Entry 324-1
Strike King’s Kevin VanDam’s Keys to Consistency
Editor’s Note: The race for the 2009 Angler-of-the-Year (AOY) title has ended, and Kevin VanDam has been crowned the winner. Before the first event took place at Lake Jordan on September 13, to name the AOY winner, VanDam was 1-point ahead of 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion, Skeet Reese of Auburn, California, in the race for the AOY title. We caught up with Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, when he was en route to fish the two tournaments in Alabama that would determine who would win the 2009 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year title and talked to him after the tournaments. VanDam told us his plans of how he would fish to win his second-consecutive AOY title and shared his proven keys to bass-fishing consistency.
Part 1: How to Fish a New Lake and How to Prepare for a Tournament
Question: Kevin, what did these two tournaments mean to you?
VanDam: This year, the point format to determine Angler of the Year (AOY) was different. At the end of the two tournaments held on Lake Jordan and the Alabama River in Alabama during the Toyota Championship week in mid-September, 2009, the Angler of the Year was crowned. I wanted to win both tournaments. I won the AOY title in 2008, so to win it back-to-back would be a really-big deal.
To accomplish this under the new point format, I needed to have 4-solid days of bass fishing. I couldn’t have a bad day in either of these tournaments. Because the regular BASS Elite Series tournaments ran for 4 days, you could have one bad performance one day and still have a chance to win. But these two events only lasted 2-days each, so I couldn’t have any bad days. 
Too, both these fisheries could be pretty tough to fish at this time of year.
Question: The first tournament was on Alabama’s Lake Jordan. What did you know about that lake?
VanDam: I’d never fished any events on Lake Jordan. However, I knew it had a lot of willows around the shoreline and a number of rocks on the shoreline, much like you’d find at Table Rock Lake or Lake Martin in Alabama. Lake Jordan homed plenty of spotted bass, as well as a good population of largemouth bass. This fishery was great for competition because of its diverse amount of habitat and quality bass populations.
Question: How did you approach the lake to get ready to fish?
VanDam: I figured four or five-different patterns possibly could win the tournament. During the 2 days of practice, I experimented with each pattern. Then I considered the weather forecast for the tournament days to determine where to catch the bass. 
I had to decide what pattern could win and then grind-out that pattern. This wasn’t the type of fishery where you’d catch 100 bass a day. I’d have to work hard to get five quality bites.
Question: So, fishing Lake Jordan was a new lake for you. What conditions did you consider using on this new body of water to try to catch bass? Were those the same conditions any fisherman would have to consider on any new body of water?
VanDam: When I fish a new lake, I want to know what type of current we’ll have, or if we’ll have any current, and the expected water level. At this time of year, most lakes will be drawn-down. I want to know the weather conditions on the days we’ll fish, whether we’ll have sunny, cloudy, windy or calm weather. 
I want to know the water clarity in different areas of the lake and the behavior of the forage fish. During the fall, shad are the primary forage. I want to know if the shad are starting to move toward fall patterns, or if they’re still locked-down in their summer patterns.
These are all conditions that affect where the bass will be holding and their behavior pattern. I really won’t know what to expect from any lake, until I get on the water during the 2-practice days. This is my process in every event I fish, and it’s the information every bass fisherman needs to know before he goes to fish any lake, whether he’s familiar with the lake or not. But I knew all these fishermen would find the same patterns and bass I did at Lake Jordan.
