17 minutes ago, Mi11er said:

Agreed, he is arguably the greatest tournament bass fisherman ever.   It would be like if Tom Brady threw 3 interceptions in a game and asking if he would be cut from the team that week.   He is much bigger than the actual sport now, he is a legend.  

While I'll agree that KVD has certainly cemented his position squarely in the Legend category, being bigger than the sport is debatable.

The fact that this thread was even started may support that posture.

A-Jay

 

KVD & Rick Clunn, are by far the greatest tournament anglers the sport has ever and likely ever will produce. Irregardless of any mediocrity they seemingly exhibit, they are not mediocre. 

Rejoice o young man in thy youth..

We all have a slowing and waning.

I think KVD is like the Tom Brady of pro fishing. They both have had major victories and they both plan to keep playing for along time. KVD has said how he is not retiring anytime soon. He still has many, many casts to make.

The best angler of all time? Possibly... probably. The best angler in the last two years? Not even close. 

This is coming from a big KVD fan by the way... I have his 2012 classic jersey signed by him and guard it with my life. 

The Gorilla in the room just weighed in a really big bunch of Green Bananas ~

A-Jay

 

He is in the zone for sure.

Finally. I myself was starting to question what the heck was going on with KVD.

Good to see him back to his ole butt whoopen self. It is a little strange how he dominated for so long and then just kinda slipped into a pretty major funk for two years. Major for him anyways. 

Anyway I love to see KVD win.

KVD- 285 total Elite Series tournaments. 103 top 10 finishes....wow.

And there it is ~ Another KVD Win.

A-Jay

KVD won Toledo Bend!

He didn't just win...he owned the place!  That was epic!

I'm a big fan & have been for a long time

And he's a Sponsor Dream !

A-Jay

Classic KVD, He didnt look back.Congrats

To the OP, 

You were saying?..

5 hours ago, A-Jay said:

And there it is ~ Another KVD Win.

A-Jay

Great to see him win on a lake that has destroyed him in the past!

On 3/10/2016 at 6:44 PM, 5 Dollar Fishing Game said:

With last year being a non qualifier and this year near last, is KVD fading away as a top pro?  How long before the sponsors drop or threaten to drop him?  Wondering if the other top performers in years past have any concerns if they were less than the top 10 or 15 this year?  Thoughts?

To answer your question. NO!   96lbs in 4 days, heaviest bag 2 days, heaviest fish 2 days. He WILL win again! Maybe even this year. There is ZERO chance his sponsors will drop him. 

16 hours ago, Alonerankin2 said:

To the OP, 

You were saying?..

he's too busy talking to ott defoe and scott martin about how KVD doesn't "show up"...  

On ‎3‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 8:44 PM, 5 Dollar Fishing Game said:

On ‎3‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 8:44 PM, 5 Dollar Fishing Game said:

 How long before the sponsors drop or threaten to drop him?    Thoughts?

 

11 hours ago, 1simplemann said:

To answer your question. NO!   96lbs in 4 days, heaviest bag 2 days, heaviest fish 2 days. He WILL win again! Maybe even this year. There is ZERO chance his sponsors will drop him. 

 

If I was sponsoring the man, I'd ride that horse to the very end and then right out into the pasture and beyond.

A-Jay

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

If I was sponsoring the man, I'd ride that horse to the very end and then right out into the pasture and beyond.

A-Jay

That is no joke.  

12 hours ago, A-Jay said:

If I was sponsoring the man, I'd ride that horse to the very end and then right out into the pasture and beyond.

A-Jay

You know how many Hummingbird FF's & strike King 10 XD's just got sold? LOL I bet a ton. I just may go out and buy some 10xd's myself. God knows I need more tackle!

On 3/10/2016 at 7:44 PM, 5 Dollar Fishing Game said:

 How long before the sponsors drop or threaten to drop him? 

Maybe a decade or so after he dies.  He will always be know as one of the all-time greatest tournament fisherman.

 

23 hours ago, A-Jay said:

If I was sponsoring the man, I'd ride that horse to the very end and then right out into the pasture and beyond.

A-Jay

When was the last time Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin, Rick Clunn, Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin, Denny Brauer, Gary Klein won a tournament?

They are all still heavily sponsored  

If you can move product off the shelves, then you will get sponsored.  Anything those guys push, quickly sells out.  And anything KVD endorses, immediately flies of the shelves and into backorder nirvanna.  There's a waiting list to sponsor Kevin.

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

If you can move product off the shelves, then you will get sponsored.  Anything those guys push, quickly sells out.  And anything KVD endorses, immediately flies of the shelves and into backorder nirvanna.  There's a waiting list to sponsor Kevin.

Some Pros have to go out & hustle sponsors!

Some Pros the sponsors come to them!

If VanDam decided to drop Nitro how long y'all think it would take before every boat manufacturer would have him on the phone?

Anybody who doesn't believe that KVD sells baits, check out TW stock of 10XD's, 8XD's, and 6XD's in the 2 colors that KVD used to win. I just checked, there's only 1 color of the 8XD's not sold out, both colors of the other two are on back-order and one of barfish color of the 8XD is on back-order also. Now maybe those colors are always hot sellers, but I'm going to venture a pretty safe guess that the fact that KVD used them has a lot to do with it.