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By Al McGuckin
Most people consider Kevin VanDam the greatest professional bass angler of all time. But beyond fishing, and aside from cheering for his home state Detroit Lions each autumn, there’s not another sport on the planet he tracks with as much passion throughout the year as NASCAR®.
We sat down with the highly decorated, class act of a bass pro from Southwest Michigan to learn more about his love of racing. And it became clear VanDam’s constant attention to the sport centered on 3,400 pound cars traveling at 200 mph definitely equals his intense approach to bass fishing.
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IBF Report
The Indiana Bass Federation, a state organization with the purpose to assist and unite member clubs and to assist and cooperate with the DNR, has announced it will stock about 3,200, 8-10 inch largemouth bass into Lake Monroe on April 27.
Lake Monroe is the third lake selected as part the Indiana DNR Reservoir Habitat Enhancement Program. Various IBF clubs and other volunteers assisted the DNR with placement of habitat in Lake Monroe in 2018. The five-year project to improve fish habitat in five impoundments around the state began in 2016.
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By Al McGuckin
Unless your favorite fishery is clearer than Sprite, you probably can’t see for sure if bass are actually on spawning beds. But Kevin VanDam says if you see dogwood trees blooming along the shoreline, you better start casting ultra shallow, because there’s a super high chance your local largemouth are making babies.
“I don’t care if you’re in Michigan, Missouri, or somewhere in between, I’ve always said if the dogwoods are blooming, then you can pretty much bet the bass are spawning,” says the Team Toyota angler.
Moon phase/water temp matter: “Dogwoods are an easy indicator, but you need to pay attention to the moon phase and water temperature too, especially the moon phase,” says VanDam. “Water temps can fool you a little, because I’ve seen bass build beds in a pretty wide range of water temps. But if you have either a new moon or a full moon, like we’ve got coming later this week, and the dogwoods are blooming, you can count on bass spawning.”