Entry 1-4

VanDam and the Wild Thang

VanDam's Favorite Wild Thang Colors

Editor's Note: Thirty-three-year old Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, likes to fish with Strike King lures and particularly Strike King's Wild Thang, a creature bait, that he used to win the 2001 BASS Masters Classic in New Orleans, Louisiana. Chosen Angler of the Year on the B.A.S.S. circuit in 1991, 1996 and 1999 and ranked No. 1 in the world of professional bass fishing by www.bassfan.com, which is evaluated on statistics from the tournament bass-fishing trails like B.A.S.S. and FLW, VanDam also enjoys being with his family and hunting deer.

Question: Kevin, what's your favorite colors of Wild Things?

Answer: I don't really have a favorite color. I choose the color of Wild Thing I fish by the water clarity more than anything else. And then I pick a color according to the forage in the lake where I'm fishing. As I mentioned earlier this week, the silver pearl probably is one of my favorite colors since it imitates shad in stained water so well. If the water is more clear, the green pumpkin and the watermelon are two of my favorites, and I generally fish them the most. As the water gets a little dirtier, then red shad, Junebug and blacks and blues are really good colors to use.

Strike King also makes a pumpkin chartreuse that's very effective on bass. Particularly as the water becomes dirtier, I want to have some chartreuse on the bait. In the spring of the year around the bass spawn, the pumpkin chartreuse and the green pumpkin are very good because they're really good bream and sunfish imitators. In the spring, the bass will chase bluegills through all the phases of the spawn. The real key to success when fishing Wild Things is to use the more-translucent, lighter natural colors -- the watermelons, the greens and the smokes -- for clear water. Then as the water gets dirtier, you'll want to go darker with your Wild Thing colors.

Next: What Winning the Classic Meant to VanDam

Contents:

• Part 1: VanDam and the Wild Thang
• Part 2: The Popularity of Creature Baits
• Part 3: More About How VanDam Fishes the Wild Thang
• Part 4: VanDam's Favorite Wild Thang Colors
• Part 5: What Winning the Classic Meant to VanDam