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Northeast Bass Fishing For Trophy Bass

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler

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

Justin Riley Breaks Maryland State Record For Largemouth!

If you could pick the conditions under which to catch a new state record fish, you’d be hard pressed to top the real-life set of circumstances under which Justin Riley broke Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay largemouth bass mark.

For starters, the Woodbine, Md., angler was fishing with his father, Ed. For another thing, he was fishing a team tournament, so there were plenty of witnesses, a set of scales nearby and money on the line. Finally, it was under super-tough conditions that few would have picked to produce a trophy bass.

January 26th started slowly for the Rileys. They had decided to fish a section of the river called “the Spoils” and found their favorite spot covered with ice. Relying on their boat to break up the thin sheet of ice and the river’s currents to carry it away, they soon had water to fish, but nothing was biting.

Justin realized the most productive spot in the area — that key spot within the spot —was still covered by ice, so he backed their boat into the ice to break it up.
“I was looking at my electronics and saw some fish on it as we backed into the ice,” he said. “When we pulled forward, I pitched my bait (a 1/2-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS Lazer Blade in chartreuse and lime) back to the spot and let it fall to the bottom.”

Special to Bassmaster.com/Clifford Magnus
Justin and his father, Ed Riley, landed a limit that weighed better than 26 pounds to win the tournament.
Riley lifted and dropped the blade bait twice, then let it sit still on the bottom. That’s when the big bass decided to make a meal of it.

“She picked it up off the bottom, and I set the hook,” Riley said. “At first I wasn’t sure it was a bass, but after several minutes she surfaced and turned so I could see the lateral line. Even then I had no idea how big she was.”

With Ed Riley manning the net, Justin led the fish to the boat. She came aboard at about 8:15 a.m.
“I still didn’t know I had a record fish,” Justin said. “I had caught a nine-pounder from the river a couple of years before and knew this fish was much bigger but didn’t know how much bigger.”
It didn’t help that their on-board scale was malfunctioning in the cold or that it didn’t register weights over 10 pounds. So, with a very big bass in the livewell, the Rileys kept fishing.
And they proceeded to fill out a tournament limit that weighed better than 26 pounds. It was good enough for the win and, naturally, Justin’s lunker took big bass honors.

Special to Bassmaster.com/Clifford Magnus
Riley at the tournament scales.
On the tournament scales, Riley’s bass weighed 11-9, but they weren’t certified. Once he realized the fish might exceed the state record, Justin and his dad went looking for some certified scales. They found them at a UPS shipping center where the bass weighed an official 11.18 pounds.

For most trophy catches, the story would end there. The fish would either be taken to a taxidermist or released in the waters from which it came, but the Rileys contacted the Bass Pro Shops store in Hanover, Md., and asked if they’d be interested in the fish.
They were, and after an hour-long drive to the store, the Rileys and store manager Aaron Frazier spent the next three hours gradually warming the water the bass was in to the same temperature as the store quarantine tank — a 35 degree difference!
After a quarantine period, visitors should be able to view the state record in the store’s aquarium.

Technically, although Riley’s catch is the biggest largemouth ever certified in Maryland, it’s not the freshwater record. Because his fish was caught in tidal waters, Riley’s bass is the Chesapeake Bay (or tidal waters) record for the state. The previous tidal waters record was caught in 1975 from the Pocomoke River and weighed 9-1. The Maryland freshwater record largemouth weighed 11-2 (about an ounce less than Riley’s bass) and was taken from a farm pond in 1993.

Justin Riley is no stranger to tournament competition or fishing success. For three years he fished the Bassmaster Opens series before an automobile accident sidelined him in 2007. Now he’s ready to get back on the trail and try to qualify for fishing’s big time, the Bassmaster Elite Series.

“My dream is to become a professional bass fisherman,” Riley says.
In the meantime, he’s pretty happy with his state record.

Angler: Justin Riley, Woodbine, Md.Date: Jan. 26, 2008Species: Largemouth BassWeight: 11.18 poundsLocation: Potomac River, Md. (“The Spoils”)Bait: Bass Pro Shops XPS Lazer Blade (chartreuse and lime)Rod/Reel: Shimano Curado and medium-heavy Shimano casting rodLine: 12-pound-test Berkley Big GameDetails: The bass hit at about 16 feet deep on a drop that fell from 11 to 19 feetStatus: Maryland state record for tidal waters

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StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler