Entry 185-5

How I’ll Fish the Classic with Kevin VanDam

Part 5: Who Will Win the Bassmaster Classic?

Question: Kevin, if you weren’t in the Classic, who would you pick to win?

VanDam: First, I don’t even know all the contestants who will be competing in the Classic. The Classic isn’t like a horse race where you know the horse’s breeding, how he’s performed in every race he’s ever run, and based on the track conditions, weather conditions and the jockey who’s riding him, you’re able to handicap the race. Many of us have never seen or heard of some of the contestants participating in the Classic, and those fishermen we don’t know have a good chance to win. Relatively unknowns have won the Classics before and will surely win one in the future. But depending on the weather, there are some local contestants who have a good shot at winning the Classic.

Russ Lane is the local favorite because he fishes the lake regularly and knows it like the back of his hand. You can’t count out Tim Horton or Gerald Swindle, both Alabamians, either. Both of them are top-notch pros from Alabama, and they both know Lay Lake. You have to give these anglers the home-field advantage. Aaron Marten, another pro who moved to Alabama several years ago, has finished second several times in the Classic. This can very well be his year, because he can be really-good fishing for spotted bass. A fisherman like Russ Lane, who knows the lake well and has fished it quite a bit, should have a distinctive advantage if the weather’s really bad or good. He should know where the big bass are holding and which lures will be the most-productive to fish for these bass.

Then you look at Aaron Marten who’s a good spotted bass fisherman. Lay Lake really has numbers of big spotted bass in it, so Aaron could do really well in this tournament. If we have warm weather, you’ve got to bet on Denny Brauer and Tommy Biffle. These guys are great at flipping, and under warm-weather conditions, flipping can be the winning tactic. Another guy you can never count out of the hunt is Rick Clunn, especially if the weather conditions are bad. Clunn has a tremendous amount of experience, and he usually does well under bad weather conditions. He’s won four Bassmaster Classics, so you have to give him better-than-even shot to win. If we have warm conditions, Gary Klein is another fisherman you’ve got to watch. He’s an extremely-good fisherman. He’s mentally tough. He’s come close to winning several times, and you never can count him out of the tournament. He’s really overdue to win a Classic.

Question: Historically, the local pro never wins the Classic. Why is this Kevin?

VanDam: The angler who looks at a lake with a fresh mind and has no preconceived ideas of where bass should be definitely has an advantage, because that fisherman will recognize regions to fish that the local fishermen will never consider. When Rick Clunn won the Classic on the Arkansas River and set a record of catching big fish in the Classic, he was fishing an area that no one had ever fished previously. When Denny Brauer won the Classic at High Rock, he was fishing a bank that no one fished, with a lure that no one had used under those kinds of conditions.

Denny was fishing ugly water (places that no bass fisherman in his right mind will ever fish, because it looks like it can never hold bass). A person who doesn’t fish a certain lake all the time will look at that lake differently from the fishermen who fish that lake on a regular basis, and he’ll generally find a pocket of overlooked bass that the locals haven’t found. If these bass haven’t felt fishing pressure, that contender has a chance to win the Classic there.

Question: Kevin, we may have cold, hard driving rain all three days of the Classic. How will that affect your fishing?

VanDam: When you get those brutal conditions, staying mentally in the game is really tough. Having the ability to make good decisions when you’re just trying to keep your eyes open because it’s raining so hard can really be difficult. Those kinds of conditions are the factors that separate the veterans from the rookies. The worse the weather is, the better the chances to win that the veteran anglers will have. The better conditions we may have will favor the less-experienced tournament fishermen.

When the wind blows really hard, and the rain comes down in sheets, certain areas of the lake will be un-fishable. So, you have to be willing to abandon the game plan you had and leave the fish you’ve found in those areas to find new bass in water that you can fish, which may not be where you want to fish. Those who adapt their fishing the quickest in bad-weather conditions will win this tournament, if we have bad weather. The fishermen who have a lot of experience will have plenty of confidence in bad-weather conditions. The less-experienced competitors will lose their confidence in bad weather and won’t fish as well. That’s the reason that cold, rainy, bad weather will tip the scales more toward the veteran fishermen in this year’s Classic.

Question: Kevin, if you only had five lures you could take to the Classic in Birmingham, what five lures would you take and why?

VanDam: I’ll take a Strike King 1/2-ounce jig, the Wild Shiner, a Series 5 Strike King crankbait, a 1/2-ounce Kevin VanDam Strike King spinner bait and a Strike King tube. I feel confident that if I can only take five lures to the Classic, these five lures will cover the fishing conditions and the weather conditions we’ll encounter in February on Lay Lake.

Contents:

• Part 1: Warming Up Before the Classic
• Part 2: Bad Weather
• Part 3: Good Weather – Bad News
• Part 4: Outfishing the Competiton
• Part 5: Who Will Win the Bassmaster Classic?