By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

A strict workout regimen and stellar academic showings by his children have given Mark Menendez a much better outlook on life in general than he had just a few months ago. Psychologically, he's ready to resume his pro career in 2015 after the passing of his wife Donna last March due to pancreatic cancer.

As is the norm for him, though, there's a question mark regarding his physical status. There's a chance that chronic tendonitis in both elbows (the condition is much worse in his right arm than his left) could keep the 50-year-old Kentuckian off the Bassmaster Elite Series for a third consecutive year.

As of right now, though, he's viewing that as only a remote possibility.

"I've paid my deposits and my intention is to come back and fish, but there is somewhat of an asterisk associated with it," he said this week. "I'll know by the middle of this month if I'll need surgery and if I do, then it's going to be a matter of having enough time to rehab it before the season starts. I've cleared everything with (B.A.S.S. tournament director Trip Weldon) and he's good with it.

"I had my second round of PRP (an injection of platelet-rich plasma designed to create a mega-healing situation) the day before Thanksgiving and it's already showing marked improvement."

Looking Good, Feeling Good

Menendez, whose career has been interrupted at various points by a case of meningitis and two bouts of skin cancer, said he's dropped about 10 pounds and taken a couple of inches off his waistline since he began daily hour-long workouts in September. More than half of his gym time is spent doing cardiovascular work and the remainder consists of light to moderate weightlifting and exercises to regain his hand strength, which has been dramatically reduced due to the condition of his elbows.

He said the routine has done as much for his state of mind as his physical well-being.

"I'm a much stronger person in dealing with the grief from the loss of Donna than I was before I started just because I feel so much better from working out," the five-time Classic qualifier and two-time tour-level winner said. "The other big thing was that Caroline (age 10) and Max (9) both got straight A's for the first quarter of the school year and that was the best news I could've had.

"That shows that they're getting what they need from me in order to focus on what they need to do, and I'm so proud. That gives me a lot of momentum and makes it so I don't have to worry near as much. It's given me the opportunity to think about fishing again."

He has a strong support team set to take over when he's on the road for as long as 3 weeks at a time next year. It includes his mother, several of Donna's cousins and Donna's best friend, whom he's known since high school. He's also in the process of hiring a nanny.

He said Thanksgiving is a holiday the family has traditionally low-keyed and there weren't an abundance of issues getting through this first one without Donna.

"I spent a lot of time with the kids and we stayed busy – we went to the movies and did other things around town. Then we had our Thanksgiving brunch and put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house with the help of a good friend of ours, and that was the extent of it.

"I do expect Christmas to be tougher, but we have to take these things one moment at a time. If you don't, then everything becomes bigger than what it is."

No Concrete Objectives

Menendez said he won't set any numbers-based goals for himself for the 2015 campaign.

"I actually plan to take a lot of pressure off myself in that regard," he said. "Before it was always 'I have to catch this many pounds to make a check' or 'I need that many points to make the Classic,' but I'm probably not going to do that. Over the last 2 years I've been through about as much pressure as an individual can go through and it'll be nice just to go back out and fish. Having all the fans and the people who love fishing as much as we do around me will be a big reward.

"Am I going to try to be competitive? You can bet your bottom dollar on that, but I'm not going to have a lot of that kind of pressure hanging over my head."

Notable

> Menendez hasn't actually fished since attending a media event at Lake Chickamauga in September, but he's done a lot of prep work for 2015. "I've been doing a lot of recon and all of the other things an Elite Series angler needs to do and I'll get a chance to look at one of the lakes on the schedule next weekend. I've also been doing lots of promotional work lately – I've been very busy for Skeeter/Yamaha."

> He said the pain in his right elbow reached a point where he couldn't give someone a decent handshake. "If I tried to lift a 32-ounce soda out of the console of my truck, I was lucky if I didn't lose it and run off the road. Or if I was in the shower and took the shampoo bottle and tried to squirt some in my left hand to wash my hair, man, that would just light me up!

> Other Elite anglers he knows of who've gone through the PRP therapy at some point in their careers include Edwin Evers, Stephen Browning, Mark Davis and James Niggemeyer.