Clear Water Smallmouth Spinnerbaiting with KVD
I practiced with Kevin VanDam for three days prior to an Elite Series tournament on the California Delta in 2007. During that period I witnessed not only his laser focus and remarkable fishing instincts, but also a story line that the general public does not see: He’s not just a master of fast-moving lures like crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jerkbaits; he’s also an exceptional flipper and a remarkably adept sight fisherman.
If that proved to be my last time in KVD’s boat, I could have lived with that, but in early October, nearly 15 years after that last pairing, we finally got back in the boat together. I won’t say that this experience was better per se, but it was more of what you might consider the quintessential VanDam experience – burning a spinnerbait for clear water smallmouths on a lake in Northern Michigan. That’s like getting tutored on your free throws by Rick Barry, or on your fastball by Nolan Ryan, an impossible-to-replicate experience watching the world’s best doing the thing that made him most notable.
In five hours of fishing, we caught smallmouths up to 6 pounds (him, not me). At one point I had him down two to one, but then he put the hammer down and outpaced me the rest of the way, although I still ended up with five fish to his six. The whole time, he was tutoring me on how to improve my technique, and demonstrated that at fifty-plus years old he still has the stamina to do it for five, six or seven days in a row.
Fortunately, he was willing to share some of his clear water smallmouth secrets. Every serious bass angler owes it to themselves to hit at least one of these lakes during their lifetime. If you can’t make it to the Great Lakes State, there are plenty of options elsewhere. Here’s the technique and tackle, from the GOAT himself:
Tackle Mentioned:
Notes:
VanDam prefers some chartreuse in the skirt any time smallmouths may be feeding on perch, but otherwise frequently uses blue glimmer
He’s fanatical about “tuning” the spinnerbait so that it doesn’t roll over, keeping the top wire, bottom wire and hook shank in alignment
During the retrieve he’ll execute several momentary pauses to “flare” the skirt and trigger bass to bite.
His signature spinnerbait comes with a trailer hook, but if yours doesn’t you should add one.
