Region One has over 200 anglers. Accordingly, in pure mathematical terms, all other things being equal, the chance of an angler repeating as top dog is 1 in over 40,000. Of course, there are other factors which come into play, so it’s not quite that simple, but still, the odds are daunting.

Tournament Beginnings
Kenny’s tournament career started in the early 90’s, when he joined a small club near his home, fishing mostly "fun" events on lakes like Lake Anna, as well as on the Upper Potomac and smaller bodies of water like Lake Manassas. Shortly thereafter, his friend Robby Hinkle introduced him to the Virginia/North Carolina focused Pro-Am Teams circuit. The pair experienced some success, but mainly they felt like they were "donating [their] money to guys from the southern part of the state who were more familiar with the waters."

Seeking another outlet for his fishing, Kenny joined Mount Vernon, a club in Region 1. Although the Federation at first seemed to Kenny to be more oriented towards the "weekend warrior" than his previous circuit was, he quickly recognized that in each region there existed a group of top sticks who seemed to consistently populate the top of the standings.

His rise to the top of the region standings began slowly, but not at the bottom. In his first year in Mt. Vernon, he was the club’s top gun. Still, success in the region eluded him. Progress was, he admits, "gradual," but nonetheless steady.

Formula for Success
In addition to region and state level events, in the mid to late nineties Kenny fished other circuits and the occasional single event. Again, he experienced some success, and noticed gradual progress, but after a while he plateaued. "I wasn’t making adjustments," he says. "I was just doing the same old thing over and over and much of the time it wasn’t working." After he made that realization, he tried to devote his energy to ending the stagnation. He took a three pronged approach.

The first step, Kenny says, was that he "dumped all of my resources into the region."

Second, rather than constantly fishing under pressure, he made an effort to "settle down and just go fishing."

Third, he made a concerted effort to "fish for deeper fish."

After following these seemingly simple guidelines for a while, the adjustments that had previously eluded him began to come more easily. For example, Kenny notes that his greatest strength, the ability to sit on a single spot all day and figure out how to catch the resident fish, is also his greatest weakness; on occasion he did not leave an area during the course of a tournament when it failed to produce. Over the past two years, though, those decisions – whether to stay or go – have been close to impeccable.

Although he has now twice been Angler of the Year (along with a third appearance in the Fall Classic), Kenny typically does not dominate the field in every tournament. Instead, his hallmark is consistency over the course of the year – the first time he won the accolade, he "consistently just missed getting a check," but nevertheless caught enough weight every time to prevail when others who had produced large stringers fared poorly in other tournaments. When Region One switched from pounds to points as the means of keeping the standings, this favored Kenny even more. Missing or blanking in even a single tournament essentially eliminated one’s chances of making the 20 man team, but his steady good finishes prevailed over others’ more erratic performances.

Kenny’s consistency in the standings is also a testament to his versatility. "Even though among my club I’m best know for throwing a crankbait," he says, "most of my fish this year came on a Texas rig, Carolina rig, and a topwater bait."

His versatility extends to his choice of waters. When asked to name his favorite bodies of water in the state, he mentions a lake and a tidal river. Surprisingly, the latter is not the Potomac, the river which most anglers from the northern part of the state would probably choose as there "home water." Instead, he says his favorites are the Chickahominy River and Kerr Reservoir (although he notes that he only likes Kerr "if they’re not drawing water."). This is somewhat surprising, because except for a six man money finish on Kerr, he typically fares comparatively poorly there. "All I can figure," he says by way of explanation, "is that most of the time we go there, the thing to do is run the banks with a spinnerbait, and I’d much rather camp out on a point and wait ‘em out."

When asked what advice he would offer the novice tournament angler, Kenny offers that one key to his success is that "on any body of water, I don’t look at the entire water. I pick one cove, one creek arm or area, and learn where they stack up and why they’re there."

Thoughts on State Tournaments
The Fall Classic is "definitely an experience," Kenny says. He compares it to the field trips that he often leads in his occupation as a schoolteacher at Chantilly Academy: "something ALWAYS arises." You make up strategy as you go, and need to expect the unexpected, since "there’s no guidebook," and as team captain "much of the burden falls on you."

