Entry 252-1

Fishing the Most-Difficult Conditions with Kevin VanDam at Clark’s Hill Lake

Part 1: What I Knew and What I Learned

Question: Kevin, what did you know about the lake before you arrived?

VanDam I’ve fished this lake several times this year, so I had a pretty-good idea of what the bass would be doing and where to find them. In May, this lake homes a good population of blueback herring and shad, and I knew the shad would be spawning. Also, the lake was 8 or 9 feet below normal pool, so I’d have to fish than I had previously. In the early morning, the bass would be schooling on main river points and feeding on shad and herring.

Question: Before you arrived at the lake, what did you think you’d have to do to win this tournament?

VanDam At this time of year, on this particular lake, when the baitfish begin spawning, the bass start schooling on the points. The water in this lake is really clear, and the bass will be feeding in extremely-shallow water often no more than 1- to 2-feet deep. So, if the area doesn’t have wind, catching bass in this shallow, clear water will be difficult. If the wind doesn’t blow, the bass will stage in that shallow water and be difficult to catch. The bass on most lakes normally will pull out to deep water right after the spawn, but the bass in this lake don’t. They hold shallow after spawning and feed on spawning baitfish.

Question: Before you got to the lake, what was your game plan for catching bass?

VanDam I knew I’d have to run main lake points and try to locate schooling bass. If the wind blew, I could power-fish spinner baits, the Red Eye Shad and the King Shad. If the wind wasn’t blowing, I’d have to slow down my fishing and finesse fish, using the Football Jig, the Shaky Head worm, the Zero and the Z Too – all from Strike King.

Question: What weather and water conditions did you find on the practice days?

VanDam The lake was 8 or 9 feet lower than I expected with clear water. The wind blew for 2 days of practice as I’d expected, and there was one day when the wind died, and the lake was as slick as glass without a cloud in the sky. The forecast for the competition was 80-degree temperatures, clear skies and little or no wind.

Question: What baits did you use, how did you fish, and what did you learn in practice?

VanDam When the wind was blowing, I threw a spinner bait, a King Shad and a Red Eye Shad, covering a lot of water and locating points holding bass. There are thousands of clay points on this lake, and if I could run enough points, I knew that eventually I’d be able to find points holding bass. Generally in May at Clark’s Hill, if you can find bass-holding points, the fish will stay on the same points for 2 or 3 days before they move. So, I was hoping to find a point I could depend on for the entire tournament.

Question: In practice, did you find the points you were looking for, and were you able to fish the lures you thought you’d need to catch the bass?

VanDam Yes, I did. But I also learned that having wind blowing into those points was the key to catching bass. When there was no wind on the points, I struggled. If the wind blew from one direction, I’d fish the point where the wind was hitting. If the wind blew the opposite way, I’d fish the points on the opposite side of the lake. I knew I had to fish where I could at least get a ripple on the water.

Question: How many fish did you catch in practice, and on what bait did you catch most of your fish?

VanDam I caught 10 or 12 bass a day in practice on a variety of lures. I fished a lot of lures on numbers of points to put together a pattern. I learned that the Red Eye Shad was my most-dependable lure in practice and would be throughout the tournament. Too, the King Shad and the spinner bait produced a numbers of bass. I caught bass on the Shaky Head jig and the Football Jig. I fished just about every lure in my tackle box to determine which lures would be best for catching bass on this lake, at this time of year.

Next: The First Day of the Tournament

Contents:

• Part 1: What I Knew and What I Learned
• Part 2: The First Day of the Tournament
• Part 3: The Second Day of the Tournament
• Part 4: Third Day of the Tournament
• Part 5: Final Day of Competition