Since Kevin VanDam began fishing the national tournament trails in 1990, he’s won 12 major events including 3 Bassmaster Classics, banked $3.36 million in prize money, and taken 5 Angler of the Year Awards on the world’s top circuits. He’s been ranked at the top of BassFan’s World Rankings from 2002 through 2008, except for a temporary slip in 2005.
Before VanDam’s ascendancy, Rick Clunn of Ava, Missouri, was considered bass fishing’s maestro, and was crowned by ESPN as the All-Time Greatest Bass Angler in 2004. Besides Clunn’s stellar skills as an angler, he’s also been bass angling’s metaphysician, pondering for four decades the nature of the black bass’ world and man’s approach to its capture.
Along the way, Clunn has described VanDam’s “prefishing” methods as the spur to his success. He notes that VanDam’s practice sessions are remarkably efficient, enhanced by an extraordinary awareness of what’s transpiring in the sometimes inscrutable world of bass.
After VanDam won his fourth BASS Angler of the Year award in August, I asked him to describe his fish-finding methods for In-Fisherman readers. His approach to reading water and selecting lures serves as a model for anglers everywhere, whether you’re preparing for a tournament or planning an excursion to a new lake.
Making the Most of Time on the Water
VanDam’s practice session encompasses three days. He fishes from dawn to dark on the first two and from dawn to noon on the third. He spends the remainder of the third day preparing equipment and contemplating his tactics, as well as attending mandatory meetings.
VanDam amazed me by saying he normally finds 90 percent of his fish on the first day. He spends the next days looking for secondary patterns and eliminating unproductive areas and tactics. On the BASS circuit today, a 50,000-acre lake is considered small, and he can examine an entire 50,000-acre lake or an even larger one in two and a half days. He adds that the speed and efficiency of his search for bass have increased dramatically with advances in sonar, GPS, and digital cartography, as well as innovations in boat design, outboard engines, and trolling motors.
Before traveling, he conducts basic research, classifying a reservoir as highland, hill-land, flatland, lowland, canyon, or plateau reservoir according to In-Fisherman’s system, or similarly typing a river or natural lake. He then studies how seasonal patterns affect the location and behavior of bass species in that type of waterway. He checks weather conditions for two weeks before his arrival, as well as the forecast for the seven days that encompass the official practice session and tournament. He’s discovered that a successful practice involves understanding and preparing for all weather elements that might affect fish during this period.
Before arriving and on the water, he pays particular attention to water level and clarity, and generation schedules of dams at either end of an impoundment. He sometimes talks to a friend, such as Stacey King of Reeds Spring, Missouri, a veteran pro. During these conversations, he doesn’t inquire about spots but seeks a better understanding of the lake’s nature, such as the primary forage or noteworthy seasonal trends.
He feels too much information can be detrimental so he doesn’t call tackle stores to inquire about hot lures or study the Internet for tournament reports, reasoning that local anglers don’t fish the way he does. He notes, too, that most professional tournaments are won with methods local anglers rarely employ. Instead of preconceived plans, VanDam wants the bass to enlighten him on what they’re doing. He does, however, see value in knowing the average size of the bass in a lake, based on an overview of tournament results.
When asked to compare his practice style to that of his colleagues, VanDam concludes that he practices differently, adding that most anglers fish areas more slowly and thoroughly than he does. With the short prefishing period in BASS events, he’s found it critical to properly manage every second. He’s adopted a scheme he calls his “10-minute rule,” meaning he doesn’t spend more than 10 minutes fishing the same spot with the same lure. He readily admits, however, that “If there’s a flaw in my method, it’s that I don’t learn enough about my areas and patterns.”
The reason for this limitation is that he doesn’t want other anglers to observe his approach, as well as his eagerness to investigate many locations. But once the tournament begins, he methodically dissects his primary areas and discovers all their nuances, as well as the diverse hankerings of his quarry.
Seasonal Effects
VanDam notes that key spots often are smaller during summer than in spring. At Midsouth reservoirs, for example, large groups of bass inhabit specific niches on offshore ledges in summer, while they scatter along stretches of shoreline and spawning flats in spring. At several such waters, he’s made great catches as one seasonal pattern peters out and a new one develops—after the spawn, for instance, bass gradually leave the shallows and migrate to offshore lairs.
During this transition, prime offshore spots receive new influxes of bass almost daily. At this time, many anglers continue to probe familiar shorelines, but VanDam prefers to fish offshore spots along ledges in 10 to 15 feet of water, typically with a deep-diving crankbait. Other major transitions occur as prespawn movements begin and as bass move onto beds.
When the fish are in the process of shifting seasonal locales, he tries to develop secondary and tertiary areas and patterns, and his 10-minute rule has enabled him to do this in many events, providing plenty of back-up in case changeable weather throws off predominant patterns or befouls an area.
Observation Skills
Besides his focus on seasonal patterns and transitions, VanDam burns a lot of gas, running from the dam to the upper reaches of the main river channel and checking all significant feeder creeks. He observes water clarity, water temperature, depth, submerged geological features, shoreline transitions, vegetation, and the presence or absence of baitfish. He tests various forms of cover such as stumps, submerged vegetation, boat docks, flooded willows, buckbrush, mesquite trees, or whatever else bass might inhabit, and is also watchful to discern different patterns in the morning and afternoon, to better manage his upcoming tournament days.
Whenever he gets a strike from a deep-water bass, he immediately goes to the spot where he hooked the fish and examines it thoroughly, including retrieve angle, wind direction, current, baitfish presence, bottom depth, and composition. He also marks it on his GPS.
In addition to his electronics, VanDam closely observes the environment, such as emerging insects or flocks of coots that can reveal healthy submerged vegetation that’s holding bass. He possesses a photographic memory for all things related to fishing and mentally files his observations, though he does store spots on a GPS.