This year, heading to the Fall Classic, Kenny made it less than 20 miles from his house when he hit a deer, damaging the grille on his truck. After he examined the damage and realized that he could push on (fortunately, he teaches collision repair), he started up again, and barely missed hitting a second deer. Fifteen minutes later, an owl flew into the grille and was instantly killed in a puff of feathers. Noting that they still had three hours to drive (and many more species left to hit), Kenny was kind enough to ask his partner if he was sure he wanted to continue down the road. He wasn’t terribly shaken up by the tough start, but does note that it "affected my concentration a little."

In the two years that Kenny has captained Region One’s 20 man team in the Fall Classic, the team has fared poorly. Part of this may be attributable to the fact that both times the event has been held on Smith Mountain Lake – a body of water that most anglers from his part of the state rarely fish. Also, unlike the some other waters, such as the Potomac, Smith Mountain seems less hospitable to newcomers, strongly favoring the locals and other frequent visitors who know the productive coves, brushpiles, dropoffs, etc.

Noting the team’s poor performance, Kenny neither accepts blame nor casts doubt on the efforts of his teammates. Instead, he takes it as an opportunity to reassess how the team should operate. Last year, most of the team members scattered out each evening, staying in small cliques or pairs, sharing nothing.

This year, Kenny and Tom Hayes, another perennial member of the team, made an effort to get people to discuss tactics, areas, anything that might jumpstart others’ efforts. Still, he found it difficult. "It’s tough enough to get six guys together for dinner, so forget about bringing yourself and nineteen others together for a meeting," he laments. He continues to be disappointed by what he perceives as a "national security level attitude" when it comes to sharing even the most basic of information. "I’ll tell you what I’m doing," he says, "maybe not exactly where I’m doing it, but enough to help you out." He sincerely hopes that he gets another opportunity as a member of the team, preferably as captain, to try to make such sharing happen.

Youth Director
In addition to being a top flight tournament competitor, Kenny also strives to be a contributing member of his club and of Region 1. Towards that end, he recently took on the job of Region 1 Youth Director.

John Britton was actively seeking someone for the position, and although he still admits that he’s "learning what it’s all about," Kenny jumped in feet first. Although he had participated in youth events before, including the BLM day, and seminars at Locust Shade Park, the event which convinced him that he could take his training as a teacher and apply it to fishing was the B.A.S.S. Junior National tournament, held this past year on the Nanticoke River. Kenny volunteered to be one of the boat drivers. "Seeing the kids get excited was absolutely incredible."

At the Nanticoke, Kenny was particularly impressed with the efforts of one of the young anglers from New York, who rode in his boat one day. "This kid – who already had his own aluminum boat – could pitch flip and rollcast with the best of them. I worked hard at trying to get him to slow down and that really helped." In his words, I could hear the enthusiasm of a true teacher coming to the surface.

When asked what he would change about the Federation if given the chance, Kenny again shows his commitment to youth events. "Right now, only one or two guys from each club have to participate in youth events. If it were up to me, I’d make it almost mandatory that all members help out in the course of the year."

Final Words
Kenny says he would be remiss if he did not at least partially attribute his success to the support of Skeeter Boats and Charlie Beaver of Beaver’s Marine. "They’ve been a godsend. In my new 20 foot Skeeter with a 225, I can make runs that I wouldn’t make in my older, smaller Stratos. The boat has incredible storage, speed, and a ride that really gives me confidence when I’m in the rough stuff on the Potomac." Furthermore, one element of luck, the chance for a breakdown on tournament day, is minimized, because whenever he has even the slightest problem, "they fix it right away."

Kenny is sure that going into 2003 there will be a number of people scrutinizing his efforts, both to see how he does so well, and also to give him a hard time if he ever has a poor performance. He’s not worried, though. "I thought there would be pressure after winning the first time, but I really didn’t feel it. I’m even more comfortable out there now." He has already set his sights on making the 20 man team, and with the perspective of two years as angler of the year, he plans to "fish my hardest" to lead both himself and the Region One team to a top finish next fall.

If you’d like to contact Kenny Brown, he can be reached at mntvbass@aol.com.