A life of fishing and teaching: Bob Kerans is the 2023 Illinois Outdoor News Person of the Year

You walk into the special room at Bob Kerans’ Decatur, Ill. home and you instantly recognize where those little “fishing kits” he creates and hands out to perspective fishermen are crafted and commingled. The tools for assembling lures and flies are stationed and organized appropriately. Photographs, trophies, and mounted fish from adventures-past line the walls and fill the spaces – each piece a sort of inspiration for a man whose goal is no longer spending time on the water himself, but instead encouraging others to embrace rods, reels, hooks and, most importantly of all, time in the outdoors.