After winning the first Bassmaster Div. 3 Open of 2023 on Virginia’s Kerr Reservoir, Powell Kemp needs only to compete in the final two Div. 3 Opens of the year to punch his ticket to the 2024 Bassmaster Classic at Oklahoma’s Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.
He fell 2 pounds shy of qualifying for the Classic in 2007 by finishing second to Jeff Coble at a Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship on Clark’s Hill. While Coble earned an invite to the Classic and a cool $100,000 for his victory, Kemp put the $40,000 he received to good use.
Upon returning home, he bought an engagement ring and proposed to Miriam James. She said yes. They now reside in Scotland Neck, N.C., with their two daughters, Ava James, 12, and Josey, 9.
While growing up in New Bern, N.C., many of Kemp’s weekends were spent in Scotland Neck where his mother’s family resides. This is where his grandfather Kitch Josey instilled Kemp’s love for hunting, fishing and all things outdoors, including casting into ponds for bass.
Kemp got the bass tournament bug at age 15 when he befriended Sonny Draper, who was older and owned a Bass Tracker. They teamed up and began fishing local bass derbies.
The next year Kemp bought his first bass boat, a 16-foot Javelin, with money he earned by delivering pizzas and operating a poolside grill at a local country club. He prepared sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs.
“The chef wouldn’t let me cook in the main kitchen,” Kemp joked.
Kemp’s father, William Powell Kemp III, furnished half of the funds needed to purchase the boat. Kemp is Powell number IV.
While working at the country club, Powell met Allan Ferebee, the club’s golf pro.
“Allan was also a local hot stick in our area,” Powell said. “He really taught me a lot about how to catch bass.”
Kemp and Draper competed in tournaments until Kemp enrolled at North Carolina State in 1999 to major in business. Many of these events took place on the Roanoke and Trent rivers and Lake Gaston.
“Neither one of us knew a whole lot about bass fishing,” Kemp said. “Worms, floating worms and topwater baits were about all we threw.”
In college Kemp joined the Eno River Bassmasters. The club introduced him to new fishing tactics and took him to bass waters he had never seen before. He learned the intricacies of flipping, Carolina rigging and fishing spinnerbaits.
“Back then finesse fishing was not a forte for many bass fishermen,” Kemp said. “There were four really good fishermen in the club. One of them was Larry Jacobs. He had qualified for the 1992 Classic.”
After college, Kemp had to pull back the reins on his bass fishing fever while he established an outfitting business, Carolina Woods & Water, with Rich Kitchin and Scooter Lilley. It has grown to the point that Kemp now manages 17,000 acres of leased hunting land.
“Rifle hunting for deer is our mainstay,” Kemp said. “We also do bowhunting, black powder and turkey. A lot of our hunters come from New England. Ninety percent of our customers are repeats.”
One of the most important people in Kemp’s life during this phase was Scott Griffin, an occasional tournament partner. More importantly, “Scott guided me a lot with my faith.”
Michael Chlomoudis has been and continues to be Kemp’s longtime fishing partner. Together they competed in a variety of team bass tournament circuits, including FLW and B.A.S.S. events.
Anyone who fishes competitively knows how humbling bass tournaments can be. After Kemp returned home from a dismal showing in BASSfest 2014 at Chickamauga Lake, he told Miriam he was done with tournaments.
“That didn’t last long,” Kemp said. “Miriam told me to get out of the house because I was depressed. I fished a Costa event on the Potomac River and won it. That got me back into it.”
The last Bassmaster tournament Kemp fished prior to winning the 2023 Open at Buggs Island Reservoir was a Northern Open in 2015. His incentive for giving it a shot this year was to win one of the tournaments and qualify for the Classic. That appears inevitable.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Kemp said. “I’m going to work as hard as I can to get ready for the Classic and enjoy that moment the Lord has blessed me with. I truly won’t believe it until they say ‘go.’”
Kemp’s sponsors include P-Line and Lew’s.
