Glenn: Hi I'm Glenn May with BassResource.com and I'm here with Steve Kennedy. Steve, it is great to have you here today.
Steve Kennedy: Glad to be here.
Glenn May: Steve, how far in advance do you start planning and prepping for a tournament?
Steve: As many tournaments I've been fishing lately I typically just go week to week. I want to have maps together and all that stuff, but most of the lakes we've been to I have a pretty good idea of what we're going to be doing, so I don't look at them much until the week that I get there.
For this tournament in particular it's such a big area, you've got to have so much help. I talked to one guide before I came down here, but I've been looking at maps for months and get on stuff like Google Earth, that kind of stuff to see what's going on. I probably put months into this one just because it's the first tournament of the year and the biggest event of the year.
Glenn: And what kind of things are you looking for?
Steve: Something different. You kind of have an idea of what the fish are going to be doing this time of year. You hear dead-end canals a lot, so you're looking for that kind of stuff. You're looking for clear water, places isolated from the flow of the river. You're always looking for something different that not everybody else is seeing and that type of stuff.
Glenn: When you go to a brand new body of water and let's say you haven't done any pre-prepping work or anything like that, what would be the first thing you would do? Do you spend a lot of time cruising around looking at your sonar and GPS or do you just pick a spot that looks good and start fishing it? How would you start taking apart a lake?
Steve: I ride around a lot more than the other guys. It depends on the year, it depends on the type of lake. There's a lot of information that you process before you even go out on the water, but I typically try to cover a lot of water looking for something specific that I can pattern the fish on, so whether it's points or coves I'll hit and miss different stuff until I get a bite and then try to repeat it.
You're looking for something like a pattern that you can repeat. That's what I'm always looking for. Fishing for points, that's what you're looking for. To actually win you need a spot typically or an area that's bigger than average fish, which that's what you need here at the Classic to win. You're still looking for just a pattern where you can just go from spot to spot to spot and make one flip and catch a fish. That's what I'm looking for and when I do well that's usually what I'm on, I'm not just blind-casting out in the middle of somewhere.
Glenn: What would you consider to be your fishing strengths?
Steve: Trying to be versatile. I can't say that I have one. I grew up fishing deep with dad and dragging a Carolina rig and throwing a big crank bait. Since I've been pro I've worked more of the shallow stuff so I'm pretty good at all of it I think, I try to be. There's always somebody better than you at something, but for making the Classic and getting good points you've got to be versatile, you have to be.
Glenn: If you were to talk to a young angler who's making his way up the ranks and wants to reach the pro level, what would be your single most important piece of advice that you would give him?
Steve: You going to edit this out? Don't do it, that's my opinion. The last couple of years have been really hard on a lot of guys and anyway you might want to edit this out. I won't say it, it's fun, but it's a hard way to make a living right now. Get an education, have a backup plan, maybe that's a better way to put it.
Glenn: Could you give us, like the weekend angler, an honest opinion of what it's really like to be at the elite level that you're at? What's it really like because a lot of people think that it's really glamorous and you get a lot of money thrown your way and sponsors are vying for you all the time, what's it really like?
Steve: I'm an engineer in a marketing world and it's hard for me, it's real hard for me. But it's fun, we travel in a big RV, my family travels with me, we have a blast. We've made a good living over the years really, but like I said the last couple of years have been really hard. A lot of the guys get up early in the morning, get up at 4:00 and go and work hard at it, I usually don't get on the water until 8:30 or 9:00. I play with the kids in the morning and we enjoy it. We go out if we want to go out and sleep in when I want to sleep in.
Glenn: Living the dream.
Steve: I'm trying to enjoy it. We've had a blast.
Glenn: That's awesome.
Steve: You can put as much work into it as you want to really, that's the way I look at it and some of the guys work at it a lot harder than I do.
Glenn: Well, it seems to be working out really well for you.
Steve: I've done really well with it and I'm comfortable with what I've been doing.
Glenn: What I'd like to do right now is what I call shameless plug moment. You can talk about your sponsors or maybe give a shout out to your friends or family that's out there. What's on your mind, what you'd like to talk about.
Steve: I don't know how much of a plug it is, but the Kinami Flash, which is a soft plastic stick bait, the same thing as a Senko. If you don't have one tied on every time you go fishing you're doing something wrong. It's one of those things that I always have tied on no matter where I go, what I do. It's a great target bait for skipping under a dock or throwing at a stump or a hole in the grass and just letting it fall and wiggle on it own and it produces all the action. It doesn't look like much, but it's one of those things you have to have.
Glenn: Awesome, I'll have to give that a go. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Steve Kennedy. I'm Glenn May with BassResource.com.
