Kevin VanDam's Line & Lure Conditioner

Line & Lore Fishing Stories

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Troutzilla!

Now it all started innocently I suppose at the end of the 1999-fishing season. You know the attitude; floating down the Lower Owens of California without a care in the world. Right about this time, say late October-early November, not many folks were fishing the Owens. The season was over and most just assumed 'no more fishing allowed.' But this is not the case in the Owens Valley where fishing is allowed year-round. Now in a deep pool - a secret pool for your protection - floating nose upstream, waited the biggest fish anyone had ever seen. So big, it earned the moniker 'Troutzilla.' It might seem like this is getting close to being a tall tale, but I have seen pictures and can vouch for its authenticity. So floating nose upstream in a secret pool was the biggest Hen Rainbow Trout anyone had ever seen. A monster fish measuring 25-inches long and very fat.
A fish of dreams!

The locals had heard of such a fish, and some even claimed they had heard of folks who had caught the monster. But each story ended with Troutzilla spitting out the hook before anyone could reach for a net. One day, once all the stories were done being told, one man stood up and calmly announced he had seen the fish and had even hooked it himself. And, although he couldn't prove the truth of the moment, he swore he would hook her again. Everyone agreed the man was probably a fool and they all shuffled out of the tackle shop grinning. But each day from that moment on, the men sitting outside of Barrett's Outfitters or Brock's Fly Fishing Specialists would see the man whiz by with his drift boat in tow and usually one would ask the other, "There goes Tom. Wonder if he's caught old Troutzilla?" And then they would laugh.

So anyway, the days soon marched off past turkey day and off toward St. Nick day and still no word on if Troutzilla had been caught, let alone found. That is, until a bright afternoon found Tom Loe, Jimmy Toy and Bill Becher all sitting in Tom's drift boat floating below the Wild Trout Area on the Lower Owens. It was a beautiful day. Very comfortable for the month of December and the group had all caught more than 60 fish between them. Catch and release, catch and release. This routine continued on for quite a while, until Tom turned the boat into a pool, dropped anchor, and whispered to the other two men, "She's here." Who's here, was the obvious reply, and Tom went on to explain all about the monster super-sized hen rainbow named Troutzilla and how she frightened smaller fish away so she could sit and feed on the tidbits floating her way in this deep pool. Silent, mean and very happy with her surroundings. "Guide hype," Bill said to Jimmy and the two men set out to humor Tom by casting out into the area where the current meets the still water of the pool. They stripped in a couple feet of line, let it sink, and stripped it in again. "She's pushed off the little fish and is waiting in there," said Tom, as he turned the boat around. "More hype," whispered Jimmy and Bill. Jimmy cast out again, and as the fly landed, his rod made a sudden twitch and dove toward the water. "That's her," shouted Tom, "That's Troutzilla!" For the next few minutes a fight to finish was underway. Jimmy would reel in a little line, and Troutzilla would dive deep. The tip of the rod would bend into the water as the monster fish tried to pull Jimmy in. Finally after time caught up with itself, the fight was won. There sitting across a 21-inch fish net lay a 25-inch fish, tagged by the Department of Fish and Game as a trophy trout and very much a keeper.

So in the end Tom was proven right and everyone congratulated him on making history. Of course, none of the praise came about until after he produced photos. And what became of Troutzilla? She was revived and released back into the deep pool of the Lower Owens to fight another day.

Bill
Harlem, NY

Exploding Life Jacket

This past year I was fishing in a charity bass tournament with a good friend of mine. Part of the rules for this tournament were if any angler was using the suspender type of life jacket, they had to be worn at all times. My friend uses this type, so he had to wear his throughout the tournament. Late in the day we pulled into a large marina to skip the docks. I threw up under a dock and got a bite. When I set the hook on the fish, the fish became tangled in a chain that was under the dock. So we moved our boat in towards the dock to try to get this fish. While I held my line tight, my friend started to lean over the front of the boat to reach under the dock. I was standing right behind him holding our boat close to the dock, as well trying to hold my rod. All of the sudden we heard this hissing, then suddenly there was a POP! My friend had caught his jacket on the side of the boat and caused it to inflate. Now if you have never seen this happen, these inflate like an inner tube. My friend has pretty short arms anyhow, and when his jacket inflated, the jacket pinned his arms in the upright postion. So now he was hanging over the boat, and couldn't move his arms. We both broke out in laughter. We couldn't believe how fast his jacket inflated, and then rendered him immobile. We certaily received plenty of attention from the people in the marina. Well, I had to put my rod down and pull my friend up out of the water. We lost the fish, but have a great story to share.

Chris
Cottage Grove, MN

KVD Smashes Lewisville Lake Record

It was June 1st, 2005. Lewisville Lake Texas. 3rd stop for the Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament. I happened to be an observer for this event with Kevin VanDam himself. Launch was at 10:00 AM. He hammered the throttle and we stopped at his first fishing spot. First cast, he landed a 14" keeper. About 10 minutes later, his line got hammered. He set the hook and the rod bowed over. All he was saying is this is a good one. It looked like he was about to get the fish to the surface when it took off under his boat. KVD shoved his rod under the boat to try and control the fish and not fight it too much to keep it from breaking off. I heard a splash on the other side of the boat and looked and all I could say was "Oh my god". He said, yeah and big one. Well he finally got it under control and it surfaced...he gasped. HE immediately reached down and lipped it, brought it in the boat and it was a monster. Kevin's words were..." If I have ever caught a 10 pounder, this is definitely one and then some." At the weigh in, they put the fish on the scales and it maxed out at 11 pounds 13 ounces. KVD has broken the old lake record of 11.34 pounds. Just to be in the same boat as KVD is one thing, but to be in his boat when he broke my home lake's record is a piece of bass fishing history that I will always remember.

Glen
The Colony, TX

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