By BRETT HONE
Staff Writer
LAKE FORK - He's not as well known on a national scale as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan or Jeff Gordon. But in professional bass fishing circles, his name is the equivalent of any of those.
For years Kevin VanDam has dominated bass fishing circuits. His resume as an angler is full of success: 10 wins and 69 total top 10 finishes in 187 B.A.S.S. events. It is a career as dominating as any champion in their sport.
Fishing professionally since 1990, VanDam started his career winning B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year honors his first year on the pro circuit in 1992. He repeated that feat in 1996 and 1999 and then dominated the FLW circuit in 2001, becoming the Angler of the Year.
That same year, he won the Bassmaster Classic, a feat he repeated in 2005. This year, VanDam is currently second in the Angler of the Year points race through three tournaments.
This week VanDam will captain one of 40 teams of four anglers from the Professional Anglers Association competing in the million-dollar Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Fork.
"We've been at some phenomenal fisheries the last couple of events where there is a potential to catch giant bass at all of them, and then we come to Lake Fork, which is arguably the best bass fishing lake in the country," VanDam said. "This will definitely be fun and it will be exciting to see how things turn out."
For VanDam, the TTBC is an excellent busman's holiday.
"I'm having a pretty good season even though it is early on," VanDam said. "This week will be different, though. The most exciting thing about this tournament is that we aren't fishing for points that count toward the Bassmaster Classic or the FLW championship. This is a one-time event, it's for all the marbles and it's unique.
"For us as anglers it's time to take some chances. We don't ever get to fish with another guy so it's going to be fun and it's going to be a learning experience and I can tell you, my team is excited about this. At the same time, it's still about winning."
The Toyota Texas Bass Classic, which runs Friday through Sunday, will feature several differences from normal tournaments. Those include grouping anglers into four-person teams and putting an onboard observer on each boat to weigh and measure fish so the tournament can be held while embracing the lake's slot limit.
Each team will send two members out during a four-hour morning or afternoon session to fish. Every fish caught will be weighed and each angler will be credited for their top five weights of the day. All of the team's weights will be added together at the end of the day to determine the tournament leaders. After two days of fishing, the field will be narrowed to the top five teams for Sunday's finals.
"The format of the event is a little bit challenging in that each team member has to catch five fish and you only have four hours to do that. That's a little bit limiting, but this lake has more 4- to 7-pound bass than probably any lake in the country," VanDam said. "Consistency is going to be one of the most important things, for guys to come in with quality fish every time. I know Texas Parks and Wildlife would love to see some ShareLunker fish come in, but I think that a lot of guys are going to see that, under this quick time format, they have to take more five pounders."
VanDam's team includes Matt Reed, Dave Lefebre and Therron Caldwell. If they make Sunday's finals they will be competing for the top team prize of $250,000.
Just don't expect anything to come easy this week, even for VanDam, who enters the week trying to fight off the flu. He was told by his wife jokingly to "get up and go to work."
"I can tell you I don't think the Bassmaster Elite tour guys or the FLW guys are going to be used to what they are see here this week," VanDam said. "The FLW Tour guys have been fishing some tough lakes and had some tough fisheries already this season so it's going to be a welcome change for them because they are going to get their rods jerked quite a bit."
VanDam will bring a certain familiarity of the lake to his team. He has filmed several Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World shows on the lake, giving him a good idea of what Fork can be like in varying conditions.
"I've been down here probably seven or eight times, usually every time in the fall, and most of the guys just can't imagine the number of 4- to 8-pounders there are in this lake," VanDam said. "That's what is mind-boggling to me. We fish all the best lakes in the world and this place gets a lot of pressure from year-around fishing and yet continues to produce year after year.
"The great thing about this lake is that Texas Parks and Wildlife saw very early on that they had a very special set of natural circumstances when (the Sabine River Authority) built this lake. They kept a close eye on it from the get go and have continually tweaked the regulations around this lake, and because of that there are tons of people that come from all around the country. It's crucial that the rules are followed to help preserve this lake."
While VanDam expects a 5-pound per fish average necessary to advance to Sunday's finals, he added that with the warmer weather that estimate may be on the low side.
"This transition from cold to warm weather is perfect," VanDam said. "The cold held some fish back from running and as the week gets warmer there will be a big wave of fish move up. That's when you catch the big ones. If you could have scripted a scenario, currently with what I've seen, this is what you would want."
http://www.tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/SPORTS/704120323
No comments:
Post a Comment