If you could take all of the networking out of the equation (IF?), when Van Dam won anyway, would be looking for another "equalizer"? Because that's what this smacks of. Sure, he has a great network. But the guy fished the same water as at least 6 other boats all 3 days.

I'm no hero worshipper. People will always fail you if you worship them. But Van Dam is a winner. Period. It doesn't matter which sport he is in, he finds a way to win. It's what he does. It will take at least a generation for someone else to come close to his feats, because he can do this for another 10 years at least at this level.

Yep and that same local that helped him was weighing in 20lb plus sacks and winning every event before the Classic by 10lbs as well. Either that or KVD just got lucky huh?

the guy is just getting started! I dont even think he's halfway to his peak... he's freakin unreal! i heard from a reliable source that he threw back around 25 4-pounders on day three! thats insane!

No one is saying that he can't fish without info, but if you don't think he HAS and USES what is arguably the best info from a network you are just kidding yourself.

Personally I like and root for KVD. I think he and Roland Martin are the two greatest tournament fishermen in history. So nothing I say has anything to do with me not liking Kevin Van Dam or thinking that he wouldn't win without information.

They all have information. Every one of them. If they didn't I would say the odds of two guys just happening to show up on an old house foundation in 15-20 feet of water...in the middle of a 90,000 acre lake...would be about one in a million.

I think a lot of the same pros would succeed if they went into tournaments blind, or had to make their decisions based solely on three days of prefishing. I just don't think they would bring in near as many 20-30 pound bags as they do.

Ok, Kevin didn't prefish. All of the angler's that did said it was a waste of time. Most all said the official practice was, too. He debated and made the decision not to run to Venice because of fog delays. He wanted to maximize his fishing time so he decided to stay close. The diversion canal and the Tank Ponds are well known as the best location closest to the launch. Many other competitiors eliminated the area because they knew there would be a crowd and they didn't think the area could hold up for three days. KVD, Rook and a few others figured out that with the warming trend, the big females would be coming to the spawning flats and replenishing every day.

That's the decision making I'm talking about from KVD. Had the weather stayed cold, no fog, and Catoutche wasn't warming quickly, one of the Venice guys probably wins.

But KVD made the right decisions for the conditions, adapted and changed with the conditions and outfished every other angler in there, while sharing the same water.

All the information networking in the world could not have produced a story like that!

LOL...see how hero worship works.Why can't he just win them all and be done? The weather made a common sense decision look like rocket science this time. And what makes you think that networking didn't play a huge roll in that decision?And I guess if he makes all the right decisions 90% of the time he wins 90% of the time....oh but wait...

Funny he didnt make the cut there in 2003.

IMO, this statement dose not help your case against networking at all. On this body of water, no way do you just stumble those kind of fish without some homework, on a lake I could see it, but not down there. KVD is the best at what he does, thats not a question, but if you think these guys dont get help, your dreaming.

They are fishing for a half million dollars. I would do anything within the rules to put the odds in my favor, which I am sure Kevin and many others did. If you do not like how the rules are laid out, contact BASS or do not support the org.

I think he has a diver with a rebreather hooking larger bass on his lures.

Hero worship?

The other extreme of hero worship is hero bashing.

As in I can't get the grapes myself, so they must be sour?

Just saying...

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing but respect for KVD. But I am a Gary Klein fan though and through but that has nothing to do with me being sour grapes..lol..But they all do get info and I don't have an issue with that either Cameron. But cmon...he is still just a man and to my knowledge doesn't walk on water yet. He will need help to do that too.. ....

I think what you guys are trying to say is that its not fair to be that good.......right?

Hey Jerry, is it still hero worship if you actually know the man, have talked with him in-depth about "information" and have watched what goes on in his tournament preparation for the three days leading up to the actual event?

That would be me and I'm here to tell you KVD does not use much information at all. He wants to know areas, what size fish live in them, prevalent prey species, water type, conditions at that time, etc. As for disecting those key areas which he has determined beforehand, no one does it faster or better. He's not running from waypoint to waypoint that someone else has given him.