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VanDam At Lake Conroe

Bass fishing’s best VanDam brings stick to Lake Conroe

Kevin VanDam, generally regarded as the No. 1 pro bass fisherman in the world, brings his skills to Lake Conroe this weekend for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic.
By Charlie Bier
Updated: 10.13.09
Kevin VanDam owns the face of pro bass fishing, answers to an NFL linebacker’s nickname (Van Damage) and, with about $3.7 million in career winnings, has pocketed more money than any angler in the sport’s history.

All in a day’s work for the 41-year-old Kalamazoo, Mich., native.

“I love bass fishing,” VanDam said. “I put a lot into it, but I don’t have to push myself. It’s almost addictive, almost like gambling. The competition really motivates you. If you come close once, it just drives you that much more to want to get out there and try to win.”

Winning is something VanDam’s done plenty of. He’s coming off back-to-back Angler of the Year titles in 2008 and this year. His five Angler of the Year titles since 1992 rank him second all-time behind only legend Roland Martin, who claimed nine. VanDam has twice won the Bassmaster Classic championship, which has been referred to as the Super Bowl of fishing. ESPN’s even given him an ESPY trophy as Outdoor Sportsman of the Year.

VanDam said the Toyota Texas Bass Classic – a postseason event sponsored by the Professional Anglers Association – promotes an all or nothing atmosphere that has his competitive juices flowing.

“I’m not down there fishing for points or fishing a series or anything,” VanDam said. “This is one event, trying to shoot for all the marbles; and that’s the way I’m going to approach it. I’m going to take some chances. I’m going down there trying to hit a home run.”

VanDam’s banking on experience to carry him on a lake he’s never fished.

“One thing that’s helped me to be successful in recent years is just now that I’ve been doing it for quite a while,” said VanDam, who turned pro in 1990. “You get a lot of experience fishing a lot of different bodies of water, at different times of the year, to draw on when you go to a place that’s new like (Lake Conroe).”

VanDam said he’ll have to reel in a few of the lake’s fabled big fish to have a shot. This year, Conroe’s output of ShareLunker largemouth bass, or those weighing 13 pounds or better, is tied with Lake Fork near Dallas for tops in the state.

“It’s great to go to a fishery that on any cast, you’ve got a chance to catch a bass 10 pounds or better,” VanDam said. “I think you’ve got to be consistent, but, boy, you need to catch some of those better-than-average fish to have a shot at winning this.”

A notorious “fast” fisherman who likes to cover a lot of water rather than pick apart select spots, VanDam, whose favorite lure is a spinnerbait, said he’ll scout large expanses of water in practice sessions, which started Monday.

As for tactics, who knows?

“I’m going to go in and practice, and I’ll experiment with a lot of different things,” VanDam said. “You want to pick the most efficient lure for the type of cover, the depth, the water clarity, all those different conditions that you have. I’ll narrow it down to the type of lures that I think will play based on those conditions.”

One thing for sure, though, is that VanDam likes fishing in the autumn.

“It’s been quite a few years since we’ve had tournaments through the fall. The Bassmaster tour used to start in August and go right through the winter, but the season’s kind of changed in the last half-dozen years or so. But I love fishing in the fall. I’ve always looked at it as one of the times of year that’s a strength to me.”

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler

Anglers Conservation Team

Are your fisheries’ resources worth protecting? Do you want to improve fishing in your area?
If your answers are yes, then you’ll want to join theBASS Angler Conservation Team (ACT) supported by Ramada Worldwide. ACT is a network of leisure anglers like you who volunteer to protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitats.
ACT members are invited to help fellow anglers, communities and natural resource managers with grassroots projects such as building and placing fish habitats in lakes, planting native aquatic vegetation, ensuring angler access to waterways and more.
The time and work is rewarding. Working hands-on with fisheries biologists and resource experts gives BASS Angler Conservation Team participants a unique look at how fish and wildlife are managed in the wild. In turn, you will have a deeper understanding and appreciation of our natural resources and our need to protect them.
BASS invites you to get involved. To volunteer your time for grassroots projects that protect and preserve the nation’s waterways, sign up for ACT, the Angler Conservation Team, using the links below.
Steps:
If you have not registered on the Bassmaster/ESPN Web sites,click here to become a free member and start enjoying exclusive content.
I would like to be a part of the BASS Angler Conservation Team (ACT), to receive conservation information and volunteer for grassroots fish and wildlife habitat projects. Click here to join ACT. 1998 Big Bass World Champ Life Member NAFC/B.A.S.S. PAA/Anglers Legacy/ACT

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler

Fishing Soft Plastic Grubs In Delaware

Delaware and Maryland Ponds, Lakes, and Rivers are receiving more and more pressure as each year goes by, not just from weekend anglers, but tournament fishing as well. If you apply some new tactics with these spider grubs, you can be more productive in your recreational and tournament fishing alike.

