Many of us remember really well about the times we won and why we won. Kevin remembers more about the times he didn’t win and why he didn’t.
He learns from every mistake or miss judgment that he or those around him makes, he maintains high energy, he pays attention to detail & he has the highest level of a work ethic.
Has the confidence that he is going to do whatever it takes to succeed, he studies and understands seasonal fish and bait movement in the variety of lakes and rivers he is fishing.
He concentrates on the most productive patterns, the meticulous preparation for each, he fishes his strengths (which are many) and he never accepts defeat as a loss but, breaks down the reasons for that lack of performance into single issues and learns how to avoid poor performance issues through deductive reasoning.
KVD simplifies and organizes his efforts by breaking a given body of water down into separate patterns.
And beyond that, Kevin loves to fish. He would be equally as successful in many other professions with his persistence and passion, we are just lucky that he chose fishing so that we can enjoy watching the man work.
Smith Mountain Lake in VA was host to the Elite Series event called the Blue Ridge Brawl this past April 23rd through 26th.
Four StrikeKing pros finished in the top ten including Kevin VanDam who took the win with a 4 day total of 61 pounds 13 ounces!
Congratulations Kevin!
Greg Hackney (shown on left) finished in 4th place with a 4 day total of 57 pounds even. Most of Greg’s fish were caught using the soon to be released “Baby Rage Craw” and he was quoted as saying; “I put a 5/0 hook in it and used it on the bed fish,” he also said. “For whatever reason, the bass like that smaller bait.” Way to go Greg!
Shaw Grigsby finished in 6th place with a 4 day total of 54 pounds 3 ounces.
Nice job Shaw!
And James Niggemeyer (shown on right) ended the 4 day event in 7th place, also with a total of 54 pounds 3 ounces. Niggemeyer who fought his way back from deep in the pack, used a Rage Tail Lizard on Day 3 to catch a 7-02 Largemouth that stood as the tournaments biggest fish.
Congratulations on the tournament’s “Big Fish” James, well done!
Mark Menendez wins BASS Elite Series on Lake Dardanelle!
Armed with his trusty Aluminum boat, 90 hp Yamaha outboard and bags full of Rage Tail Soft Plastic Lizards and Coffee Tubes Mark Menendez of Paducah KY, battled the elements and fished his way to victory by over 2 pounds over fellow Strike King Pro Staff Teammate Kevin VanDam.
“I was fortunate enough to use my aluminum boat this week and get back into an area where no one else had been all week and I basically had the entire place to myself.” “Once I started throwing my Strike King soft plastics around and figured out how the fish wanted the bait, I was able to dial in my presentation and bring home the win.”
Congratulations Mark!!!!!!
Also a big congratulations to all of Team Strike King who placed high finishes this week with Mark placing 1st, KVD 2nd, Denny Brauer 5th and James Niggemeyer in 13th, The entire team is showing its strength early on this season. Good luck guys and Congratulations!
James Niggemeyer Wins Toledo Bend Bassmaster Central Open
Strike King Elite Series Pro James Niggemeyer pulled off win #1 of the 2009 season for Team Strike King in high fashion by winning a sudden death overtime fish-off on Toledo Bend on Sunday. James won the Central Open tie breaker by weighing in a 5 fish limit during the 3-1/2 hour fish off.
James caught his fish using the KVD Perfect Plastic Ocho and the soon to be released “Baby” Rage Craw in Watermelon Red colors.
“I threw the kitchen sink at them all week to get to this position and during the fish-off the Ocho and the Baby Rage Craw really proved to be the real winners.” “The fish had moved somewhat due to the cloud cover and I felt really blessed to find them in a short amount of time and to catch them like I did.” James said when contacted by cell phone while he was on his way to the 1st Elite series stop at Lake Amistad in Del Rio, Texas.
This win was James’s 3rd BASS win and he now leads the Central Open points race.
Question: What trailer are you putting on the football-head jig?
VanDam: I’m either using a Rage Chunk or a Rage Craw. I personally like to fish the Rage Craw on the football-head jig. The Rage Craw is a little longer than the Rage Chunk. I like the Rage Craw because when it comes over a rock, that crawfish-looking trailer on the back appears to jump over the rock just like a crawfish will.
Those pincers have great action. When you combine that action with the fish-catching ability of the Rage Craw on the back side of big bass bait like the football-head jig, you have the most potential for catching the biggest bass you can catch in a Part of fishing. I’m not trying to catch 100 fish a Part when I’m fishing the football-head jig with a Rage Craw trailer. I just want to catch a quality stringer of bigger bass.
