Candid conversation with FLW Walleye Tour AOY Tom Keenan

FLWOutdoors.com sits down with 2006 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Angler of the Year Tom Keenan for an in-depth Q&A session

Q: You’ve perhaps taken the “hottest walleye angler in the world” title away from Nick Johnson? Do you consider yourself the hottest walleye angler in the world?

A: I guess I’d never say that. I’m just not that type of person. I would say I’m very competitive. Any tournament I enter I feel like I have a good chance at winning or at least placing in the top 10. Nick Johnson is one heck of a fisherman. It was an honor to beat him.

Q: What’s been better, winning the 2003 FLW Walleye Tour Championship or winning the AOY?

A: The championship was a life-changer. On the flip side, I think it’s easier to win the championship than it is to win AOY. The AOY shows consistency over the course of a year. When you think about, that’s at least 12 days of competitive fishing over the course of the year. If you have one really bad day, that puts you in a tough spot. Still, $300,000 will never be topped. It was a great day in my life. I also found out on Sunday that I did win the Ranger Cup, so I won a brand new Ranger 620 and a trailer.

I couldn’t have won AOY without the support of my co-anglers. Dean (Arnoldussen) and I were talking the other day about the quality of the co-anglers on the FLW Walleye Tour. Nine out of 10 guys now are awesome walleye anglers. The quality of the co-anglers has gone through the roof. I’ve also learned to teach and motivate my co-anglers. I try and keep them focused and motivated. All I ask is that you try hard.

Stephen Gaston of Montegut, La., was an absolute stud. He is an amazing jig fisherman. I think he took me 4-to-4 that day. On trolling bites it’s not quite as critical to have good co-anglers, but on those jig bites, you need all the help you can get. That’s how I’ve met a lot of my good friends. Hunters and fishermen are usually great people.

Q: You’ve had a ridiculous track record in your short FLW Outdoors career, yet rarely do you fish a full season. Looking back, it’s very possible that you could have won AOY honors in 2005 had you fished all four events. Why is it difficult for you to commit to fish a full season?

A: I guess in 2004 I fished them all, and I ended up taking third, and it came down to the last day. In 2005, I simply committed to my wife and family. We took a week off work and went to Disney World with the family. I also took some time to go elk hunting, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. I just ran out of time. I’ve got a great job, and I work for a great company. I always put my job and my family first. I actually needed a year off to catch up. I’ve got a lot of responsibility here at work.

Q: Much has been made about your so-called posse of anglers. To my knowledge, the posse consists of yourself, Pat Neu, Dean Arnoldussen and sometimes your brother Mark Keenan. Is this accurate?

A: John Gillman is part of the posse now too.

Q: To use a Seinfeld reference, what is the appeal of the posse? You practice together and share information, but does it go further than that? Do you split earnings? How do you decide who gets to fish the best spot?

A: What makes us so good is that we’re all best friends. We’re all very honest. If I get on a great spot during practice, but Pat gets a better boat number than me, than we’ll work around it. I know that by the time I get there, somebody else will have already found it. So I will let Pat have it. If someone on the team has a chance to win, we leave him alone and let him fish his spot. To win against this caliber of anglers is really tough. I’ve only won three tournaments in my career, so when you get that chance, you’ve got to leave them alone. We fish our own fish, we’re honest, and we have a good time together.

I’ve been fishing tournaments since 1990. I ran into Dean at the ramp during a practice period at a tournament in 1993. If I remember correctly, he took third, and I took fourth. We just became friends and have been helping each other since. In 1999, he let me borrow his boat for a PWT event, which I won. His boat was on the cover of Walleye Insider, with me in it. I met Pat through the store. John joined the team last year, and he’s a great guy, and we’re really happy to have him on the team. Four or five people is about the right number.

Q: Do you feel “team fishing” is ethical?

A: I do. I guess you have to work with other people to do well in this format. We are committing no rule violations by any means. Just about everyone is doing it, and a lot has come from our success. By that I mean other people look at our success and have tried to duplicate it.

Q: If on-the-water communication was completely disallowed, how would it affect your team’s finishes?

A: I don’t think they can ever change that rule. To what degree do you limit it to? Are you not supposed to say good morning to a local that you see on the water? Is it verbal? Can they use hand signals? It’s kind of a double-edged sword in reality. I would have no problem if they got rid of it altogether. I just think it’s either got to be none or all; you can’t do half, in my opinion.

If they eliminate all communication, I don’t think it would hurt us one degree. As long as it applies to everyone, it wouldn’t affect us at all. We’ve got four outstanding fishermen who go the extra mile to find fish that others might not. You can maybe eliminate verbal communication, but I don’t think you can eliminate that rule.

Q: I know of a few other groups that practice together … Ross Grothe practices with Tommy Skarlis, Dustin Kjelden practices with Nick Johnson. Eric Olson, Jason Przekurat, Troy Morris, Joe Whitten and Pat Byle all work together. All of these “networked” anglers qualified for the championship. All the members of your posse qualified for the championship. Does networking give you that much of an advantage, or are these just gifted anglers?

