Entry 324-3
Strike King’s Kevin VanDam’s Keys to Consistency
Editor’s Note: The race for the 2009 Angler-of-the-Year (AOY) title has ended, and Kevin VanDam has been crowned the winner. Before the first event took place at Lake Jordan on September 13, to name the AOY winner, VanDam was 1-point ahead of 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion, Skeet Reese of Auburn, California, in the race for the AOY title. We caught up with Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, when he was en route to fish the two tournaments in Alabama that would determine who would win the 2009 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year title and talked to him after the tournaments. VanDam told us his plans of how he would fish to win his second-consecutive AOY title and shared his proven keys to bass-fishing consistency.
Part 3: On to the Alabama River
Question: Kevin, the second leg of this two-tournament series to crown the BASS Angler of the Year took place on the Alabama River near Montgomery. How did you fish the Alabama River? Did you have any past experience on it?
VanDam: Yes, I’d fished a few Bassmaster Elite 50 tournaments there in the past, but never at this time of year – in the fall. This body of water is totally different from Lake Jordan and is a typical river lake. It’s affected by current and has a lot of backwater regions. There shouldn’t be much current coming through the river, unless the area gets a tropical depression that brings a lot of rain, just before or during the tournament, which is just what happened. 
I thought I’d have to fish a lot of finesse patterns with the Strike King Bitsy Bug jig and the Strike King Shaky Head worm around isolated cover and creek mouths.
Again, the shad were the key to finding the bass. The bass would be wherever the shad were positioned. Although we found some schooling activity, just like at Lake Jordan, I didn’t expect the Alabama River to offer us an easy tournament. September is not the time of year most bass fisherman plan to fish these two bodies of water. We knew all of us would have to work really hard to get a handful of bites every day of the tournament.
Question: At this time of year on the Alabama River, what three techniques did you think might pay-off for you?
VanDam: There’s a good bit of backwater, as well as a good population of both spotted bass and largemouth bass. 
So, I looked for shad in some of these backwaters or in some of the little creeks and explored the shallow-water bite. The second pattern probably was fishing isolated cover on the main river, as well as fishing laydowns on the main river. To fish that type of cover, I had planned to fish the Strike King Rodent and the Strike King Game Hawg, because both these baits were compact enough to attract spots and largemouths. I knew we’d find both species of bass mixed-together in one piece of cover.
Question: Kevin, what’s your third pattern you’d planned to fish?
VanDam: I’d planned to fish some of the river ledges and the creek mouths. If there was any current, I would use Strike King crankbaits on those ledges and in those creek mouths. 
Many times current will draw bass to the ledges, the points and the mouths of creeks.And, that’s what I did.
Question: What crankbait were you fishing?
VanDam: I planned to use a Sexy Shad-colored crankbait, and the crankbait I fished would depend on the depth of water I was trying to fish. I thought I’d use the Strike King Series 1 to fish shallow creek mouths and the Strike King Series 6 XD on deep creek mouths and ledges, and I did. I had several-different rods rigged with various sizes of Strike King crankbaits, so I could fish different depths.
