Entry 136-5

Kevin VanDam - What to do When Your Fishing Goes to Pot

When Fame Doesn't Pay

Editor's Note: Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has won about every honor an angler can win in professional bass fishing. He must make his fishing count, even when it goes to pot. This week we'll find our how VanDam recovers from a fishing situation like that.

Question: Kevin, this is the last day of a major tournament, perhaps for instance the Bassmaster Classic. Twenty to 50 spectator boats, jet skis and water skiers come by the place where you're trying to fish. You have the worst-possible fishing conditions to attempt to win a major tournament. What do you do if you're in the lead on the last day of the Classic, and all those spectator boats and well-wishers are watching you fish?

Answer: You have to decide before you leave the dock that part of your strategy is to mentally deal with fishing pressure. You will have fishing pressure and must fish under those conditions. So, you can't get mad, depressed, aggravated, and most importantly you can't let the distractions of other people and other boats break your fishing concentration. For instance, if I'm on a pattern where I'm skipping a Strike King jig under boat docks to try and catch the bass holding deep under the docks, well, I know beforehand that I'll have more wave action when I get to the docks I want to fish than I've ever experienced. So, I decide I'll skip that jig better and that I'll have to concentrate harder than any other day I've fished.

Under these kinds of conditions, you really have to focus on what you're doing and be prepared for the bite when it comes. I know I have to make the best casts of my life, I have to work my lures more thoroughly than I have on any other tournament, and I have to be more tuned-in, anticipating the strike than at any other time in any other tournament. The one thing to remember when you have a lot of boat traffic is that the fisherman is usually more irritated by the boat traffic than the bass are. I don't change lures or tactics because of spectator pressure or boat traffic. If I have continuous traffic on the spot where I'm trying to fish, the water never settles down, and the fish aren't biting, I'll go to another spot. There have been many tournaments where I've seen the boat traffic actually turn the bass on and cause them to bite.

Question: Kevin, what do you do when you have 30 boats behind you, and spectators are hollering at you and cheering for you, maybe some fisherman pulls in behind you and starts fishing the same water you're fishing. Then another fisherman pulls in front of you and cuts you off of the water you've planned to fish. Water skiers and jet boat riders are continuously going by your fishing hole, and even a yacht comes by just to see what's happening. How do you concentrate and continue to fish?

Answer: There are two variables in a day of fishing. There's the variables you can control: your casting accuracy, the speed of the retrieve, the action you give to the lure, your boat position and the way you have your rods laid out on your deck. Then there are the variables you can't control, like boat traffic and spectator pressure. So, I only concern myself with the variables I can control, and I try and completely block out from my mind the variables I can't control like spectator pressure, boat traffic and people pulling in front of or behind me to fish. I simply concentrate on my next cast or on what my lure is doing in the water. If I concentrate solely on where my boat is, where my next cast will go, and what my lure's doing while it's in the water, then I can block out and not be concerned with the other things going on around me.

Too, don't forget that people wanting to watch you fish is a good problem to have. Those people who come to watch you fish aren't there because they don't like you or don't want to learn from you. They've come to watch you fish because they do like you and want to learn how you're fishing. So I consider spectators a positive, not a negative. The last thing I want to do is to become upset or yell at people who like me. Really spectators aren't an issue for me any more.

Question: Kevin, you've been flipping down a certain bank with a Strike King tube, you have about 100 yards of bushes and stumps where you've been consistently catching bass, and then suddenly from out of nowhere another fishermen pulls in front of you and starts flipping down that same bank where you've been catching your bass. What do you do?

Answer: Well, this conduct isn't a very sportsmanlike tactic, but it can and does happen. Without saying anything to that angler, I'll get on my trolling motor, pull my boat away from the bank and move around and in front of that angler to let him know that I'm unhappy with what he's done. Because I realize that often fishermen don't know the ethics of fishing, I won't be rude to the guy or say a word to him. I'll continue to fish my same techniques and lures and try and pretend like that guy isn't even there.

Question: Kevin, what do you do when you're going to a bank that you want to flip because it has a lot of stumps, logs and brush on it and then when you get to that bank you see that another fishermen is going down that bank, flipping a jig that you'd planned to use to flip that bank?

Answer: I'll change lures completely - either to a spinner bait or a crankbait and fish behind the flipper. I'll stay far enough behind him so as not to interfere with his fishing. I also use this method if I fish a bank and decide to go back down it again, especially if it's a bank where I've caught bass using the flipping tactic. The second time I go down the bank I either may fish a tube, a spinner bait or a jig just to give the bass something different to look at and to possibly strike.

Bass fishing is an ever-changing sport. Only by being adaptable to changing weather and fishing conditions can you expect to consistently catch bass. Only by learning how to change with these changing conditions can you really enjoy the sport of bass fishing. On every day of bass fishing, there's a new puzzle to figure out, often with many different parts to the puzzle. Therefore the better you are at solving problems and changing tactics, the more consistent you'll be at catching bass. Don't let changing conditions spoil your bass fishing. Learn to change with the conditions to enjoy bass fishing more than ever.

Kevin VanDam - What to do When Your Fishing Goes to Pot

When Fame Doesn't Pay

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