By Alan McGuckin
Special to BassFan
Water levels and largemouth during practice at the Bassmaster Elite Series tourney on the Upper Chesapeake Bay at Cecil County, Md., were much like a Waffle House menu – smothered and scattered.
Heavy rains coupled with a rising tide made for a flood tide during practice. Water levels were so high in the Anchor Marina boat ramp parking lot during practice days that pros walked through knee-deep water in order to launch and retrieve their boats.
While many complained of never getting a bite during the first two days of practice, it was no surprise that Kevin VanDam launched his boat with a confident grin on the third and final day of practice before sharing a few tips that help him get bites when waters rise to flooded parking lot proportions.
Bass Scatter
VanDam says that in high-water scenarios, it’s tough to find bass grouped up in predictable areas like they do under typical conditions.
“When you get a ton of water, whether it’s rain, a high tide, or both, you have to realize that bass scatter,” he said. “They typically don’t stay locked down to the habitat they were relating to previously.
“Fast-rising water can be intimidating, but you can’t freak out. You just have to fish what’s thrown at you,” he added. “If there’s shoreline vegetation, that’s usually a magnet for bass in fast-rising water – and nearly every body of water will have some sort of flooded vegetation when the water gets super high.”
Go, Go, Go
It’s no secret that VanDam likes to work fast on the water. Nothing changes when he’s facing conditions like he saw in practice. He tends to load up his arsenal with faster-moving reaction baits.
“With so much new habitat in the water, you can’t get caught up trying to fish every single little piece of flooded cover,” he said. “You have to stay on the move and cover as much water as possible. I rely primarily on buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, swimjigs and a hollow-bodied topwater frog.”
Go Dark
Any time there’s a heavy rainfall, the runoff around lakes and rivers will often have an impact on water clarity. When that happens, VanDam tends to favor lures with darker hues.
“Oftentimes fast rising water means you’re getting a lot of rainy days, plus the water is usually dirtier,” he said. “When that’s the case, I use a lot of black-colored lures.”
All three of the lures VanDam pulled from his rod locker were indeed black.
“If it turns sunny,” he noted, “then I’ll swap out to shad colors, but I’ll still throw the swimjig, buzzbait, spinnerbait and frog.”
Get the Right Gear Ratio
VanDam has gotten to where he’s at in the sport largely by operating in 5th gear, and much like his selection of all black lures for dark days and dirty water are part of an obvious system, so are the gear ratios on each reel.
VanDam relies on high-speed reels when searching for bass quickly in flooded conditions, but each lure is matched to what he considers the perfect gear ratio on his reels.
“I throw my buzzbaits on a Quantum TourKVD 7.3:1, my frog on a Quantum Smoke Speed Freak with an 8.1:1, and for the swimjigs, I make myself purposely slow down a notch by using a 6.6:1,” he said.
