Bass_Akwards

Exactly. And the humble look on his face as he's looking at KVD is priceless. You can tell he's saying to himself "Good God what on earth do I have to do to beat this darn guy!?" Funny thing is, I noticed that when KVD won, he lifted his hands in the air, and partially knocked off Kriets hat in the process. Kriet was probably just fixing it because KVD smacked it. This happens all the time in photojournalism. Sometimes an image can come out of nowhere and really surprise.

I got myself into fishing when I was about 11. My Dad never got into it to much. I used to water my back lawn at night, then go out an hour later with a flashlight to ****** as many big ole fat nightcrawlers as I could for the next day. My fishing strategy back then was very complicated. Walk a block to the lake near my house in the suberbs of Chicago, sit in the field and slap a live worm on my hook. Throw it out there and let it sit. Like I said, complicated. I'd catch bluegill, croppy and bass. Never anything bigger than a pound and a half probably. Stopped fishing from age 14-38 and rekindled my love for it a few years ago. (I'm 41) The first couple times I fished in years, was here in Boulder. I lived here 8 years before I learned there's bass here. I went out, and I caught nothing. It really drove me crazy. I came home and immediately did a search on Google for "bass fishing forums." A few came up and I checked them all out. BRwas my favorite so i stayed. Since then I've learned more than i ever could have imagined about the sport and it really shows on the water. I guess if I had to thank one person it would oddly enough be Glenn for starting this place, and starting me on the golden road to unlimited devotion. So thanks Glenn and thanks to all those at BR who have answered my many questions over the last couple years. Todd

This photographer is jealous as hell, that's all I can say. Easily the strongest image for me is the fourth from the bottom. That's a picture any editor would be proud to put in his/her magazine or newspaper. Teriffic body language, facial expressions, and framing. You got a little lucky as well, using the shutter speed you did. This gave minor motion blurr to the MC's face, which forces the viewers eye more toward whats important in the image, which is the winners and losers faces. The picture tells the whole story which is what photojournalism is all about.. Nice work.

Paul. With all due respect. Long term stats DO matter. Once you have a descent sample size, statistics say a heck of a lot. Also... A CONTENDER?! Kevin Van DAM? LOL. You must have him confused with another angler. KVD is the all-time money winner on the Bassmaster Tournament trail. The freak has three Bassmaster Classic titles (2001,2005, 2010) and five Toyota Tundra Angler of Year titles (1992, 96, 99, 08 and 09). The Alchemist has been to 20 Classics in a row since he turned pro in '92. That's the longest running Classic qualification streak of any active pro on tour. He's been in 221 career Bassmaster events. The witch has won 16 of them. 16! That's rediculous! He finished second 11 times and landed in the top 10 a crushing 84 times! 84 times makes me laugh. In a world where everything's relative, that's absolute and complete domination in my humble opinion. As a pro poker player, I know that finishing in the money happens to the best players in the world about 15-20% of the time. Finishing the winner in a poker tournament might happen to the best players in the world about 3-5% of the time and thats the best players in the world. The dominators! The best baseball batters in the world fail 7 times out of 10 give or take. Point is you can still dominate, without winning most every time and KVD definately dominates.

What about the balls it took for Russ Lane to blow outta dodge and hit a different creek at a crucial time on the last day of the biggest tourney in the world? Dudes got stones. I like it. He's not an unsung hero really, but he got my vote for badest *** angler of the tourney.

I just find it interesting that most of us compare KVD to guys like Roger Federer, MJ, and Tiger, when all those guys play physical athletic sports with only marginal "luck" involved. Many of those guys were born with raw physical skills and God given natural athletic talent as well. Obviously KVD was born with God given ability but this is FISHING! You don't have to be a great athlete to be a great angler. Fishing is so different than playing hoops or football, yet this guy is crushing the Elite series. You guys have brought up dedication, pre tourney thinking, focus, making few non productive actions on the boat, and hard work as a few reasons KVD is the best. Do you think all anglers on the tour feel the same way? I have a really tough time believing guys like Skeet and Ike and Horton, Alton Jones, Todd Faircloth, Swindel, Rick Clunn, and others would admit that KVD works harder then them, is more dedicated then them etc. etc. Maybe it's just a confidence thing? Maybe KVD is showing us all that the power of the mind is more important and more powerful than most of give it credit for. He literally believes he's going to win more than everyone else, and he visualizes it better than everyone else as well. Therefore his thoughts become reality on a more regular basis. Seems like "confidence" just might be the decieding factor here. Then again, maybe he's just not human.

