Tournament Fishing with Kevin VanDam
How It All Began
 Editor’s
Note: Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, currently
ranks number 29 on the B.A.S.S. trail, and led in the
last B.A.S.S. Elite Tournament held on Kentucky Lake
in Benton, Kentucky, for two out of the four days of
the tournament. This week we’ll learn how VanDam
found, caught and lost fish, and what elements caused
him to drop from first to third place. We’ll also
learn how to find and catch bass in the summer by following
VanDam through the tournament and learning why he made
the decisions he made. This week, you’ll be able
to get inside the head of Kevin VanDam and learn what
makes him tick.
Question: Kevin, what was happening on Kentucky Lake,
and how did you find your fish and catch them?
VanDam: When I got to the lake, I found that the fish
were holding on their usual summertime pattern on the
Tennessee River – primarily on the main river
ledges and points. I was catching most of my bass with
a Strike King Series 6 crankbait. Most of the fish I
was catching were in 13- to 15-foot-deep water.
 Question:
Most anglers don’t fish those deep-diving crankbaits
on deep ledges. They usually fish soft-plastic lures.
What were you doing?
VanDam: I knew that the bass were deep. I felt like
I needed to get my crankbait down a little deeper than
it normally runs. I spooled up 12-pound fluorocarbon
line because it would sink and had a very-small diameter.
The fluorocarbon line allowed the bait to go an extra
foot or two deeper than it would on monofilament line.
Question: Were you putting your rod tip in the water?
VanDam: No, I was not kneeling and reeling like Mississippi’s
Paul Elias. I was holding my rod tip low to the water.
Since this fluorocarbon line was so small, it would
make any bait run deeper.
Question: What color Strike King Series 6 crankbait
were you using?
VanDam: I was using the chartreuse with the blue back
crankbait, pretty much a  standard
summertime color for crankbaits anywhere on the Tennessee
River. The water had a green tint to it, and the bait
looked very much like a shad. I’d say that this
would be one of the most-popular crankbait colors on
most of these big-water lakes like the Tennessee River.
Question: How were the fish positioned, and how were
you working the bait?
VanDam: There wasn’t much current coming through
the dam because we hadn’t had much rain, but there
was enough wind to create a current. If there was current
from the wind, the bass would be holding on the top
edge of the ledge. I cast the crankbait out and reeled
it until it was hitting the top edge of the ledge. I
think the critical key in my lure presentation was that
I was reeling the bait fast. I thought that reeling
the bait fast in the summertime would trigger the inactive
bass to bite. I was using a 5:1 baitcasting reel, but
I was cranking fast and hard to get that reaction bite.
Question: What kind of structure are you fishing on
those ledges?
VanDam: There are all types of structure on those river
ledges, including shell beds, occasional stumps and
brush, and some ledges with rocks on them. That Series
6 crankbait skips along the bottom and crashes into
structure, even when I just hit the bottom. The bait
will deflect off the bottom and run erratically. I’ve
found that if you reel that crankbait slowly, you don’t
get as many bites as you do when you reel it fast.
Question: Kevin, how did you find the bass you caught?
VanDam: During practice, I spent plenty of time studying
a lake map, idling around, studying the ledges and t he
fish holding on them. I was looking for irregularities
on the ledges. Just finding a straight ledge wasn’t
enough to hold fish. I was searching for little turns
and points on those underwater ledges, and even for
depth change on top of the ledge. Shallow or high spots
on top of a ledge also would provide an ambush point
for bass.
Question: What were you doing other than reeling fast
to get the bass to bite?
VanDam: When the Strike King Series 6 crankbait crashed
into some type of structure, I stopped the bait as though
it were stunned and started reeling it fast again. If
there were a school of fish holding within sight of
my crankbait, I could often trigger one of the bass
in that school to bite. If I could catch one or two
bass on that crankbait, I’d use the Strike King
Pro-Model jig and catch more fish out of the school.
With the jig, I could slow down my fishing and finesse
the other fish into biting.
Question: What size and color jig were you using?
VanDam: I was fishing a 1/2-ounce Strike King Pro-Model
jig in the chameleon craw color with a green pumpkin
Denny Brauer Chunk as a trailer.
Tomorrow: Critical Factors to Success – GPS and
Wind
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