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Learn How Michigan’s Kevin VanDam Won the Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year Title Again

Day 2: Kevin VanDam Explains How Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes Helped Him Win His 2011 Bassmaster’s Angler-of-the-Year Title

Editor’s Note: Kevin VanDam won his 7th Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year title and his 4th consecutive AOY title on Saturday, June 18, 2011, at the Wheeler Lake tournament. We wanted to know how he did it.

Click for Larger ViewQuestion: Kevin, what was one of the key turning points for you winning the 2011 Angler-of-the-Year title?

VanDam: At the Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida in March, I used the same crankbait I fished with to win the 2011 Bassmaster Classic – the chartreuse-and-black-back-colored Strike King KVD 1.5. Most of the contestants were sight-fishing in this tournament. I finished 4th in this tournament, which was a major start in my run for the 2011 Angler-of-the-Year title.

Click for Larger ViewQuestion: Why did you decide to use the chartreuse-and-black-back-colored KVD 1.5 crankbait at the tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes?

VanDam: The main reason was the water color. Too, I found it difficult not to have confidence in the KVD 1.5 crankbait after I’d just won the Classic using it. I’ve caught bass all year on this square-billed crankbait. The first bass I caught in practice at the Wheeler Lake tournament in Decatur, Alabama, was a 4 pounder, and I caught it on the KVD 1.5.

Click for Larger ViewQuestion: What are you doing with the KVD 1.5 to make that lure produce bass for you?

VanDam: I’ve changed the hooks on the KVD 1.5 to the Mustad KVD Elite Triple Grip Treble short-shank hooks. The color of the lure I’ll use will depend on water clarity. In that first tournament, most of the competitors fished the more-clear lakes and looked for bedding bass. I fished the more-dark-colored lakes and ran that 1.5 along the edge of the grass. When you cast-out the KVD 1.5 and start reeling it back, it doesn’t run in a straight line. It runs-off to the left and the right, which we call a searching action.

Question: What action do you give the bait when you retrieve it to get the bass to bite the lure?

VanDam: If you can cause the 1.5 to hit the bottom and then bounce off the bottom, you can get a number of strikes. Click for Larger ViewIn the 2011 Bassmaster Classic, I crashed this bait into logs and limbs, getting it to deflect off the wood cover. But on the Harris Chain of Lakes, fishing this bait on the edges of grass lines, I didn’t have any cover or bottom to bounce the baits off. So, I used a start-stop retrieve. I ran the 1.5 on a fast retrieve and then stopped and started the bait a number of times. The bass usually attacked the bait when I stopped it. To fish the 1.5 around cover, bounce it off the cover. When you fish it in shallow water, bounce it off the bottom. When you’re fishing it down a grass or a weed line, and there’s no cover to bounce it off, fish it fast, and use a stop-start retrieve. I had a 4th-place finish in the Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes, which put me in good shape to start off the 2011 Angler-of-the-Year race.

Tomorrow: Kevin VanDam Sight-Fishes for Bass at the St. John’s River Tournament


Check back each day this week for more about "Learn How Michigan’s Kevin VanDam Won the Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year Title Again "

Day 1: Bassmaster’s 2011 Angler-of-the-Year Title Is Won by Kevin VanDam at the Wheeler Lake Tournament
Day 2: Kevin VanDam Explains How Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes Helped Him Win His 2011 Bassmaster’s Angler-of-the-Year Title
Day 3: Kevin VanDam Does Sight-Fishes for Bass at the St. John’s River Tournament
Day 4: Kevin VanDam’s Concern about Lake West Point Since He’d Never Fished There
Day 5: Kevin VanDam Explains How the New Summer Sexy Shad Color Helped Him Win Angler of the Year

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Entry 619, Day 2