As an angler, Kevin VanDam compiled the greatest record in the history of competitive bass fishing. As a coach, his team swept the gold medals in his debut event. This fall, he'll combine the two roles at the 20th Bass Fishing World Championship at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark. His own name was one of the six he announced this week to represent Team USA in the Oct. 1-3 international competition.
He'll team with Jacob Wheeler, Dustin Connell, Ott DeFoe, Drew Gill and Scott Martin as Team USA pursues its second straight World Championship victory. It took top honors last fall at Arabie Dam in South Africa, edging out Italy behind a dominant performance from DeFoe and Gill, who claimed gold in the pairs standings. It took some coaxing to get VanDam to commit to competing in Hot Springs. His last major event was the MLF REDCREST derby two years ago, which he qualified for in his final tour-level season in 2023.
Here's how USA Bass President Charlie Evans describes the process of making it happen: "We were excited that (VanDam) agreed to be the coach of the USA Bass team," Evans said. "Recognized by everyone involved in the sport as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), Kevin is definitely a tremendous asset to our sport. His team won the gold in South Africa last year in his first year as coach. "When he announced his retirement from competitive fishing, we immediately asked him if he would fish for the United States in an effort to make bass fishing an Olympic sport. At that time he declined, but agreed to become the coach. "While working on the 2026 Bass World Championship in Hot Springs, we again asked if he would consider fishing in addition to his coaching duties. He agreed to discuss this with (wife) Sherry. Excitement isn't adequate to describe our reaction to his answer.
"KVD agreed to come out of retirement in the quest to obtain Olympic recognition and to represent the United States! He has won about every title in our sport and continues to help build the fishing industry and now will not be fishing for money, but definitely will help the USA Bass team fish for the gold medal on Lake Hamilton."
VanDam, who won four Bassmaster Classics, eight tour-level Angler of the Year titles and more than $6 million in his illustrious career, said he got encouragement to compete from several sources that included Sherry, members of Team USA and bass fishing fans. "It's an honor for me and it's very humbling," he said. "We're trying to take bass fishing to the global and even to the Olympic level and to do that, you want to have the top players. I'm not saying I'm the best in the world or anything like that, but you've got to put together the best team you can. My wife said the same thing that some other people did – that since I'm putting this much time and effort into it, and as much as I love it and want to be a part of it, I should be fishing as well.
"This program is different than anything else we do as anglers," he continued. "If you asked (DeFoe and Gill) how they viewed it before last year's World Championship and compared that to after it was over, it's night and day. It's a whole different level of pride to be able to compete for your country; it's pretty special. We all just watched the Winter Olympics and saw the USA hockey teams win gold medals and we saw how that brought everyone involved with those teams together. With fishing, I think we have the opportunity to do that with everybody in the sport."
This year's World Championship will include a three-day outdoor show at the Hot Springs Convention Center. The Day-3 weigh-in will take place in the Hot Springs Arena, preceded by a country music concert, and an audience member will win a bass boat in a drawing. All facets of the event, including the boat drawing, are free to the public. "USAngling is very grateful to Kevin for his dedication to our sport and our country," said USAngling President Tony Forte. "We feel that his participation in the World Championship in Hot Springs will send a message straight to the Olympic Committee: Bass fishing is worthy of becoming an Olympic-recognized sport. We also look forward to bass fishing fans cheering on KVD and the rest of our bass fishing Dream Team."