By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Mike Kernan isn't one for sugar-coating anything. Just ask him his impressions of his rookie season fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series.
"Even though the year was good, it honestly pisses me off," he said. "I get fired up (thinking about it.) I wasn't disappointed at all with my year, knowing I also worked half of the year, but being a competitive guy I want to do better."
He cashed five checks this season, but was ultimately done in by two triple-digit finishes (Table Rock Lake and Lake Dardanelle) and wound up 57th in the Angler of the Year points.
"If I'd have just gotten a 60th in one of those, I'd have made the AOY event and been close to the Classic," he noted. "That gets me fired up."
In the final rookie standings, Kernan was a distant 8th in what was easily the strongest rookie class ever, but was 2nd to Brandon Lester among the true tour-level newcomers.
"To me, it was an outstanding group of rookies, but they were guys I have to beat," he said. "I don't care if they fished FLW. I'm not creating some excuse that since they're FLW guys I couldn't hang with them. I need to beat them like I need to beat anyone else. It was cool to see (the class) had a lot of talent in it, though."
Ozark Uh-Oh
Kernan, who hails from Wylie, Texas, and lives on Lake Ray Hubbard, got off to a good start with a 42nd at Lake Seminole and a 17th at the St. Johns River.
His first stumble of the season came at Table Rock Lake, a fishery he'd never been to.
"I was not prepared for Table Rock," he said, referencing his 101st-place result. "When I was up there to pre-practice, the water was 38 degrees so that was a butt-whooping waiting to happen, and it did. I know a lot more now.
"That clear water, if you fish the bank the bank is 15 feet. It's not 3 feet. It was very different from what I'm used to. I learned a lot."
He bounced back with a 15th at Toledo Bend, but stumbled again at Lake Dardanelle with a 107th.
"Dardanelle was disappointing because I was on 'em and that front came in," he said. "If I'd have gone to the rocks like 90 percent of the guys did I would've done okay. I thought I was on a pattern to win and it was hard to leave.
"The whole deal is I knew they'd bite on the rocks, but I felt like that would be a mid-pack kind of deal. It turned out to be the deal."
Next year, he plans to be more willing to transition to another technique if his chosen method isn't producing.
"I have a different attitude now about that stuff," he said. "If the weather goes south like it did at Dardanelle, I'll take a dropshot and go to rocks and get a 60th. I'm not going to be hardheaded. I have to recognize when I screwed up and the weather messed me up. I just need to recognize the events where I need to salvage points."
More Freedom
Kernan left his full-time position as an IT director for a national insurance company in late June and he's utilized the free time he has on his hands to focus more on refining his fishing skills.
He's also involved with two other smaller businesses – a fiberglass repair service and a boat dealership through which he buys used bass boats and refurbishes them to sell. He's also a CPA and has his lender's license so he's able to help customers with financing.
"It's nice to be able to focus on stuff you know," he said.
In late September, he visited the St. Lawrence River and Lake St. Clair, putting in extra time at venues that are on the 2015 Elite Series schedule and also getting more familiar with tactics that are best suited for smallmouths. It was one area of his skill set he felt needed more work.
"That's why I spent that time chasing them and why I'll spend more time up there," he said. "The techniques and tackle – I had a good knowledge of both of them, but it was my seasonal knowledge of smallmouth that needed more work. Now I don't feel like I'm at a disadvantage as far as smallmouth go.
"I caught a lot dropshotting and I feel like my dropshotting can be up to par if it's not already. What I didn't know was what it took to go from 2-pounders to 4-pounders and I'm starting to get it."
He said the biggest adjustment he faced was the limited practice time before each Elite Series event compared to virtually unlimited practice sessions prior to Opens.
"That was the big transition from the events I fished to the Elites," he said. "I went off 2 1/2 days and went from practicing and practicing for a weekend event to 2 1/2 days. Now, I can go before the off-limits and can learn as much as I want."
