Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
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Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., wins the 2016 A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend held out of Many, La., Sunday, with a four-day total weight of 96 pounds, 2 ounces. - Photo by Seigo Saito/Bassmaster
Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., wins the 2016 A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend held out of Many, La., Sunday, with a four-day total weight of 96 pounds, 2 ounces. - Photo by Seigo Saito/Bassmaster
MANY, La. — Superstar professional angler Kevin VanDam often deals with a different set of circumstances than the average angler on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
With such a sparkling resume, many fans’ expectations for VanDam are much higher. With such a recognizable name and face, the number of people who want to catch a glimpse of him doing his thing on the water is sometimes off the charts.
Because of all that, many people have wondered aloud these past five years if VanDam would ever win another major tournament. But he was never one of them — and now, he’s silenced all of his doubters.
VanDam slammed the door on a wire-to-wire victory at the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend with 21 pounds, 6 ounces of bass on Championship Sunday. The big bag gave him a four-day total of 96-2 and his record 21st victory in a B.A.S.S. event.
“This was the most challenging tournament I’ve ever won,” said VanDam, who raised his career earnings with B.A.S.S. to just over $5.9 million with Sunday’s $100,000 payday. “The first two days were pretty good, but the last two days were really, really tough.
“It’s normally not hard fishing here. But with the pressure out there this week, trying to be there at the right time when the conditions were right, it was tough.”
VanDam caught 29-5 Thursday and 20-11 Friday to lead the field into Saturday’s semifinal round with 50-0. But with the weekend, the lake became more crowded — and at times, VanDam had as many 50 boats following him from spot to spot.
He got only five bites Saturday. But they were the right five, and his bag of 24-12 gave him a lead of more than 5 pounds going into Sunday. During the final round, he slowly put together another big limit of 21-6 and put himself beyond the reach of Alabama angler Chris Lane, who finished second with 88-7.
KVD’s go-to baits for the week were big, deep-diving crankbaits from Strike King — the 6XD, 8XD and 10XD.
“If you want to be successful out here, you have to be really confident in your lures and techniques,” VanDam said. “I didn’t stop and fish a worm or a Carolina rig or a jig. I knew to catch big fish I just needed to grind it out.
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VanDam Maintains Lead At Toledo Bend After Slow Start On Second Day
Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., maintains the lead on the second day of the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend, bringing a two-day total weight of 50 pounds to the scales Friday.
MANY, La. — The biggest thing Kevin VanDam has caught so far this week has been himself.
But there could be far bigger catches ahead of him if he remains on his current path at the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend.
VanDam had to have a treble hook removed from his hand during Friday’s second round after landing his biggest fish of the day. But it didn’t stop him from catching five bass that weighed 20 pounds, 11 ounces and helped him hold onto the tournament lead with a two-day total of 50-0.“The fish had just one hook in its mouth, and those Mustad treble hooks are really sharp,” VanDam said. “The fish kind of shook as I was trying to take the hook out, and it jerked one of those trebles right in my hand. I had a crankbait with one hook connected to my hand and the other connected to a big bass.”
Freelance photographer and experienced saltwater angler Garrick Dixon was nearby, and he performed a quick hook removal for VanDam. Once the angler was free of his own bait, he turned his attention back to a day that was rapidly improving.
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VanDam Takes Lead As Elite Series Pros Show Out In First Round On Toledo Bend
MANY, La. — Kevin VanDam wanted badly to fish offshore during the three-day practice period for the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend.
But a steady 20-mph wind just wouldn’t allow it.
The winds died Thursday as the tournament began, and fishing fans in central Louisiana got to see why VanDam was so anxious to move away from the banks.
The pro fishing superstar from Kalamazoo, Mich., brought in a five-bass limit that weighed 29 pounds, 5 ounces to top the leaderboard on a day when 12 anglers caught at least 20 pounds. He leads a star-studded Top 5 that includes 69-year-old Missouri legend Rick Clunn (24-10), North Carolina pro Hank Cherry, Jr. (24- 7), 2012 GEICO Bassmaster Classic winner Chris Lane (23-14) and reigning Classic champion Edwin Evers (22-11).
“I started on the shallow pattern and caught a good limit early, and that gave me the confidence to go and fish deep,” said VanDam, who has four Classic titles on his resume. “I didn’t get to fish deep in practice the way I like to because of all the wind. So I fished a lot of places today that I hadn’t fished at all this week.
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(Provided by Casting Couples)
The father/daughter team of John and Zoee Dixon (Elkhart)
The father/daughter team of John and Zoee Dixon (Elkhart) had five keeper bass weighing 9.59 pounds to win the Casting Couples tournament on the St. Joseph River at 6 Span Bridge.
The Dixons fished jigs in 4-6 feet of water.
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(Provided by R&B Circuit)
Stanley, Terry use tubes, drop shots to win at Maxinkuckee.
Larry Stanley (Kendallville) and Dave Terry (Albion) used tube jigs (green pumpkin) and drop-shot rigs with Twitchtail Minnows (green pumpkin) to win the R&B Bass Circuit West Division Opener on Lake Maxinkuckee.
The winners caught a limit weighing 11.66 pounds off the main lake, including the big bass of the event, a 3.03-pound smallmouth. They made one key cull in the last hour with a largemouth taken off a bed. They were awarded $713 for the victory and $272 for the big fish.