Kernan Applauds Process After Winning Appeal

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

It took about 10 minutes Thursday for a three-person appeals panel to unanimously overturn Mike Kernan’s day-1 disqualification at the Sabine River Elite Series and restore his finish to 12th place, the position he held following day 2 of the event.

Kernan’s weight of 10-01 last Thursday was disallowed after another competitor protested that Kernan had navigated through non-posted private water that day to reach his fishing area. BassFan later learned Elite Series angler Dennis Tietje filed the protest.

Kernan filed an appeal of the DQ and he presented his case via conference call today. The identities of the appeals committee members were not disclosed, but the panel was comprised of a B.A.S.S. employee not affiliated with the Tournament Department and two anglers who were not competitors in the event in question. Chris Bowes, B.A.S.S. senior tournament manager, was the moderator for the hearing.

After the committee reached its decision, Bowes wrote Kernan: “The Appeals Committee unanimously agreed that your disqualification and resulting loss of weight on Day 1 of the 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series Event on the Sabine River should be overturned. As a result of this decision, the Day 1 weight of 10 pounds and 1 ounce will be reinstated. In addition, you will be awarded the points and money associated with a 12th place finish.”

Kernan’s reinstatement does not affect any other angler’s ranking, points or earnings. Kernan, who dropped to 77th after the DQ, will earn $10,500 and receive 89 points toward the Angler of the Year standings.

“I did what I had to do,” Kernan told BassFan after the ruling was made. “It’s a relief. I didn’t feel I was guilty of anything. It’s a relief that I got through the process. I felt like I had all of my ducks in a row, but there was no guarantee I’d get three good guys that were willing to listen impartially. I feel fortunate that I did.

"I was very pleased that they have a process in place and I was able to take advantage of it and appreciative of the impartial three-man panel."

Back to the Beginning

Kernan wasn’t informed that his day-1 result was under review until approximately 8 p.m. local time last Friday, well after the conclusion of the second day of competition. Two hours later, B.A.S.S. officials informed him his day-1 weight would be zeroed. Kernan’s 8-04 catch from day 2 was allowed to stand, but he dropped from 12th to 77th in the standings after his day-1 total was wiped out.

According to a statement released by B.A.S.S. last Saturday, Kernan was found to have violated the following rules:

> C6 (iii). All competitors are bound by the prevailing statutes and regulations of the various states within which they fish. Competitors are responsible for research of fishing and boating regulations.

> C13. Tournament waters shall be established by the Tournament Director for each tournament. Each competitor must obtain this information from the B.A.S.S. Tournament Department. Any water within these boundaries posted “off-limits” or “no-fishing” by state or federal agencies will be off limits and will be announced at the tournament briefing. Only that water open to all public fishing will be considered tournament waters. Waters deemed off-limits by authorities or tournament officials should be treated like a wall. No boats or casting behind that boundary while fishing.

Signs Appear On Day 2

According to Kernan, he fished Thursday in an area known as Cameron Prairie Wildlife Refuge, about an hour east of the takeoff point in Orange, Texas. The specific location he fished was a small ditch or canal near a public fishing access road off the eastern side of Sweet Lake, just west of Highway 27.

Kernan said he pre-practiced in the same area back in January before the Sabine River system went off limits to Elite Series competitors. He said there were no signs, gates or anything then marking the land or water leading to his fishing area as private property. The same was true on day 1 of the tournament.

“I only went straight to the back and to the best of my knowledge it’s public,” he said. “I didn’t fish the outside ditch on day 1 because Byron Velvick was in there. I idled past him. I stayed in the back and I had every intention of fishing more than just where I was.

“On Friday, I go back in there and there’s already a little boat in there,” Kernan continued. “This guy came over to me and tells me the whole area was private property and I started seeing posted signs. I told him I’d been coming in here since January and never saw a posted sign. The guy tells me the signs have been there forever. I said, ‘Really?’ I then went over to one of the signs and could tell it was brand new. It said ‘Private Property. No Trespassing. Sweet Lake Oil Company.’”

Kernan said he challenged the man’s insistence that the signs had “been there forever,” based on their appearance and the man admitted to installing them that morning at the behest of his boss. Kernan said he immediately called tournament director Trip Weldon to get further clarification. When Weldon called back, he told Kernan he’d spoken with a local game warden who informed Weldon that the water Kernan was using to access his fishing area was private land.

“When Trip called me back, his words were to the effect of, ‘The game warden knows the area well and he said if the ditch is maintained by Sweet Lake, they have right to post it and I can’t go back there,’” Kernan said. “Once the signs were up and they asked me to leave, I never went back.”

He fished elsewhere and caught 8-04 and was in 12th place halfway through the event.