If Iaconelli and other lurking Elite pro's happen to be reading this, I'd love to know your opinions as well. At this point it's common knowlege that KVD was born with gills. We've all heard the interviews with KVD's mother and father about the fact that as a youth, KVD underwent surgury to have his scales and tail removed. We all know by now that KVD exclusively eats crawdad's and shad for every meal, (usually under or near the closest cover) but is that what makes him so d**n good? Am I wrong in saying there anglers out on the Elite tour who seemingly work just as hard as KVD, grind as hard as KVD, study just as hard as KVD, fish just as hard as KVD, and are seemingly just as bright as KVD? (Ike, Horton, Reese and the list goes on) If that's true, what the hell is it about this freak that gets him the biggest bags such a large percentage of the time? What do you guys think makes KVD the best tourney angler in the universe right now?

Nice RT! Those are just gorgeous fish. Never had cabin fever so bad in my life,

I rig my Fat Ika's backwards, as I learned from RW. I know the Fat Ika isn't a tube, but do you all rig any tubes backwards like you can with the Ika? Are you usually fishing the tubes weightless or T-Rigged/C-rigged?

3:09PM ET Here are the latest standings through the top 25. Todd Faircloth 15 lbs 12 oz Kevin VanDam 15 lbs 0oz Billy McCaghren 14 lbs 13 oz Takahiro Omori 14 lbs 12 oz Mike Iaconelli 14 lbs 10 oz Jeff Kriet 14 lbs 6 oz Tommy Biffle 11 lbs 13 oz Brent Chapman 11 lbs 4 oz James Niggemeyer 10 lbs 15 oz Stephen Browning 10 lbs 9 oz Cliff Pace 10 lbs 8 oz Russ Lane 10 lbs 5 oz Gerald Swindle 10 lbs 1 oz Cliff Crochet 9 lbs 12 oz Matt Herren 8 lbs 15 oz Jeff Freeman 8 lbs 14 oz Kotaro Kiriyama 8 lbs 10 oz Aaron Martens 8 lbs 4 oz Randy Howell 7 lbs 4 oz Byron Velvick 7 lbs 2 oz Dean Rojas 7 lbs 0 oz Frank Scalish 6 lbs 14 oz Bobby Lane 6 lbs 10 oz Brent Long 6 lbs 8 oz Kevin Wirth 6 lbs 3 oz

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how it works out if I ever get to fish again. This snow is sucking the life right out of me.

If I'm fishing a lake for LMB that has lots of SMB in it, what bait will catch them both the best? I've caught them both on a Senko, I've caught them both on a Fat Ika. Have you guys found other baits that work better for BOTH fish?

11:42 a.m. EST: Currently the top 10 all have limits. It looks like this. Takahiro Omori 14-12 Kevin VanDam 13-10 Billy McCaghren 11-7 Jeff Kriet 11-0 Cliff Pace 10-8 Brent Chapman 8-12 Cliff Crochet 8-0 Todd Faircloth 7-10 Matt Herren 7-0 Frank Scalish 6-14 Anyone know what part of the lake Omori and KVD are fishing? Anyone know what bait they're throwing? I bet KVD is fishing deep but who knows. Can't wait to see if the top 3 at the end of this tourney all fished similarly, or completely different as far as baits and techniques are concerned.

Francho did you really not get what I said? I'm confused as to why the mighty BPS has had Elite series pro's here in Denver for past spring classics, and suddenly in 2010 they don't have a single one coming? Same with other cities. How hard is it for a giant in the industry (BPS) to schedual their biggest event of the year (the spring classic) on days where the Elite series guys aren't fishing THEIR biggest event of the year. (the classic) They seem to schedual Elite series pro's every other year so what gives in 2010? I'll say it again....."This sucks."

I'm confused. I just called my local BPS. Every year they've had 2 or 3 Elite series guys come and give lectures and stuff. We had Alton Jones and Clunn here the year Alton won the classic. 5 minutes ago the girl in charge of promotions at BPS Denver told me there's NO Elite series pro's coming this year? I asked "Why?" and she said "There's a fishing tournament going on when we have our spring classic." HUH!?!?! Then why does eveyone else in the country get to have Elite series pros at the same exact time? I just don't get it. She also told me the Elite Series tour lost 30 fishermen and that made it harder to get guys to come in. HUH?! No offense to Jaime Howard, but that's all we get? Jeeze. This sucks. I want Reese, I want KVD, I want Duckett! Come ON BPS, learn how to schedual for goodness sake!

Depends what you already own. if you have a few rods and descent tackle, you have to buy the boat and trailor. There's going to be a million times in your life, when the bait monkey tackles you and beats you to a pulp, and when he does, you're usually going to give in and hit the bait shop. Conversely, you're not just going to waltz into a store and buy a john boat trailor any old time you feel like it. Take advantage of this moment to get yourself on different waters with a killer new trailor. Then, when the bait monkey comes calling in a few months you can slowly get yourself a new rod here and some new crankbaits there without going broke. A trailor is more to you than just a "boat transport" it's a way to open up your whole fishing life and go to many different lakes and see so many more things. Different landscapes, different fish, different structure, and different cover. With your new trailor, you'll be able to experience all sorts of cool stuff that the baits and rod just can't give you. The trailor isn't just a trailor, it's your ticket to opening up a whole new universe of fishing. Go get that thing! Vote: Trailor

I hear you RW! Thats my absolute dream. KNOWING that every cast could be THE ONE. That every bite you get could potentially land you in the record books. I'm freaked out happy when I fish a lake with a potential STATE record in it, and you get to go for world records every time you make a cast, that's just got to be the best thing ever! I couldn't be more envious. If the fishing gods gave me a choice and said "You can only fish lake X for the rest of your life and catch lots of nice big bass" OR "You can only fish lake Y for the rest of your life." "Lake Y has only ONE bass in it, but it's world record 23.6 pounder that you might never ever catch." As hard as it may be, I think I'm going for lake Y.

