Familiar Names Top Tournaments

David Dudley and his family celebrate a win at Champlain, which was Dudley's second FLW Tour win this season. FLW photo by David Brown.

Dudley and VanDam. No surprises in the names atop the leaderboards at the end of the FLW Tour and B.A.S.S. Elite Series tournaments over the weekend. Except the Elite victory didn't go to Kevin VanDam. Instead, it went to KVD's newphew, Jonathon VanDam (JVD), and Kevin actually got to hand the trophy to his newphew .

David Dudley, who was already the top money winner in FLW history and currently tops the BassFan World rankings, added his second FLW Tour win of the season by topping the field at Champlain, along with locking up his second consecutive (and third total) FLW Angler of the Year title. Dudley fished for all largemouths in the northern end of Champlain and edged out friend and fellow Virginia angler Jacob Powroznik in both the tournament and the Angler of theYear race.

VanDam's win was his second with B.A.S.S., but his first on the Elite Series. In 2010 he won a Northern Open on Lake Erie enroute to qualifying for the Elites. This weekend's Elite Series win at Green Bay ensures VanDam a place in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.

Although JVD is by far the lesser known of the VandDams and the victory was his first on the Elites, his win was no suprise to folks who closely follow professional bass fishing. In fact, he was one of the most popular picks among his peers as a favorite going into this event because of his prowess with Northern smallmouth bass and his familiarity with Lake Michigan. VanDam caught most of the fish he weighed with a drop shot rig, using Strike King Dream Shot worm. The color? KVD Magic!

Jonathon VanDam earned his first Elite Series win and a place in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic field by topping the field at Green Bay. B.A.S.S. photo by Seigo Saito.

Why Pros Love (and Hate) Lake Champlain

Virginia pro Jacob Powroznic, who stands in third place after two days of FLW Tour competition at Lake Champlain, displays a fine sample of Champlain's bounties. FLW Photo by David Brown.

Ask pro anglers who travel the nation about favored destinations, and many will quickly mention Lake Champlain, where FLW Tour pros are fishing this week. Why Champlain? Mostly because of mixed opportunity to catch big numbers of big largemouths and smallmouths. There may be nowhere in the country where larger quantities of both species grow to large sizes and where tournaments might be won with all largemouths, all smallmouths or or a mix of the two species.

As much as virtually anyone who likes to catch bass enjoys the opportunity to visit Lake Champlain and ply its waters, many pros don't particuarly like to compete there. Looking at results of the tournament that's going on now, Matthew Stefan's tournament might best illustrate what's NOT to like about Champlain as a tournament venue. Stefan's two-day total of 30 pounds, 3 ounces (two limits, with a 3-pound average per fish) landed him in 61st place, which is out of the money and barely above the middle of the pack.

Champlain is also massive, stretching nearly 200 miles in length, with portions in Vermont, New York and Canada. The good part about the size is that Champlan offers endless-seeming high-quality habitat for largemouths and smallmouths alike. The bad part is that the main lake can get rough in a hurry, and an angler's top spots are often a LONG distance away, making for tough strategical decisions.

At the moment, Virginia pro David Dudley is probably really liking Lake Champlain. Dudley brought in a massive 24-pound bag on day 1, is leading the tournament after two days and seems well on his way to locking down his second consecutive (and third total) FLW Angler of the Year Award.

Double Barreled Tour Action

Both the B.A.S.S. Elite Series and the FLW Tour are making stops this week, with both tours visiting storied northern destinations.

FLW anglers are fishing Lake Champlain, which invariably yields great mixed catches of largemouths and smallmouths. Sometimes one kind of bass dominates top catches. Often the winner has a pattern for each brand of bass or a spot and location that yield good mixed catches.

The Elite Series event, which is based out of Green Bay, probably would have been a smallmouth slugfest except that the Wisconsin DNR deemed a large portion of the best waters off limits. The pros still will  catch plenty of good fish, but the tournament clearly won't highlight the best the area has to offer. Kevin VanDam wrote an excellent column for Bassmaster.com that expresses his disappointment with the DNR ruling and in my opinion does a fine job of summing up the issues and the consequences of the decision.