Call Led To Action

Tietje told BassFan he acted upon information he received via a phone call from the operations manager of the Sweet Lake Land and Oil Co. on Friday evening alerting him that one of his competitors was seen accessing an area Thursday by navigating through Sweet Lake and an adjoining canal. It’s an area Tietje knew to be private, but he did not personally see Kernan access it.

“Being the local guy, if it were open to public, I promise I’d be the first one in it,” he said.

Tietje then contacted Weldon with the information he was given and let it go from there.

“As an Elite angler, we have a responsibility by rule to report any infraction that we hear or know about,” Tietje said. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what place you’re in or what, and that’s exactly the protocol I followed. I received information and immediately turned it over to Trip and let B.A.S.S. proceed with it.

“I know there’s a big question of when and why I reported it, but I reported what was reported to me just like any other Elite Series angler is supposed to,” Tietje continued. “I had no other involvement in it. I’m sure Mike is a great guy who just got caught in an unfortunate situation. We’ve all been in those situations and we’ve all had to make tough calls in the past and we’ve all suffered the consequences when we’ve been in the wrong.”

Tietje insisted that his place in the standings (54th after day 2 – first out of the money cut) had no influence on his decision to file a protest. When Kernan’s penalty was applied, Tietje was elevated one spot on the leaderboard and competed Saturday, ultimately finishing 33rd.

“If I was in 113th place, I would have reported the infraction,” he said. “That’s part of our responsibility. B.A.S.S. is going to do a full investigation. Mike has appealed and he has every right to do so. B.A.S.S. will make the right decision and I’ll accept any decision they make. I did what we all are supposed to do.”

Area In Question

Upon returning home to Wylie, Texas, on Saturday, Kernan said he reviewed the information B.A.S.S. had circulated to competitors prior to the event regarding areas that were deemed private, thereby making them off limits. B.A.S.S. provided competitors with a link to a web-based GIS mapping system from the Louisiana Office of State Lands to reference when making determinations about whether certain areas were private or public land.

Kernan said anglers were provided a sheet at the tournament briefing last Wednesday that again referred anglers to the website. Upon visiting the site, a pop-up window appears with a disclaimer that reads, in part:

“… This information is intended to serve only as an initial reference for research of land use and water bottom information and does not purport to provide evidence of legal title to property. This information does not substitute for the need to conduct complete title analyses and should be viewed merely as a reference that does not represent a final agency determination or a judicial determination of ownership, unless otherwise noted. … Any person or entity that relies upon such information obtained from this site does so at his or her own risk.”

Kernan said he used the website frequently in his tournament preparation, but it was “extremely difficult to use,” he added. “I’m an IT director and I figured it out eventually.”

During Thursday's appeal, Kernan was given 10 minutes to present his case. His marshal from day 1 served as his only witness. He said he emphasized three points in his appeal:

> The mapping website B.A.S.S. provided anglers to use to determine public/private water bottoms was not from an authoritative source and the disclaimer on the website says as much.

> Without a state authority website to reference, Kernan was left to follow the private property rules outline that was part of the literature distributed to anglers at the pre-tournament briefing. Kernan’s marshal affirmed that Kernan abided by all of the rules and regulations.

> Kernan pointed out that Tietje “did not observe me at any time” on day 1 or 2 and noted that Sweet Lake Land and Oil Company owns the land on which Grosse Savanne Waterfowl and Wildlife Lodge operates. Kernan said the man he encountered the morning of day 2 was wearing a Grosse Savanne shirt and noted that Tietje is sponsored by Grosse Savanne. “Is it too many coincidences,” Kernan asked the panel.

While Kernan maintains he had no information that led him to believe he was navigating through private property at any time, the manager of the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge told BassFan the area Kernan was fishing was only accessible by running across privately-owned Sweet Lake to get into the canal or ditch he used.

“To get to the refuge from the west like that, you’d have to trespass on private property to get there other than launching on the refuge itself,” said Glenn Harris, who manages the more than 9,600 acres of land that makes up the Cameron Prairie complex. Harris is unaware if the land or water in question was clearly marked as private.

At takeoff on day 3 of the event, B.A.S.S. officials distributed copies of a hand-written note informing the 53 remaining anglers that an “area known as Sweet Lake on left/north of Inner Coastal (sic) is private per Louisiana law + shown on map link sent + handed to you.” The note seemed to refer to the general area where Kernan was on day 1.

Velvick said he was under the assumption that the route Kernan used to access the wildlife area was private property, but wasn't certain. He said he'd gotten information indicating that from a guide whom he'd pre-practiced with prior to the off-limits period.

"I was blown away by how far back there (Kernan) went," Velvick said. "I didn't report him because I thought maybe I'd been mistaken and maybe it was legal water. But (the guide) did tell me there was a duck preserve back there and that was a place where you couldn't go."