I watched the press conference after the Classic last night on Bassmaster.com and MANY of the questions asked here and on the blogs were answered by KVD. I feel it was much simpler than we all thought. I guess this area was reclaimed after the hurricanes via a diversion of the Mississippi river. It's full of cypress stumps and has a few grass areas around it. If they have the press conference with KVD on file watch it. He says the difference between him and the others in the area was that he was making multiple casts (4 was the lucky number) to stumps before he got thumped. He was also fishing much slower than the others. In a funny part of the conference he says that when Scott Rook came close enough to his boat he mouthed to him "Slow down!" Rook did..and started whacking em. He didn't tell Aaron though!!!! He also said that last year he felt so bad for Jeff Kriet that he pulled the reigns in a bit on the last day. Ow...that hurts!!! ;D

I watched the press conference after the Classic last night on Bassmaster.com and MANY of the questions asked here and on the blogs were answered by KVD....

He also said that last year he felt so bad for Jeff Kriet that he pulled the reigns in a bit on the last day. Ow...that hurts!!! ;D

When KVD said that he, didn't mean he pulled back on his fishing against Kriet the last day.  He meant he didn't make as big of an emotional all out over the top celebration because he felt bad for Kriet.

When he first responded to the question it sort of sounded like that but at the very end of his answer he clarified it a bit more saying he was talking about his celebration not the fishing aspect.

I think the question he was responding to was related to why he seemed to show more emotion on stage this year than in previous Classic wins.

Is the press conference archieved anywhere - by the time that rolled around, I was about to OD on the Classic and didn't stay logged on to watch it.  Now I wish I had.

I had the oppurtunity to see that entire broadcast. I think that press conference was the highlight of the Classic coverage so far. KVD did answer a few questions but for the majority of the time he stood at the mic and gave a very detailed and thorough briefing. In typical KVD fashion he controlled his time in the spot light, discussing what he chose to and plugging away for his sponsor in whole sale fashion. As Bassnajr mentioned he did go into detail regarding his decisions, techniques, presentations and baits.

It was impressive and I'd watch it again, I'm sure I missed stuff.

A-Jay

*NOT RELATED*

He did an episode of hook N look that people should check out.

I will DVR any of classic footage to see what I missed on the interwebz.

The interesting thing about that Hook-n-Look episode was that he struggled even though there were fish in the area.  Sort of makes him almost human.

I had the oppurtunity to see that entire broadcast. I think that press conference was the highlight of the Classic coverage so far. KVD did answer a few questions but for the majority of the time he stood at the mic and gave a very detailed and thorough briefing. In typical KVD fashion he controlled his time in the spot light, discussing what he chose to and plugging away for his sponsor in whole sale fashion. As Bassnajr mentioned he did go into detail regarding his decisions, techniques, presentations and baits.

It was impressive and I'd watch it again, I'm sure I missed stuff.

A-Jay

I agree. I saw the presser too. They really have time to lay it out for you. Strategy, practice (or lack of), decisions, why they did this and that, etc...

What impressed me was that KVD made his decision to fish Catahouche (probably spelled that wrong) early on, even though he wasnt getting many bites in practice there and nobody else was either. He knew by looking at the weather forecasts that warmer weather was on the way and that fog would be an issue and would most likely foil any well made plans to fish Venice.

He liked what he saw in Catahouche (mainly the hard bottom and huge stumps), figured in the incoming weather and water temps and smoked everybody else in the biggest tournament of the year. It was like he could see into the future because he somehow knew the fish in his bay would not only move in, but turn on. These werent your average tournament fish either. He caught studs each day and culled who knows how many bass.

Dude is a machine.

Is the press conference archieved anywhere - by the time that rolled around, I was about to OD on the Classic and didn't stay logged on to watch it. Now I wish I had.

Here's some of it ~

Enjoy

A-Jay

http://www.anglerschannel.com/content/2011-bassmaster-classic-post-victory-press-conference-kevin-vandam