How does KVD do it???

[natalex1208]

He is fishing in exactly the same place as some very very good anglers and beating the pants off of them. 

Unreal.

[5bass]

[movedhere] General Bass Fishing Forum [move by] five.bass.limit.

[Grey Wolf]

Some one has to be the best , it might as well be him .

[A-Jay]

There is NO chance I can come close to answering that one. Additionally, I'm betting there are 49 other Classic contenders asking themselves the very same thing, again.

But what I do know and really like a lot, is that he's doing it with rods, reels, lures and line that, for the most part, the average Bass fishing Joe can afford.

As for that Nitro he runs, I don't see myself in one of those anytime soon.

A-Jay

[Bassnajr]

He says he is not patient....I don't believe it. Working one small area for three days shows TREMENDOUS patience. And he did it last year as well. Not broken...don't fix it!

He has CONFIDENCE....anything can be done and done well when you have an unlimited amount of confidence. IMHO it is what KVD has that all the rest don't have. 

[Bassnajr]

From the ESPN blog..pretty funny!!

3:10PM ET  As we watch BassTrakk on the final day of the Bassmaster Classic, we see that Kevin VanDam is shaping up to be the Chuck Norris of bass fishing.

Here's our top 10:

Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears KVD pajamas.

KVD doesn't need to actually cast for fish, he simply goes to a river or lake and says: "You, you, you, you and you -- in the livewell!"

KVD can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.

When the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks his closet for KVD.

When KVD goes fishing, he doesn't need a fishing pole - he just stares at the water till the fish jump into his boat out of shear panic.

KVD runs until the treadmill gets tired.

They found KVD 's to-do list ... It is now known as The Guinness Book of World Records.

KVD doesn't do push-ups. He pushes the world down

KVD once won an underwater breathing contest with a fish.

KVD doesn't need to wait for a bite when he goes fishing; the fish know KVD doesn't like to wait. 

[natalex1208]

It takes a lot of know how to go along with that confidence to be successful.  I know some people that are very confident but don't actually know squat.  LOL!

[A-Jay]

This post from Bassmaster Classic live blog today might shed some light on the subject :

A-Jay

Last year at the Kentucky Lake Elite Series event, we put a small test camera on KVD's chest to see what we might be able to come up with in terms of a new look.

The test didn't create the things that television producers want to see. But as an angler I watched it mesmerized. The whole shot was nothing more than KVD's hands reeling the crankbait he was throwing all day.

I say "reeling" in loose terms. KVD doesn't reel anything. He works it all the way back by twisting and turning his wrists like he's fighting a controller on an X-Box.

Fascinating stuff to look at, even though without seeing the crankbait at the same time you have no idea why he does it and what the bait is doing.

Earlier in the day, Overstreet and Russow mentioned some of that in a blog. KVD obviously does something different. He's in the middle of the best anglers in the country and was able to distance himself once again.

I remember Rick Clunn used to talk about visualizing yourself as if you were the crankbait banging off the logs and tearing through grass. I thought at the time he was crazy.

KVD, though, undoubtedly has something like that going on in his head and he transfers movement to those baits in ways that can't be seen by anything but those green fish.

Unless you really pay attention to him while he's in a boat, you can't see what he's doing. He'll probably kill me for even bringing it up.

But when you sit here in this little war room for four days, you have to start thinking about the things that set him apart. Usually you can just say he's better at finding them. But everyone found them, everyone was in his back pocket and he was still able to produce in ways that were simply awe-inspiring.

One of these days the book "The Real Secrets of KVD" will be a best-seller. But he's obviously not giving anything up until at least AARP starts calling.

-- Steve Bowman

[Kevinator1]

Must be using the banjo minnow! ;D 

[South FLA]

This time it was the

http://www.hydrowave.com/

[Bassnajr]

Watched the press conference after. One thing is for sure. He does have a lot of control over everything he uses to fish. From boats to lures...line to wave thingee machines. That cannot hurt the overall situation. And when you design and make what you use, and it works REALLY well, you get more confidence....which again, I believe is his biggest gift. With 100% confidence anyone can do anything....

[hookset on 3]

Kevin Van Dam on working a crank to get bass to bite-

"If you're not presenting a crankbait to fish in an erratic fashion, you're going to miss some key bites. Make sure the lure is banging on bottom, changing speeds, or making short, abrupt movements. You can do that by periodically snapping the rod tip with the wrist."

