By Louie Stout

JVD asks, Are we back in Michigan?The next time someone tells me I have the greatest job in the world, I will tell him about today.

Imagine climbing out of bed at 3 a.m. then driving drive 90 miles to Grand Lakes O’ Cherokees with only cameras and notebook in hand.

JVD asks, "Are we back in Michigan?"

Then, at daylight, you go hurdling across a lake at 65 mph in 30-degree temperatures.

And a blinding blizzard.

And a 20 mph east wind.

And you don’t get to fish.

You just sit, stand, or wiggle – anything to stay warm – while watching a bundled pro angler shudder in the cold, bite the ice out of his guides and shake snow out of his hood.

But this is the Bassmaster Classic and it’s what press guys are asked to do on the official day of practice.

No fishing; we just watch pros fish and insure they play by the rules.

Luckily, I packed my Ice Armor cold weather suit, warm boots, gloves and mask. It’s the stuff us Michiganders wear when we go north smallmouthin’ in October.

But this was Oklahoma, where three days earlier, it was 70 degrees.

Call it Stout luck.

Snowed out?I made the most of it, and that was easy to do because I was assigned to Jonathon VanDam, a.k.a. “JVD,” nephew of that “other” Vandam from Kalamazoo.

Snowed out?

This is Jon’s first-ever Bassmaster Classic as a competitor, although he has attended several over the years to watch his Uncle Kevin.

Oddly enough, it was some 22 years ago and within a week of JVD’s third birthday, that I was KVD’s press observer in his rookie Classic.

Damn, I’m getting old.

Initially, B.A.S.S. wanted us back at the dock at 3:15, but changed it to 2:15 due to updated weather report calling for heavy snow and freezing rain. Pros can fish in bad weather, but making them drive 90 miles in an ice storm isn’t a good idea.

But when the blizzard hit with three hours to go, JVD called it day, as did many other pros. (No argument from me!)

Besides, Jon was avoiding areas where he caught fish during three previous practice days. Wednesday was a simple matter of checking “other stuff.”

“I’ve only had a few bites today and I already know how I’m going to fish when the tournament starts Friday,” he said.

His better areas during an earlier practice produced a 6 pounder and quite a few 4s.

“I think that pattern will hold even with this weather,” he told me. “I’m not getting many bites in those good spots, but the ones I am getting are big. If I can get the right bites on Friday and Saturday, I’ll be right there in the thick of it.”

How cool would that be to have another VanDam…or possibly two VanDams… slugging it out for the championship on Sunday?