Grove, OK — Every time Kevin VanDam boards a boat and casts a lure in a Bassmaster Elite Series event, he has the potential to add to a legacy that is already untouchable.
Every. Single. Time.
Over the weekend, he did just that, adding an impossible 25th Bassmaster win to his GOAT status resume on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake.
Oh, and in case there was any doubt, KVD dominated this tournament. When it was all said in done, he weighed in 83 pounds, 4 ounces, besting the second place finisher by 5 pounds. The performance was truly magnificent, and when you look a bit closer, quite clever as well.
VanDam said, “The male bass were all in shallow along the bank and pretty easy to catch. I knew that to win, I needed to catch the larger females that were staging further offshore.” Recognizing this pattern, KVD also wanted to cover a lot of water and target active fish.
To do that, he chose Strike King KVD 1.5 square bill crankbait and fished up to 50 different spots per day. After he got more dialed in, he was able to be more focused and fish the best spots.
And he made a quick modification to the bait. “I swapped the factory hooks with number 2 Mustad KVD treble hooks,” he said. “And that increased my hook up rate tremendously.”
It’s this level of detail that makes him the best.
Thanks to this win, we will be seeing him in the next Bassmaster Classic as he attempts to win his 5th such trophy.