Surprisingly, this deadly soft plastic bait is not a staple in everyone’s tackle box, but in many other states, it is a long time favorite lure when the going gets tough. Several companies make spider grubs, but I prefer the ones made by “Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits” the best. The grubs come in a variety of colors and sizes, from two to five inches long. They are absolutely deadly on spring largemouth and smallmouth bass alike. Most anglers like to use them on jig heads, and this is an extremely effective method, but I also like to rig them Texas style. The grub resembles a darting crawfish depending on how you fish it. It is the most effective in clear water, but also produces bass in stained and muddy water.The lure is compact like a jig and pig, as versatile as a worm, can be fished vertically or horizontally, fast or slow. You can pitch it, flip it, swim it, hop it, or drag it on the bottom. Here are some of the ways I like to fish it in Delaware and Maryland waters, and elsewhere throughout the country, that really produce bass.

Search Tool

When searching for bass, you want to try to cover the water quickly. The spider grub is a great search tool when you’re looking for bass that are feeding on crawfish around scattered weeds and rocks on shallow flats like the Susquehanna, or similar shallow areas. You can fish it faster than a jig, cover the water quickly, and trigger more reaction strikes, The earth tone colors are easy to match with the forage and blend in well with the surroundings. This is critical in clear water, when the bass rely more on sight. Sometimes I like to fish it fast, with an erratic, jerkbait type motion. The lure is always moving, but on or near the bottom.

When I fish the open flats with scattered grass, I rig it on a light jighead, or if the cover is thicker, I rig it Texas style. I found that I land more fish If the hook is exposed, and if it becomes hooked on weeds occasionally, I jerk it free, sometimes causing a reaction strike. I like to use 1/8 ounce or 1/4 ounce jigheads, depending on the depth of the water, wind, currents, or how hard it is to keep on the bottom. I also prefer to fish them on a 6 1/2 to 7 foot spinning rod with a medium action soft tip, in graphite. Using six to eight pound test P-Line.
Sometimes you can go to ten pound line, depending on the cover. The light line gives the bait more action, and is less likely to hang up in the weeds. I have used these successfully on the grass flats in the Potomac River and on the Susquehanna flats. Working it the right way takes some practice. You want the lure to scoot along in short bursts, on or near the bottom, without making excessive hops. Don’t pull it too hard, or you will lose contact with the bottom. Keep the rod low to the water, and on the side of the boat so the wind doesn’t bow the line and ruin the action of the bait.
Keep contact with the bait at all times, because many of the strikes will feel mushy or heavy like it is on grass, but most of the time when I set the hook, it is a bass. If it is just weeds, it pulls free and sometimes triggers a strike.

Different Techniques

Swimming the Grub

Sometimes I swim the grub like a jerk bait. Once in a tournament the bass were ignoring the jerkbait, so I switched to the spider grub, and fished it erratically over the weeds, stopping it occasionally. This triggered the strikes that I needed to win. Fifteen pounds of bass slammed the spider grub while ignoring the other jerkbaits and crankbaits that were being worked in the same area.

Dragging the Grub

Sometimes when I am fishing on a long, sandy, gravel point, I use a stand up jighead and just pull it slowly on the bottom. I work it very slow, and maintain contact with the bottom all the time. Also, I Carolina-Rig the bait, and when I feel it hit rocks or heavy cover, I start shaking the line, and this causes strikes to occur much of the time. This has been working real well in lakes in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, but I have used it with success all over the country.

Suspended Fish

Frequently after a cold-front moves through, bass will suspend over some structure. When this occurs, You can rig it Texas style, on a very light weight, or with no weight at all, and let it float down to the bottom. When conditions are tough, this works wonders at times by keeping the bait in front of the fish longer. I have even tried drop-shotting this bait with success. They are more prone to strike the bait with this method, over a bait that moves quickly by them. When you are searching for fish, and the going gets tough, this is the bait to try. I like to use a good spinning rod, such as G.Loomis or St.Croix, and a good reel like a Shimano or Daiwa. Sensitivity is very important, and a combination such as this improves your chances of catching them when they strike. This technique has worked well in clear lakes all over the Midwest, and in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. I caught a lot of nice bass using these methods at Table Rock Lake, in Missouri also. Whether it is spring, summer, fall, or winter, this is a bait for all seasons

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler

Top Delaware Ponds

Some of the best ponds during the heat, day or night, have been Millsboro, Killens, and Canal pond. Millsboro pond pictured above has an island and can be a good spot at night.

First of the closest ponds to both upper and lower Delaware is Killens in Dover.

Killens is located right off rt.13. Turn left onto State Park Road, follow the road around the curve, past the main park entrance, and about a mile and a half down the road is the pond. It has parking for about six to eight trucks with trailers, with an adequate launching ramp. Killens is a state park, and they also rent boats and cabins, but you will find little competition for bass except on the weekends.

Most of Killens is one to five feet deep at the shoreline, except in the extreme upper end, where it is just inches deep. The lake has an Island in the center with some wood cover and grass. It drops off to six feet quickly on the channel side (main lake), and is about three feet on the right side. This is a particularly good area to work in the day with “Senko’s” in four and five inch sizes in black and watermelon on a 3/0 WG hook, with eight and ten pound test line. In addition, clacker type buzzbaits produce bass in the three to six pound range many times in this area, even in the bright afternoon sun.

A Tournament Frog, or “Sumo Frog” is a good choice for the pads especially in the daytime heat. The action will be slower, but you can connect with some big explosions through the grass and pads at times. A Tournament Frog is the best choice of topwater, and a 1/2 ounce in black works best all around. Vary the retrieve, both day and night, sometimes letting the frog sit after hitting the water, as long as thirty seconds, then use a few quick hops. If this doesn’t produce, try working it very fast and pausing only once, on the way back to the boat. This is especially effective in large pads.

Jigs in black and blue take their fair share of nice bass from here also, but you must be extremely accurate and quiet in your presentations or you will not connect. The bass will be in the heaviest of cover, lying in wait for a slow moving, crippled bait to come overhead.

“GO AT NIGHT”

Fishing at night when the water cools to seventy or seventy-five degrees, is the best time to connect with bigger bass now. Explore the shallow water right at the drop-offs on the left side of the lake with buzzbaits cast to the main channel edge. Do not be afraid to experiment with some older, forgotten baits, such as a “Devils Horse”, or similar prop baits. They work wonders sometimes in highly pressured lakes.

MILLSBORO POND

Millsboro Pond is in Sussex County, Delaware, in the town of Millsboro off Isabella and Main Street. It has room for only a few boats, and the launching ramp is very shallow, you can get off all right, but getting back on the trailer can be real tricky. Most of the lake is shallow, with lots of grass. It has several Islands, but the bass go to shallow water at night in the upper end. Buzzbaits are best, but Tournament Frogs work well also, in the day and night. Several bass have been caught in the three to six pound range in the past at night, using the frog and Senko’s mostly in the day. Cast the buzzbait wherever possible at night, it is worth removing the grass. Use Senko’s by the lower end of the lake in deeper water in the day, and do not forget to let them sit a long time, raise the pole once or twice, and then cast again. Use these techniques and bring plenty of insect repellent, and you will connect with some lunkers, and many others in the two to three pound range.

CANAL POND

Canal Pond is located by the railroad bridge in the C&D Canal area. Turn right under St.Georges Bridge and follow the road to the pond. It has beautiful structure, pads, and has a deep shoreline with a deep hole. This was where a few years ago, the thirty pound landlocked striped bass was caught. There are some real Lunker largemouth’s still there also. You will need a small cartop boat to fish it, but it is worth the trouble of getting in. It is about thirty acres of real good drop-offs, and structure, where bass up to nine pounds have been caught. Please remember to practice Catch, Photo, and Release so we can all enjoy the bass fishing there for a long time to come. Senko’s and four inch straight tailed worms work best throughout the year in watermelon and green. At times spinnerbaits and frogs will work, but this is a plastics lake.

Noxontown Lake

Noxontown has long been known for producing big bass. In the late seventies and early eighties largemouth of seven and eight pounds were not uncommon to hear of each week.
Since that time, with all the recreational and tournament pressure, its big bass numbers seem to have declined, or have they?

The answer is no! They are still there, just older and wiser. This was proven when I caught a 10.16 pound largemouth bass in 1999 in Noxontown, just ounces short of the state record.

That bass pictured below was featured in a full page article in the News Journal paper, in Bassmaster Magazine Lunker Club, North American Fisherman, and Bass Pro Shops Master catalogs.

The trick to getting these larger bass to strike is to fish the lake at low pressure times during the weekdays, and employing some western techniques such as swimbaits off the deeper points. Just because they are northern strain bass and aren’t 20 pounds, it doesn’t mean they don’t want a big easy meal.
Follow these tips and tactics in these Delaware Lakes and Ponds this year, and you will catch the trophy of a lifetime! More detailed information on these and other lakes, ponds and rivers in Delaware and Maryland are available at http://bassfishingstories.webs.com/

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler