As anglers shuffle and slide to one league or another, a lot of BassFans have kept their eye on Steve Kennedy. He literally tore it up this year when he finished 2nd in the Bassmaster Elite Series points and 36th in the FLW Tour points. His BassFan World Rank shot up from 104th at the start of the year to 6th near the end.
Without question, 2006 was his watershed year. He won the Kentucky Lake FLW Tour, and Top 5'd in three of the first four Elite Series events. He finished in the Top 10 four more times – most recently at the Lake of the Ozarks FLW Series.
With all the success, he must have felt pulled in two directions when BASS released its dates, then FLW followed with its Tour dates smack dab on top of BASS's. First, he's a Ranger pro, which means there's a lot of FLW fruit hanging low to the water. But also remember he won the BASS Rookie of the Year award (yeah, we know, he's actually a veteran, but BASS still considers him a "BASS rookie"). That means he can join the plush Toyota fishing team in 2007, and he gets a free pass into each of the Majors.
So what did he decide? Here it is in his own words. (Note: By "we" he refers to himself and his wife Julia, who travels with him.)
"We signed up for BASS, and we intend to sign up for the FLW Eastern Series, but we haven't been able to do that yet. And we've also signed up for one FLW Tour, at the Potomac. Number one, I was Toyota Rookie of the Year, so I'm expecting to do something with Toyota. And that means I'm in all the Majors."
What about next year's Forrest Wood Cup, where a Ranger owner stands to win $1 million? For Kennedy, it's all about another championship. "I still want to go to the (Bassmaster) Classic," he said. "That's the whole reason I'm over here with them (BASS). I'm not sure if they'd let me fish if I didn't fish the Elite Series.
"I've fished with FLW now for at least 15 years, going back to the BFLs," he added. "I enjoy fishing their stuff. But you have to make a decision, and I want to go to the Classic. It's one of those lifetime goals, and I might not have another opportunity to do it."
