(This is part 3 of a 3-part Q&A with Alabama tour pro Steve Kennedy, who's currently ranked No. 3 in the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten.)

BassFan: To switch gears again, the Classic's coming up. This'll be your second one, and you finished 8th last year at Lay. Are you going

into this one thinking win, or are you more in search of a good showing?

Kennedy: I'll be looking for a good showing. I'm not real confident that I'm going to win. Typically, it's a good time of year for me. It'll be close I think.

And I really think it'll be won deep on some of those deeper suspended fish – the fish chasing bait. I'm not sure I can make myself go through it though. It's taking a big risk pursuing those schooling fish. But that may or may not be what's going on.

Growing up, did you fish east Georgia and the Savannah River, or were you more west?

We went as far as Clarks Hill. We fished that pretty regular. We never went up to Hartwell much.

But my brother recently won the Fishers of Men Regional up there (at Hartwell), and then another Fishers of Men regular event up there in the same creek.

Have you two talked about Hartwell, or that creek?

Yeah, he took me up and showed me where he won. We didn't catch squat. They were all gone. It all depends on conditions. If we get the right conditions, they could be there big-time.

That's the hardest part of it. We're doing (the Classic) in February. It could be 80 degrees, or 25 and snowing. You don't know what you're going to get.

Where does a Classic win rate on your list of goals?

Wining a Classic, and winning Angler of the Year (AOY), are my two main goals. I finished 2nd (in 2006), so there's only one more step and that's winning (AOY). Then I made the Classic last year, and again this year. Winning a Classic and AOY are my two main goals. There's not much more you can do.

And you've got the BASS weight record now.

I don't know if anybody ever mentioned it, but I had the heaviest winning weight on the FLW Tour when I won Kentucky Lake. That held up until last year at Lake Murray. But I had the heaviest 2-day winning weight – 44-14.

And if you go back to many, many years ago, my dad (Van) had the heaviest winning weight in Red Man history for a while there. He had seven that weighed 28 on Oconee.

You've got an event before the Classic though – the FLW Series East/West Fishoff at Amistad. You finished 3rd and 5th at Amistad the past two seasons. From here, you look like the guy to beat in that event.

I've had really good luck at Amistad. Like you said, I've been down there for two events, and caught nearly 100 pounds both times. So I'm really looking forward to going to Amistad. I looked up who I'm fishing against, but I'm not sure now – I can't remember. (He fishes against Joe Uribe, Jr. from California.–Ed.) I'm looking forward to it.

To finish, any regrets about leaving the FLW Tour?

Nope. I love what I'm doing. (BASS) puts us on some incredible lakes. I wasn't unhappy with FLW – I'm still trying to fish them – I just didn't understand having a team deal that wouldn't allow me to fish.

Can you explain what you mean by that?

When BASS changed their rules somewhat, that you couldn't have an FLW logo on your shirt or boat, FLW wouldn't let me cover up their logo on the boat. I was willing to do whatever it took there. But if I kept my (FLW) team deal, I couldn't fish BASS.

I guess both drew a line in the sand, and I got caught in the middle of it. I'm here to go fishing, and obviously I'm not going to do something that prevents me from fishing. I enjoy fishing FLW very much, and I'm still fishing over there as much as possible, but I have no regrets.

Notable

> When asked which of his peers he respects the most, Kennedy said: "I've always been a big fan of David Fritts, just because I grew up crankbaiting – big cranks, Carolina rigs, deep structure. I can't say he's the one I 'respect' the most, though. I might have to say (Kevin) VanDam."

> On that same note, BassFan also asked Kennedy, If you were leading an event, who would you least want to see trailing in 2nd? "VanDam," he said. "He's on fire. When you look at long-term consistency, he may be even better than Skeet (Reese). They're at a different level than I am. I'm close, but I still have a bomb thrown in every now and then that messes everything up."

– End of part 3 (of 3) –