Your chance to fish against KVD Tuesday August 14 on Gun Lake

[djkimmel]

Your chance to fish against KVD

Have you ever wanted to fish against Kevin VanDam, the best bass angler in the world? Well here is your chance. This Tuesday, August 14th 2012 at Gun Lake near Kalamazoo, Michigan Kevin VanDam and his co-angler, GreatLakesBass.com member, Rich Hale will be competing in the NBAA Division 24 evening bass tournament.

Read complete story on GreatLakesBass.com Tournament News

Details for this special event

• Date – August 14, 2012
• Location – Gun Lake
• Ramp/Weigh In – Yankee Springs State Recreation Area
• Registration – 5:00 – 5:45 pm
• Tournament times – 6:00 – 9:00 pm
• Entry Fee - $42 per team/2 angler teams
• Membership – At least one angler in each boat must be an NBAA member
• Questions - Call 269-838-9482

[Skulley]

Too far for me to travel for a weeknight tournament.  It's quite a drive from the Detroit area to Gun Lake.  I'd like to fish against him on LSC where I may actually have a chance to beat him.................or not!!!        It would be interesting though.


BD                     

[djkimmel]

Qualify for the Elite Series and then try to get them here on St. Clair. Or, make a road trip for this chance now!

Smaller lake so it shouldn't take too long to figure out. This might be your one chance to give it a shot?!? I'm going to settle for pictures and maybe some video tomorrow. I already beat him before! It has been quite a while since I did it but it still counts for me!!! Even if he doesn't remember!

He had no problem remembering many of the times he beat me! Probably because it was more numerous than the other way around.

[djkimmel]

I expect a good turnout tomorrow. Lots of anglers on the west side fish Gun Lake.

[Skulley]

It should be real awesome. I wish I could get there. It would be my first time on Gun Lake. I qualified for the NBAA One on One Championship there on September 9. I've already registered for the tournament. I hope I can make it now. Lots of stuff going on come September.

[VinceR]

The third tournament that I ever fished was an annual open team event, sponsored by Landman's Marina (I believe) on Gun Lake. This would have been in about 85'. Like to guess who (at about 14 yrs. old, with brother Randy) won that one? Yeppers, lapped the rest of the field (of more than 50 boats) by at least 10 lbs. That was an "awakening".

[djkimmel]

It should be real awesome. I wish I could get there. It would be my first time on Gun Lake. I qualified for the NBAA One on One Championship there on September 9. I've already registered for the tournament. I hope I can make it now. Lots of stuff going on come September.

See!! This is a perfect chance to start familiarizing yourself with the Gun Lake. I have never fished it. Which is odd considering I fish Barry County a lot.

[djkimmel]

The third tournament that I ever fished was an annual open team event, sponsored by Landman's Marina (I believe) on Gun Lake. This would have been in about 85'. Like to guess who (at about 14 yrs. old, with brother Randy) won that one? Yeppers, lapped the rest of the field (of more than 50 boats) by at least 10 lbs. That was an "awakening".

I think the entire VanDam family knows all of the bass in Gun Lake personally. They've won a bunch of tournaments on that lake over the years in various combinations.

That was about the time I first started fishing money tournaments but I don't recall meeting up with KVD until he was about 16 or so. I did run into Randy by chance and though I had no idea who he was, he did not seem to be full of it while telling about his latest fishing activities. Not too long after, I found out the hard way just how 'not full of it' he was!

[Waterfoul]

Gun Lake can actually be a very tough nut to crack.  We've gone there on a Saturday and caught some fish and shook a lot of them off only to return the very next day and not catch a dang thing! 

Just ask Ed Dyer!

[TheFishinPollock]

Tell him ya want a rematch Dan LOL

[Redbone]

Anyone know how this went?

[Dan]

Yes

[Dan]

Had to jump over to Facebook and get a post by one of our GLB members, Ed D. He fished it and usually fishes the event each week on Gun. Here's what he posted:

Joe Lockman and I took 6th place and had big bass of the tournament in the KVD tournament on Gun Lake tonight. We even beat Kevin VanDam and Rich Hale. Father/sonn team of Grant and COdy Hendrixson took first place with one of only two limits weighed in.

I messaged Ed and told him inquiring minds want to know, and hopefully he'll get on this thread and most some more specifics and maybe some pics.

[Waterfoul]

I went to the weigh in.  Marc (fastrack) was the unnoficial photo boat and carried our own Dan Kimmel around the lake shadowing Kevin and Rich.  Kevin caught one small keeper right at the end of the night that they chose not to weigh in.  I'm told Kevin and Rich fished shallow most of the night thowing moving baits and such.

[djkimmel]

Yes - thanks to Marc fasttrack - I had a 'camera boat' for the event. I got there as they were blasting off due to several changes in plans but I have pictures and video I'm working on today. Both Rich and KVD caught bass and pike. It seemed to be a tough bite for keepers but I enjoyed my first time ever on Gun Lake despite still not having fished on it.

Very nice event and hats off to NBAA and Jim Sprague for putting something like this together! Made Rich very happy. Had a good turnout of 30 boats for a Tuesday evening event with teams from as far away as Flint and the far SW corner of Michigan. BIG crowd showed up to watch the weigh in. Everyone was happy and having a good time. I love to see that.

Only 2 limits weighed in - that was 1st and 2nd. I think 1st was 9.45 pounds. Ed edyer had big bass. His boat had 2 really nice bass but only 2 so he did settle for 6th. Lots of 1 and 2 fish catches and quite a few skunks. Lots of smiles too.

[fasttrack]

The speed at which Kevin casts amazed me. Bait wasnt out of the water one second and it was shooting back out like a laser. I was also shocked to see him put down the Power Poles once, shortly after asking Dan 'why does he even have them at the speed he fishes?' lol. I had my 24v TM on about 80% just to keep even with him most of the time.

Dan, I have a bunch of on-water photos but not sure how to get some to you. They are high res so with my crappy satellite internet I cant really email them to ya. If you want some give me a shout so we can figure something out

[djkimmel]

Somehow, I have 92 pictures myself. Didn't think I took near that many even though it includes the weigh in. You could just pick out a few of the ones you think are best and email those? If you don't any a fast online option, burning to a CD and DVD might be the  only other good option? Not a big deal if you would rather not considering how many I have. Up to you. Thanks again for the ride!

[fasttrack]

I'll see what I can do to at least get a few of the better ones to you. I did burn a DVD and gave it to Rich. Also had a couple blown into 8x10's and presented them to him at the weigh in of our Wed night tournament. He seemed really happy!

[djkimmel]

That was very nice of you. Lots of people would like to be in his shoes that evening. I never got to fish in the boat with KVD!