A: Obviously, it’s a combination of both. It’s hard to break these huge bodies of water down by yourself. The teams are clearly doing the best. You’ve got to find the fish before you catch them. The finding part is much more difficult than the catching. Anybody can catch fish that are biting. We’re also not afraid to adjust or try something different. A lot of teams break up and change. We’ve stayed together over the years. We work as a group; there are no individuals in our group. Trust is the key.

Q: Which team is better, the Keenan clan or Olson’s group?

A: That would be a tough one. It would be interesting to go four on four. I don’t even know if I want to go there. They’ve won AOY, and so have we. We’ve won a championship, and they’ve been right up there. Both teams have won a lot of money, and both teams have a lot of top-10s. That would be a shootout. We’ve won two of the six championships, so we probably have them in terms of money. But both groups have been incredible.

Q: In your career, most of your better finishes have come on the Green Bay system and on the Mississippi River. How do you feel about your chances on Lake Oahe?

A: I actually consider Lake Winnebago to be my home water. I like fishing Great Lakes, and I like fishing for big fish. I consider Lake Winnebago, Bays de Noc, the bay of Green Bay, and I just about consider Red Wing home water. I’ve really learned to love Red Wing over the years. I really enjoy pulling leadcore line. I’ve only fished Devils Lake twice, but I’ve learned a lot, and I feel like I’m going to have more success there in the future.

I like my chances at Oahe. I’m a very confident person. We visited there in 2003 when the cut was 20. I just missed it by a tiebreaker. If my fish would have weighed 1 more ounce, I would have won another Ranger boat and AOY. I ended up taking third in the points that year.

Q: You’ve fished in only 20 FLW events, yet you’ve made over $470,000. Is this type of success possible to maintain?

A: I think it is. I consider every tournament I go to I have a very good chance at winning. At the championship, with only 50 boats, I really like my chances. I see myself and my teammates continuing to excel. We won AOY this year and came very close to winning two tournaments. I think the championship next year at Cleveland is absolutely going to rock. I just hope the wind doesn’t blow too badly. I promise you I will make a serious challenge next year at Cleveland.

Q: Do you see yourself fishing a full season next year?

A: Yep, for sure. I’ve been with my company for 15 years now, so I get an extra week of vacation. I see myself fishing all of them in the future too. I told myself I’ll quit fishing when it stops getting fun. I’ve been fishing since 1989, and I haven’t reached that point yet.

Q: In your honest opinion, what’s the next logical step for professional walleye fishing?

A: I guess the next step is that we have to continue to get more exposure for our sport. At bass weigh-ins, they fill an entire arena. We’ve got to get our kids involved. Get them involved first, and it will continue to grow. FLW just came out with a walleye version of their magazine, and that’s exactly the type of stuff we need to do. If Sonny (Tournament Director Sonny Reynolds) wants to raise the entry fees and pay more money back, I’m all for that. I’m thinking of hopping over to the bass side pretty soon with all that money they’re getting. I think Kevin VanDam needs a challenge.

I think next year you’ll see even a stronger full field of anglers. By that I mean the guys that fish one or two events will be eliminated. You’ll need to fish all four to get in. If you look back, two of the four winners this year were local guys who just fished that tournament. It’s pretty exciting to see what walleye fishing has become over the last 15 years.

Q: To my knowledge, you’ve never fished a Professional Walleye Trail event. Do you simply like the FLW format better, or is there more to it than that?

A: I did fish four PWT tournaments; I actually top-10d in each with one win. I fished a lot of those because they were on my home water. But nowadays, if you are qualified with the right boat and engine, you are absolutely nuts to not fish the FLW. The FLW is the future of walleye fishing. As long as you have the contingency money, you’re crazy not to fish the FLW. Even if you subtract the contingency money, the two trails are about the same. The FLW was smart; they went after the big companies, and now they’ve got all the marketing dollars.

Q: In your opinion, which tour has the better anglers?

A: Wow, that’s a tough call. As far as famous people and recognizable names, I would say the PWT. But as far as quality of anglers, I would probably say the FLW. We’ve got a lot of young guns like myself, Jason Przekurat, Dustin Kjelden and Nick Johnson who are hungry. We’ve got that eye of the tiger. Ken Schoenecker is becoming that guy too. Mark’s son is 17, and he will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future. He’s going to college, and once he’s done with that, we’ll help him with the FLW side. How much effort you put in goes a long way in determining your success. I would love to see a shootout between the top 10 PWT pros and the top 10 FLW pros.

Q: Would you like to see the FLW Walleye Tour expand, or are you happy with the four-qualifier schedule?

A: Obviously with having a full-time job, I would like to see it stay at four. One more qualifier would be fine, but I don’t want to see it get to seven or eight tournaments. If it gets too crazy, then I have to choose between my job and fishing. And right now, I’d probably choose my job.

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FLWOutdoors.com would like to thank Keenan for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us. Walleye fans can check out Keenan at the no-entry-fee 2006 FLW Walleye Tour Championship Oct. 4-7 on Lake Oahe in Pierre, S.D.