Kevin VanDam is scrambling to the bitter end. Add a frog to the baits VanDam has thrown in the last two hours today. And you can add it to the list of lures that haven't produced a single fish for him this afternoon.
He may have enough weight to make Sunday's Final Four, but that's a definite uncertainty at this point. Fifteen minutes ago, VanDam had moved back into the Heritage Landing area and was fishing about 100 feet from the check-in spot. But he's now on his second spot since then. He has moved across the lake again, west of Bear Lake Channel, fishing a jerkbait along a dropoff – a well-known spot, according to boat driver Mike Elkins.
Elkins fishes this lake a lot. He lives in Kalamazoo and has known VanDam since KVD was 15. And Elkins is stunned that VanDam hasn't caught even a short fish this afternoon. The wind is blowing, like the anglers wanted, and it's Kevin VanDam, for goodness sakes.
"That just shows you how off the bite is in this lake right now," Elkins said.