KENYON HILL ON THE RECORD

Story by Matt Pangrac - Photos by Mark Jeffreys, Matt Pangrac and Dave Rush

Moore, OK – Recently, Elite Series pro Kenyon Hill sat down with The BASS ZONE to talk about life, bass fishing, duck hunting and the 2012 season:

Hill on his longtime friend and travel partner Peter Thliveros making the move to the FLW Tour for the 2012 season:
“I think that it’s been a long time coming.  When you start to skew towards the screamers and yellers and the so called ‘generation x,’ it’s easy to forget that the average age of a bass fisherman is around 45-years-old and has two kids. 

“People can argue that it’s all about growing the sport, but a man from his mid 20s to mid 30s is hard pressed to buy a $70,000 boat. I think that some people have forgotten who pays most of the bills and I also think that there has been a generation of anglers that has been forgotten recently. 

“I think that’s why you’re seeing some of the veterans move on from B.A.S.S. and I don’t blame some of the guys for leaving.  Peter T has been with B.A.S.S. for over 25-years and he’s one of the heroes.  Everyone knows who he is. He’s part of what B.A.S.S. is.  I just don’t understand why they didn’t try to bend over backwards to get him to stay.

“We’ve always worked together and our friendship is far more valuable than any fish or any tournament that we may participate in.  He was like family to me out there. Pete has been my roommate for over 15-years and since he’s moved over to FLW, I’m pretty much going to stay by myself this year.”

Hill on his future in professional bass fishing: 
“Quite frankly, I’m a year-by-year person with B.A.S.S..  I’ve been doing this almost 27-years and I’m tired of promises that aren’t fulfilled. I’m giving B.A.S.S. an opportunity to show me that the sport is actually going to go somewhere and that we haven’t truly seen the golden years of bass fishing.  I’m going to give it another year and I’ve been on a year-by-year basis for probably the past two years.

It’s not necessarily a financial situation as much as it is whether or not it’s worth my time to invest in something that’s either going somewhere or not going somewhere.  I love fishing tournaments and I love the competition but it has changed a lot since I started. 

“The satisfaction for me is how good I can personally be and what I can accomplish by the sweat of my own brow.  It’s not a ‘win at any cost’ situation. You either live with it or you quit playing it and right now it’s a toss-up for me.”

Hill on the 2012 Red River Classic:
“I feel like if I would have made the 2012 Classic, it could have gotten interesting.  Back in 2009, I didn’t catch them well at all on the first day on the Red River.  The second day at 11:00 I had one fish.  I made a move and weighed 17-pounds.  On the last day, it was below freezing with bluebird skies and I culled 4-pounders all day and weighed nearly 25-pounds.

“I had figured out where and how to catch those fish that time of year.  If I would have made the Classic this year knowing what I learned from 2009, I feel like I could have possibly caught over 20-pounds a day.”

Hill on sponsorships and becoming a veteran angler:
“Obviously, the economy has hurt a lot of the tournament anglers.  Hopefully that will get a little bit better and from my point of view, hopefully the sponsors will see value in the old guard.  I’ve been talking with Peter T about this, and somewhere along the line we turned into the old guard.

“It used to be Roland and Nixon and those guys.  Now they’ve moved on to guru and legend status.  I would still wear Larry Nixon’s and Guido Hibdon’s autograph on my hat.  Somehow, a whole group of us turned into the old guard and I think that the guys who have been in it over 20 years have a lot to offer.   We have name recognition just because we’ve been battling it out for so many years and we’re the old war horses.

“I think that veteran group of anglers has a lot to offer consumers and a lot to offer sponsors.  I know that we’re not as flat-bellied and shiny as some of the other guys but we’ve been there and done that.  We’ve got stories to tell that you wouldn’t believe – and most of them are true.”

Hill on gaining perspective:
“I’m still excited about fishing but if I’m not having a good time, I’m not going to do it.  Life is too short.  I lost a cousin at 49-years-old this year, Peter T lost his mom, and one of my mentors and father figures, Bob Ditto, also passed away this year. Life is too short not to be enjoying every bit of it because the most valuable thing that any of us can have is time.  You can always make more money but you can never make more time.  It’s important to invest your time in something that you’re truly passionate in and feel good about.

“If you can’t do that, you need to find it.  I’ve known some people who have more money than they could ever spend and were miserable and I’ve also known people who had to struggle to rub two pennies together and they were the happiest people in the world. 

“I would encourage anybody to do that and that’s what I’m going to be doing.”

Hill on his off-season fishing and hunting:
“I spent three weeks down in Venice, Louisiana this year catching redfish.  I took a trip with some friends, I went down there with my brother and I just had an absolute ball.  I love it down there and you can catch redfish and speckled trout.  You can watch sharks and bottle nosed dolphin and just have a hoot.  I love it down there.

“I also love to hunt ducks.  I’ve got a boat blind that I rigged out with heaters and I don’t mind traveling.  I’ve hunted in Nebraska and Kansas and in between Christmas and New Year’s we started at Lake Kaw in Ponca City, Oklahoma and ended up going to Kansas because it was too crowded.

“We fought the ice in Kansas and on the last two days, we shot limits in an hour.  I love chasing the ducks and I’m planning on doing that a lot more.  Last year about this time I bought a lab.  I’ve always wanted one and I finally decided that I was just going to make it work.  I bought a little female chocolate lab and she’s become my little shadow.  I’ve been having a ball training her.”