Entry 185-1

How I’ll Fish the Classic with Kevin VanDam

Part 1: Warming Up Before the Classic

Question: Kevin, how do you get yourself motivated to fish the Classic?

VanDam: The Classic’s the one tournament all professional fishermen work toward all year. It’s the biggest tournament in our sport by far. Therefore, it’s not difficult for me to get myself emotionally keyed-up to fish this upcoming Classic at Lay Lake.

Question: Have you practiced on Lay Lake, and what do you know about the lake?

VanDam: I didn’t go to the lake before the cut-off time in 2006. I’ve fished two Classics on Lay Lake during the summer months. I plan to come down for the official practice before the tournament begins, so I’ll know the basic lay of the land.

Question: What do you think will be the difference in fishing Lay Lake in the winter as compared to fishing it in the heat of the summer?

VanDam: February’s basically a late-winter or pre-spawn time. If the bass are actively feeding during daylight hours, and if the weather cooperates, we should have some fantastic bass fishing. February’s a much better time to fish Lay Lake than when we fished it in the summer months in the past. We won’t be nearly as dependent on water generation to make fish bite, and the bass should be much-more active during daylight hours. I predict we’ll have a great Classic at Lay Lake in February.

Question: Kevin, Lay Lake has a tremendous amount of spotted bass. Will you be fishing for spotted bass or largemouth bass?

VanDam: The good news about the Coosa River spotted bass is they act much like largemouths. You’ll catch both spotted bass and largemouth using the same tactics and fishing in the same places. There are certain baits you can just catch spotted bass on and specific baits you can use to just catch largemouth. My plan is to fish for whichever species I think will bite best on the day I’m fishing.

The bite on Lay Lake will be strictly weather-dependent. If we have a warming trend with stable water conditions and a good pre-spawn bite, then I’ll be fishing for largemouth. There are some good quality largemouth in Lay Lake. However, if the weather’s really cold and nasty, the spotted bass will be least affected by the weather, and I’ll be concentrating on those big spotted bass for which Lay Lake is known.

One of the aspects of my fishing that has helped me and hurt me over the years is that I try to be really versatile. Guys like Tommy Biffle and Denny Brauer will flip, regardless of weather conditions. They’ll be fishing with a tube, a craw and a jig. But I’m not afraid to fish a shaky-head worm in 20 feet of water for spotted bass or flip grass mats in 2 feet of water. I have to see the weather conditions before I make a decision as to how I’ll fish.

Question: I believe everyone knows that the February weather conditions in Alabama can be 70 degrees for three days or 18 degrees for three days, or it can be 70 degrees one day and 18 degrees the next day. How will you prepare for these unknown weather conditions?

VanDam: I plan my strategy for both types of weather. However, I’m praying for cold weather, because I have much-more experience in fishing cold weather than I have fishing in warm weather. I’m hoping the weather will really be bad and cold. If we have high water and/or cold water, I’ll have an advantage. If we have warm weather and stable water, anyone can get lucky and catch two or three big fish to win. But if the weather’s tough, the water’s cold, the wind’s blowing, and the lake’s muddy, there will be fewer people who find and catch those bass. These kinds of conditions really favor my style of fishing.

My perfect Classic day will be 18 degrees with a 20-mile-an-hour wind and muddy water. I know the fishing will be tough, but I perform better on those days where I know I’m only going to get two or three bites all day. We’ll be able to tell a lot about the weather a week before the Classic. That’s when I’ll try to fine tune my game plan. Since the weather will be the determining factor for where, when and how the fish will be biting, you can’t really lay out a strategy for a big tournament like the Classic until you have a pretty good idea of what the weather will be like.

Next: Bad Weather

Contents:

• Part 1: Warming Up Before the Classic
• Part 2: Bad Weather
• Part 3: Good Weather – Bad News
• Part 4: Outfishing the Competiton
• Part 5: Who Will Win the Bassmaster Classic?