MLF pro Ryan Salzman shows off a slob-sized smallmouth bass he hooked into while fishing the St . Lawrence .
“ Combined , the mussels and gobies transformed the St . Lawrence into a river system perfectly suited to growing monster smallmouth .”
PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA n September of 1987 , high winds began to sweep down the St . Lawrence River as a field of more than 300 bass anglers scurried through its islands and bays for a shot at a $ 13,000 top prize . The field was a who ’ s who of bass fishing icons . While an Oklahoman named Ken Cook was busy putting over 44 pounds in the boat for the eventual win , household names like Denny Brauer , Dion Hibdon , Hank Parker and Jimmy Houston followed him down the leaderboard .
In the middle of the pack , barreling his way through powerful swells in an 18-foot bass boat with a 150-horsepower outboard on the back sat a stunned 20- year-old angler fishing his first professional event . His name : Kevin VanDam .
“ I ’ ve never been so wet in my life ,” jokes VanDam , now 54 years old and securely atop the record books as the winningest bass angler of all time . “ That was the first day of my first tournament . I was scared . I drew a guy that decided we were going to run the big water , and it got really rough . You know , we didn ’ t have the weather apps to know what the forecast was going to be . We had 8- to 10-footers on the main lake .”
VanDam didn ’ t place well in the event ( 110th place ), and while he only caught one fish the first day , he was genuinely grateful just to make it back to dry land . But despite that rough introduction , VanDam now ranks the
St . Lawrence as the second-best smallmouth fishery on the planet ( right behind Lake St . Clair ). It ’ s a venue that he calls an “ estuary of life ,” one tailormade for competition .
Thirty-five years after VanDam ’ s first experience on the St . Lawrence River , Major League Fishing is headed back to one of the most legendary northern fisheries in professional bass
34 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2022