What's the most gratifying thing for you about fishing? Seeing your kids fish? Buying your new boat? I'm going to cheat and leave two answers instead of one. 1. When the studying pays off. It is amazing when I have consistant good days, and I know it's because of how hard I worked to do it. 2. The topwater strike

Is "Megatrike" (with no S) on the actual boat? Or is that a computer version that was posted? If it is on the boat I want to know what happened as a result. Was it fixed? Did anyone get in trouble for the screw up? I guess it's better than if it happeded to Timmy Horton and BPS. Nothing like the ole "*** PRO SHOPS" on the side of your boat. ;D

The first thing you want to do as far as the marsh is concerned, is purchase a plane ticket and send it over to me. Next, meet me at the airport and pick me up. Third, have some money ready to pay George Welcome my fees and get me on that lake!

Wish I could relate bro. 10-Day Forecast for Boulder, CO (80301) Today Feb 15 Partly Cloudy 34° 20° Tue Feb 16 Partly Cloudy 40° 25° Wed Feb 17 Partly Cloudy 37° 30° Thu Feb 18 Snow Shower 34° 29° Fri Feb 19 Flurries 39° 26° Sat Feb 20 Partly Cloudy 45° 30° Sun Feb 21 Few Snow Showers 44° 28° Mon Feb 22 Partly Cloudy 44° 29° Tue Feb 23 Partly Cloudy 44° 29° Wed Feb 24 Partly Cloudy 45° 29° Starting to feel like I might never get to fish again in my lifetime.

I feel kinda bad for the absolute *** kicking I'm about to give you all in this fantasy league, but I just had to say "Good Luck" anyway.

Throw those Jigs and deep diving cranks down there brother! Find that deeper structure and tear it apart.

There's no 'right or wrong" on how a person learns. Your personality is what will make you decied whether to try one thing at a time, or mix it up each time out. Everyone trains differently in every sport. For example, some mixed martial artists learn one move or dicipline at a time until they get it down perfectly, then they move or onto the next move or dicipline. Others learn a bunch of moves and diciplines at once and practice them all day, all week and all month until they get them down. Do what's right and what's comfortable for you. You mentioned, you were "still learning and trying to come up with my own style of fishing." I say don't try to "come up" with a style. try not to be concerned with what style you're going to eventually have. Don't force a style on yourself. Let it come naturally after fishing a lot and practicing all the different techniques. The list of "most important techniques to work on" is so vast and complex, that it would be impossible to list them all here BUT... By "techniques" I figure you mean what baits to throw and how to throw them. (sorry if I'm wrong) If that's what you mean, then it seems to me that TONS of tournaments over the years have been won by tossing soft plastics and Jigs. The Jig is a timeless classic that bass LOVE and is also a great lure for big bass. Throwing soft plastics is a long proven method in almost any weather or lake condition, so I say if you're going to start somewhere, those are the two techniques I'd learn first. Things like pitching and flipping are a good thing to practice. Also, learn to fish topwater baits like buzzbaits early in your carreer. They will addict you to bass fishing if you catch some fish on 'em. They have to be my favorite bait to throw because watching the explosions are just as fun as it gets. (use a trailor hook) After topwater, Jigs, and plastics, move on to spinner and crank, jerk and swim baits, etc. etc. Just an opinion here as many others might say "learn the spinner bait first." or some other technique. Lastly, the most important ting about catching fish, is actually being ON fish. You can learn every technique in the fishing universe and never catch a thing if youre not ON fish. Point being, learn structure, and cover as well as bass behavior and bait fish behavior. You mix that knowlege, with what techniques you practice over the years, and THAT'S what's going to make you a great angler. Good Luck Bro and fish hard

Sorry to be Mr. controversy, but Perry's bass never existed. "The fish was caught on a Creek Chub Perch Scale Wigglefish, Perry's only lure, and was 32 1/2 inches in length and 28 1/2 inches in girth. The weight and measurements were taken, recorded and notarized in Helena, Georgia." Absolute BS! Kurita's hippo was 27.2 inches long and 26.7 Girth, and they weighed the same? Hahahahahahaaha! Riiiiight. It's absolutely physically impossible for goodness sake yet everyone buys it. Weird. Sorry George, nice try.