Kennedy’s style

Steve Kennedy fights to make his mark in the world of bass fishing

On the day I phoned FLW Outdoors pro Steve Kennedy, he was busy wrenching in his dad’s garage, swapping outboards, or more accurately, advancing from a tested but meek 90 horse to a broken-in but volcanic 150 horse power plant.

You could sense the adrenaline in Kennedy as he envisioned what that first ride was going to feel like with that many horses under reins …

Before progressing with the story, though, it’s prudent to recognize Kennedy’s father, a regional bass-fishing legend who lent use of his handyman’s garage for the ceremonial upgrading. Alabama’s Van Kennedy has tipped the scales with winning limits at more than a few tournaments in his day, including numerous stops on the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League.

Now Kennedy the son, carrying the torch and legacy, is well on his way to making the family name and bass fishing as synonymous as the Kennedy name is with politics.
Kennedy’s rise up the tournament-fishing ranks began in ’92 alongside his father in the BFL. He stuck with the program, and since 1996 has chalked up 15 top-10 finishes in the BFL and the EverStart Series as well as five out-and-out BFL wins. And in 2002, he earned third-place status and $10,000 at the All-American.

What’s even more compelling about Kennedy’s record, though, isn’t the volume of victories or upper-echelon showings but rather how he went about his business. For the better part of eight years, Kennedy competed as a non-boater, relying on the glass and muscle of others to supplement his own talents with rod and reel.

This takes us back to the outboard motor issue. Before the 150 horse, even before the 90 horse, there was a 50 horse. In fact, that 50 was preceded by a 40, which was bolted on the transom of a 17-foot aluminum skiff. Not exactly the warship of champions.

So for years, Kennedy was content with fishing as a non-boater and quite satisfied with his winning ways, too. But the status quo screeched to a halt with the introduction of the boater/co-angler format. Kennedy jumped into the Boater Division and never looked back.

That tin craft never growled and exploded at takeoffs, but its stealthy constitution kept Kennedy in continuous contact with fish. He wore it like a glove, even riding the modest craft to BFL tournament triumphs, including back-to-back wins in the fall of 2001. He took top honors at Lake Neely Henry – Choo Choo Division – and followed it up by winning at Lake Sinclair – Bulldog Division – the ensuing weekend.

It was also in 2001 that Kennedy, then an around-the-clock mechanical engineer, decided to part ways with the grind and emerge as a full-time professional angler. That decision was made with the full knowledge, too, that his beloved and glorified johnboat must enter into retirement, or at a minimum move over and make room for Mr. Ranger.

So Kennedy canvassed the ads and dealerships for a used rig and found one, a mature 354 Ranger that he scored for under $2,000. He fitted that ticket-to-stardom with an aged 90 horse and was ready to take on the world, or at least the Wal-Mart FLW Tour and EverStart Series.

In 2002, Kennedy fished all six FLW Tour qualifiers, pocketing more than $6,000 and ending the year ranked in 80th position. He also fished the EverStart Series, landing in third at Santee Cooper and cashing a $9,000 check. In early January of 2003, fishing the EverStart Series, he earned second chair on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and netted $10,000.

All told, by the beginning of 2003, Kennedy was creeping up on the hundred-grand mark for lifetime BFL-EverStart Series-FLW Tour winnings. Not too shabby for guy in a skiff who never won an All-American.

So what made Kennedy the competitor he is today? Well, as noted earlier, his old man played a considerable role. Kennedy had a terrific mentor. That tutorship, in fact, got Kennedy thinking about tournament fishing early, around age 3. He won a kids’ fishing derby on a Georgia lake with an ice bag full of bluegills. That’s how you plant a seed. Fishing begins and ends with our youth.

Now, as a matured tournament contender, Kennedy fishes into the new millennium. And when asked what distances himself from the ordinary angler, he says “versatility.” Kennedy can turn on a dime and “finesse fish” as commandingly as he can “power fish.”

In Kennedy’s finesse-fishing cache is the Zoom Trick Worm, unquestionably his favorite bait. He’s particularly proficient at skipping docks with the Trick Worm.

But when conditions warrant, Kennedy is equipped to go deep and heavy, too. His dad, a genius on deep impoundments, has shared with his son the ways of crankbaiting and Carolina rigging. Kennedy has absorbed the wisdom and added it to his repertoire.

At the end of our discussion, Kennedy said that he planned to “stick with fishing in tournaments for a living,” and he’s fulfilled his prophecy. Back in 1992, upon graduating from college, he announced that one day he’d make a living fishing for bass.

Well, Steve Kennedy, it looks like you’re a man of your word.