Learn How Michigan’s Kevin VanDam Won the Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year Title Again
Day 3: Kevin VanDam Does Sight-Fishes for Bass at the St. John’s River Tournament
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.
 Question: Kevin, what was the next turning point that helped you win the Angler-of-the-Year title after the Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament at the Harris Chain of Lakes in March?
VanDam: The next Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament was held on the St. John’s River in Florida, and my history on fishing lakes in Florida over the years always has been hot and cold. I’ve won a tournament at Lake Toho in Florida before. Coming out of the Harris Chain of Lakes Tournament with a top-five finish, I had a lot of momentum going into this tournament. Everyone knew that this would be a sight-fishing tournament. I grew-up fishing a lot of clear water in Michigan, so I like to sight-fish.  But I prefer to find another pattern other than sight-fishing when sight-fishing is the most-obvious pattern. However, when we reached the St. John’s River, I knew that sight-fishing was my only option. I spent the entire practice looking for areas where bass were spawning. I finished in the top 12 at the St. John’s River.
I started the tournament catching a bass just a little shy of 10 pounds, while sight-fishing, and lost another bass that would have weighed over 10 pounds. In the tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes, I covered a lot of water with the KVD 1.5 crankbait, which was the way I liked to fish. But in this tournament, I had to slow down and fish extremely slowly to try to catch those bass on the bed. Then, I switched to soft plastics and started-off line-casting an Ocho. When I found the bass on the bed, I fished a 3-inch Rodent, a Coffee Tube and a KVD Finesse Worm. I fished every type of plastic I had in my boat to try to determine what lure those bedding bass would bite.
 Question: What bait did you use to catch the big bass?
VanDam: I caught my big bass on a white-colored Coffee Tube. Most people think that we fish a white tube, because it’s easier for the fisherman to see. However, also remember that the white tube is easier for the bass to see than a darker-colored tube. Color often triggers a strike. Sometimes I’ll dye a white-colored tube with chartreuse dye to make the tube even brighter. I want to annoy the bass into biting.
Question: Why did you start with the Ocho as your search bait in this tournament?
VanDam: When I’m blind-casting for bedding bass, I prefer the Ocho, because it’s got a subtle fall. When the bass are cruising around an area trying to find a spot to bed, looking for something to feed on while they’re on the bed or getting ready to leave the bed, they tend to like a soft presentation with not very-much action and a slow-falling lure that’s easy for them to swim-up to and eat. I probably caught 1/3 of the bass I weighed-in on the Ocho by blind-casting.
 Question: When you fish the Ocho, how do you rig it?
VanDam: I fished in a lot of eel grass, so I needed to let the Ocho slide through that grass. That’s the reason I rigged the Ocho Texas style.
Question: What size hook did you use on the Ocho?
VanDam: I used a No. 5/0 Mustad hook. That top-12 finish after a top-five finish really stacked-on the points for me for the Angler-of-the-Year title.
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