Entry 245-1

Another $100,000 Win for Kevin VanDam Using the New Sexy Shad Chrome Color

Part 1: What I Learned in Practice

Question: Kevin, when you went to the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, what were you thinking? Since you’ve fished the area before, this wasn’t new water for you.

VanDam: Florida has always been a challenging state for me, because to win in Florida, you have to fish really-slowly – the opposite way of how I like to fish. Also, in Florida, cold fronts really affect the mood of the bass, and the bass move around a lot in these lakes. There’s so much grass and good habitat in these lakes that putting together a pattern and keeping up with where the bass are holding every day of the tournament is hard.

I’ve fished at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes numerous times before, and I’ve learned that the most-consistent pattern has been to fish for post-spawn bass, even though some of the big females are still spawning in March. Also, I’ve learned that the post-spawn bass are in a feeding mode, making them easier to catch. These bass are generally holding on offshore structure and the outside edges of grass lines.

Question: So, what did you learn in practice?

VanDam: I didn’t have a very-good practice. I fished several of the different lakes in the Chain of Lakes during the three days of practice, and I didn’t find many bass. Around the shore and the shallow-water spawning areas, I found male bass. Because the spawn seemed to be over, I spent a lot of time fishing offshore structure in the deeper grass in the middle of Lake Toho. I was casting Strike King’s Red Eye Shad in the new Sexy Shad Chrome color. I found two spots where I could catch bass. If I’d release the first fish I caught from each spot, then on the next cast, I’d get another bite. So, I thought these two places might be holding a school of bass.

Generally, if I found a school of bass in the open grass, they’d usually stay in that same area for several days. Both these sections were pretty-close together. I found some more bass in the same vicinity of these two sites, but after the three days of practice, I wasn’t feeling very good about my chances of catching numbers of fish in this tournament.

Question: Why did you choose to fish the new Sexy Shad Chrome color from Strike King?

VanDam: The water clarity in Lake Toho is really good, and the water’s extremely clear. The bass were feeding on small threadfin shad, and the new Sexy Shad Chrome color on the Red Eye Shad matched the color of that forage almost perfectly. This was a new color from Strike King, so the fish hadn’t seen it previously. The color was the Sexy Shad color put over the top of a chrome-colored Red Eye Shad. It looked very natural. That was why I decided to use it in this tournament.

Question: What pound-test line did you fish?

VanDam: I used 17-pound-test fluorocarbon line, so I could rip the bait through the grass. I needed the sensitivity and the strength in this type and size of line to feel what the bait was doing as it worked through the grass.

Question: Kevin, you had two events in Florida, and this was the second one. What were your goals?

VanDam: I didn’t want to have a bad tournament at either one of these events. I wanted to put myself in a position to win and move up in the Angler-of-the-Year standings.

Question: What kind of weather did you have for this tournament?

VanDam: We had fairly-stable weather with temperatures in the 70- to 80-degree range just about everyday. But on the third competition day, we had a very-hard wind, which caused me to go-to my backup plan to try and stay in the competition. When you’re fishing in Florida, the biggest challenge is being able to consistently bring in a good limit of fish all 4 days.

Next: Day 1 of Competition

Contents:

• Part 1: What I Learned in Practice
• Part 2: Day 1 of Competition
• Part 3: Day 2 of the Tournament
• Part 4: Day 3 of the Tournament
• Part 5: The Final Day of Competition