Entry 254-1

Tournament Fishing at Lake Murray with Kevin VanDam and the New Strike King Shadalicious

Part 1: What I learned in Practice

Question: Before you arrived at Lake Murray, what did you know about the lake?

VanDam: I’d been to Lake Murray many times in the past, and we’d just finished fishing the Elite Series tournament at Clarks Hill in Georgia, which is not far from Lake Murray. All the lakes in this region home populations of blueback herring and shad, but the blueback herring is the primary food source for the bass.

When we arrived at Lake Murray, the herring were in the spawn. All the competitors knew the herring would be in the spawn, and that the best fishing points, especially in shallow water, would be where you’d find large concentrations of bass. That’s exactly what happened during the tournament.

Question: What did you learn in practice, Kevin?

VanDam: I spent my practice time looking for points where herring like to spawn. These baitfish prefer flat, shallow clay and gravel points. The herring know those shallow points will give them protection from the saltwater stripers and the largemouth bass that feed on them. However, the bass will move on those shallow points and feed on the herring as well as the stripers. These two prey fish are still less likely to go really shallow than they’ll be if the herring stayed in deep water.

Question: When you say really shallow, how shallow are the blueback herring spawning?

VanDam: The herring like to spawn in about 1 foot of water, but the bass will hold in 2 to 3 feet of water and attack the herring as they come in to spawn and leave from the spawn. I never caught a bass in water deeper than 5 or 6 feet the entire week at Lake Murray.

Question: Kevin, what baits did you use in practice?

VanDam: I tried to use baits that imitated the herring. My No. 1 bait was the 4-1/2-inch Shadalicious in the blue-gizzard shad color, which closely resembles the blueback herring color, because it has a blue glimmer in it. I rigged the Shadalicious on a jighead and a weighted offset hook. That’s the way I fished it the entire tournament.

Question: How many fish do you think you caught in practice, Kevin?

VanDam: I caught 10 or 12 bass a day, and they were mostly 2 to 4 pounders. The secret in practice was when I’d catch a bass, there often would be four to six more bass following the bass I hooked. So, I could define the points holding pods or schools of bass. I pretty-much eliminated the points where I’d catch one bass and wouldn’t have other bass following the one I hooked. On certain points, there were large schools of bass holding and feeding on these herring.

Question: On what pound-test line did you fish the Shadalicious?

VanDam: I fished 17-pound-test fluorocarbon line on a 7-foot, 4-inch heavy-action Quantum rod with a Quantum PT Tour Edition Burner ultra-high-speed reel. I’d reel the Shadalicious slowly first and then change the speed and reel it fast. Then, I’d kill the bait where I thought the bass were holding.

Next: The First Day of the Tournament

Contents:

• Part 1: What I learned in Practice
• Part 2: The First Day of the Tournament
• Part 3: The Second Day of the Tournament
• Part 4: Day Three of the Tournament
• Part 5: The Final Day of the Tournament