Entry 257-1

Kevin VanDam on Fishing the BASS Elite at Wheeler Lake in June, 2008

Part 1: What I Knew Vs. What I Thought

Question: What did you know about Wheeler Lake before this tournament?

VanDam: I’ve fished three or four BASS Tournaments at Wheeler Lake, and I’ve fished three at this time of year. So, I had some knowledge of the lake to pull from before beginning the tournament.

Question: What did you expect to do at Wheeler?

VanDam: I knew that the bass would be moving out, and the best pattern would be fishing the grass off the flats.

Question: What did you learn on practice days?

VanDam: I looked at many areas I’d fished before searching for patches of underwater grass. I found only 10% of the grass of what I’ve found during other tournaments at Wheeler Lake. I knew immediately that wherever there was grass this year, there would be a competitor’s boat sitting on it because all the competitors know the most-productive pattern at Wheeler is fishing over grass. At about 10:0 am, I began searching for areas to fish that weren’t on top of grass. I abandoned my plan to fish the grass, since it was also everyone else’s plan.

Question: For what kinds of regions were you looking?

VanDam: I was searching for structure, like channel ledges, drop-offs and humps as well as ridges, depressions and ditches. I was looking for depth changes without grass that might hold bass. I looked all the way from upriver to the dam to find unique bottom changes without grass that would hold bass and not be a place where most anglers were fishing.

One of the real keys to winning the tournament is determining what other competitors will do, where they’ll fish, and what type of lures they’ll use. Then, use a different pattern using a variety of lures, so you don’t have to divide-up the fish you find on those spots with the other competitors. The majority of the field concentrated on fishing the grass around the Decatur flats. I knew they’d be splitting up their catches between each other because that’s the most-common and generally successful pattern.

Question: What did you learn about baits and lures during practice?

VanDam: I found many shallow-water drop-offs and ledges where I caught bass on a 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad. When I identified drop-offs and ledges in 5 to 7 feet of water, I’d fish with the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad. The 3/4 –ounce Red Eye Shad is a new Strike King lure that is incredibly effective for fishing deep water in the summer.

Question: What color shad were you using, Kevin?

VanDam: I was using the Sexy Shad color and fishing it on 12-pound-test fluorocarbon line.

Question: Were you catching many bass in practice?

VanDam: Yes, and catching a 1 to 1.5-pound bass was easy, but I was trying to catch bass weighing 2+ pounds. I found three or four locations to catch 2- to 4-pound bass with the Red Eye Shad. I began to look for deeper ledges to catch bigger fish with my Strike King Series 5 Crankbait in the Sexy Shad color. Strike King also had a chartreuse version of the Sexy Shad that I fished to catch bigger bass in deep water.

Next: My Plan for the First Day of Competition

Contents:

• Part 1: What I Knew Vs. What I Thought
• Part 2: My Plan for the First Day of Competition
• Part 3: The Second Day of Competition
• Part 4: The Third Day of Competition
• Part 5: The Last Day of the Wheeler Lake Tournament