Master series on Power Fishing with KVd, Bassmaster July 2010.

[uptonfish]

It wouldn't surprise me if after he was done fishing he admits he cheats

That is the only logical explainable answer I can come up with.  The guy is unbelievable.  Its one thing to have an area that has better quality fish to yourself and win.  Its entirely different to be sharing that same water with 2 or 3 other top notch anglers and still whip them which he has done 2 years in a row.  The guy is magic

[South FLA]

KVD = Dagon

[jdw174]

you get more confidence....which again, I believe is his biggest gift. With 100% confidence anyone can do anything....

Remember, it's all about the attitude....

[NBR]

I'd bet against the, "He cheats". While I haven't seen him in years I knew Kevin on a first name basis before he turned pro(I moved a 1,000 miles and he travels a bunch so it is very rare he and I are in Kalamazoo at the same time). He was just a fine young man then and I doubt very much that he has changed. A credit to our sport.

I'd say his success is like that of most other athletes; conditioning, planning, setting objectives, concentration, attention to detail, a game plan with back ups when plan A fails, time management and a bit of luck mostly self generated.

Add in a very very supportive family!!!!

[SausageFingers23]

This time it was the http://www.hydrowave.com/

He referenced that in the press conference after the weigh-in.  As far as I know, nothing says you can't use something like that but I think it pushes the boundaries a little bit.  At what point do you draw the line? 

I'm not taking anything away from him - he's unreal on the water and clearly operates on a different level.  I think Jeff Kriet was fishing with one as welll and he didn't fare nearly as well.

[senile1]

A-Jays earlier post hit the nail on the head. I read the same entry in the Classic blog yesterday about how he moves his wrists when he reels in a crankbait. In a nutshell, I think he does it by fishing normal lures in an extraordinary manner with an uncanny, intense concentration.

[NBR]

I'd wager that any of the big time pro's who think the Hydrowave works has one.

State law and BASS draw the lines. It has not been all that long when motors were restricted to 150hp or less by BASS.

[Shad_Master]

No way do I believe he "cheats", but there is one thing that is consistent with last year - that is fishing close to the launch point.

I have heard of lakes where there are "release areas" that are off limits as the fish caught during other tournaments are turned loose there and tend to stay there.  Does anybody know anything about this particular area?  There has to be something other than just water that held those fish for three straight days and with that many anglers.

[Bassnajr]

I don't think this was close to the ramp or a release area. I watched the press conference after. It was an area reclaimed after the hurricanes via a diversion of the Mississippi river. It's full of cypress stumps and a few grass areas around it. If they have the press conference with KVD on file watch it. He says the difference between him and the others in the area was that he was making multiple casts (4 was the lucky number) to stumps before he got thumped. He was also fishing much slower than the others. In a funny part of the conference he says that when Scott Rook came close enough to his boat he mouthed to him "Slow down!" Rook did..and started whacking em. He didn't tell Aaron though!!!!

[Shad_Master]

This time it was the

http://www.hydrowave.com/

So is this the new version of the Biosonix?  It seems like it does the same thing at a much lower (but still to high for me) cost.

[5bass]

This time it was the

http://www.hydrowave.com/

So is this the new version of the Biosonix?

Looks to be along the same lines as the Biosonix.

[Sam]

Just because KVD has some equipment on the boat does not mean he is using it.

And the posts about KVD working a crankbait is true.

A crankbait in his hands is magic.

I saw KVD at two Bassmasters Universities and met him last year in Richmond and he is a class act. A fantastic ambassador for our sport.

KVD does other things that he does not tell us which keeps him above us in the sport. May he continue to "wow" us in the future. 

[Skeet22]

This time it was the http://www.hydrowave.com/

He referenced that in the press conference after the weigh-in. As far as I know, nothing says you can't use something like that but I think it pushes the boundaries a little bit. At what point do you draw the line?

I'm not taking anything away from him - he's unreal on the water and clearly operates on a different level. I think Jeff Kriet was fishing with one as welll and he didn't fare nearly as well.

While we were waiting to blast off Sunday Kreit was next to us telling Duckett about the hydrowave deal. He said KVD is the only one using it so far that the one KVD has is actually a prtotype that Kreit gave him. The way Kreit sounded the one KVD was using was the only one made so he was fishing without it.