By Alan McGuckin, Dynamic Sponsorships
If you were smoking chicken wings on the grill next to Kevin VanDam, he’d do everything in his power to make sure his tasted better than yours. But he’d also fetch you a cold beverage. Yup, the Team Toyota pro is an awesome blend of fierce competitor and humble class.
Bass anglers need no introduction to the man sometimes known as KVD. He’s a living legend, one of the all-time greats of the bass-tournament scene, with $6 million in career tournament winnings. So, when asked how much of that total he’s won on just three colors of Strike King’s Red Eye Shad—at first, with humility he hesitated—but then stated it was for sure a million bucks.
“Lipless crankbaits are fish catchers year-round, but late winter and early spring, when water temps are 45 to 55 is the ideal time to throw them. And if I had to pick three colors I’ve had the most success on, it would be Delta Craw, Chartreuse Perch and Gold Sexy Shad,” said VanDam.
Delta Craw
“Most people know red is a great color during the early pre-spawn, and I love it anytime I’m around vegetation – especially in Texas,” he said.
Chartreuse Perch
“This is my stained-water special. I’ve had great luck with it at places like Kentucky Lake, Wheeler and Guntersville along the Tennessee River,” he said. “You don’t need aquatic vegetation for this one to shine. It’s great when you’ve got off-colored water around gravel bars, secondary points, or when the back of creeks get a little dirty after a springtime rain.”
Gold Sexy Shad
“Gold Sexy Shad is my favorite when the water is clearer, like it was when I won the 2010 Classic on Lay Lake in late February throwing it in the back of a creek around stumps where gizzard shad were present,” said VanDam.
Make it Shimmy, and Use Great Hooks
VanDam said the magic of the Red Eye Shad is that it ‘shimmies’ from side to side as it falls on slack line, hence he rips and yo-yos it during the retrieve, versus simply winding it in. He also emphasized the importance of his proven rod, reel, line, hook system when casting a lipless crankbait.
“I use a 7-foot medium action composite rod with plenty of flex in the tip so cold-water bass have plenty of chances to suck it in, and you’re not going to tear the hooks free once they eat it,” he explained. His reel of choice is a 6.2:1 Lew’s KVD baitcaster spooled with 17-pound fluorocarbon, and he can’t emphasize enough how critical it is to change hooks to Mustad KVD TripleGrip #2 trebles.
“If you look in my tackle box, you’ll notice I’ve taken time to replace the hooks on every single Red Eye Shad in there,” VanDam said in much the same way he speaks of smoking perfect wings.
For more, follow GuckFishing on Instagram.