a lure in the strike zone for as much of the day as possible. That involves, among other things, decisions about when and where you cast, how you fish each cast, how you position the boat and which lure you select.

"Burning a spinnerbait is great for covering a lot of water," he said. "But if the water is 40 degrees, that's not an efficient technique for catching fish. You have to think about a lot of different things when your aim is efficiency."

Think Ahead

According to VanDam, just because it looks like he's fishing quickly, that doesn't mean his bait is moving quickly. It's an important distinction that some anglers call "fishing fast but slow."

"Anglers who see me on the water often comment that they can't believe how fast I fish," VanDam said. "But just because my trolling motor is running fast, my lure doesn't have to be moving fast. I fish the lure effectively though the strike zone at whatever speed it needs to be fished, and then move quickly to the next spot.

"Boat positioning is one of the most important factors in being efficient--and one that I think tends to get overlooked. Depending on where the fish are holding, I want to position the boat to keep my lure in the strike zone. That might mean running parallel to the bank, or angling the boat to make quartering casts.

"It might mean staying back from the bank or fishing very close to it. If the fish are all tight to a row of cover, and the water is sufficiently stained that the fish won't be easily spooked, there's no reason to cast at that bank from 50 feet away."

Even with individual targets like stumps or laydowns, he thinks ahead and plans his attack. "The way you approach targets can be critical. For example, a lot of guys will make a cast across a laydown log as soon as they can reach it. There's only one opportunity to catch any fish in that tree completely off-guard, so the first cast needs to count.

"With a crossing angle, your first cast will only pass through the strike zone for a moment. I'd rather wait until I get straight out from the tree and fish my first cast all the way down it. I always try to think three or four casts ahead.

Practice Preference

VanDam noted that practice efficiency and tournament efficiency can be two different things. "In practice, I'm not trying to catch every fish on a bank," he said. "Instead, I want to locate concentrations of fish. Therefore, I will often work very quickly and cast only to key docks, trees, points or other features as I move along.

"I'll often practice with something like a crankbait, which I can fish quickly and keep at the right depth to find fish. In the tournament, I might fish the same waters with a jig or plastics, working important areas very thoroughly."

For practice, he institutes a mental rule that keeps him moving quickly. "During practice, I adhere to a 10-minute rule. I'll never continue doing the same thing for more than 10 minutes without some sort of a positive reaction, which might be catching a fish, getting a strike or seeing a fish follow my bait.

"If I have a lot of confidence in an area, I might just change lures or alter my presentation every 10 minutes. However, I'll always change something and move often. You don't see much of a 100,000-acre lake during practice if you spend too much time fishing the same area."

Efficient Competition

When competition day arrives, VanDam takes what he learned in practice, but continues to evolve his approach. Again, his goal is efficiency.

"When the competition starts, I always begin with an idea of what I want to do in a day. The plan rarely works out completely, and sometimes I have to fish tournaments essentially in practice mode, but I always start with a plan.

"Often, based on where the fish are and what they are doing, several kinds of lures could catch them. I try to figure out which lure would be most efficient. If the fish are shallow, aggressive and widespread, I want something that covers a lot of water.

"However, if they're deep and positioned in very defined places, I'll use something that I can fish vertically. Yes this is a slower approach, but it keeps the bait in the strike zone for an overall longer period of time, so it's more efficient.

"Of course, preparation is also critical to efficiency. I'll have 30 rods rigged for different scenarios, my trolling motor and electronics will be ready to go and I will know where everything is in my boat. Beyond fishing equipment, that includes tools I might need if I have any boat problems.

"It's obvious that it's impossible to catch a fish if my lure is not in front of a fish. Therefore, I do everything I can to keep my offerings in front of the fish for as much of day as possible."