The latter part of fall and the majority of the winter comprise the off-season for most professional bass anglers. Many choose to devote a big chunk of that time to hunting or family activities, and some use the period away from the water to recharge their batteries for the upcoming campaign.
For Mike Iaconelli, there really is no off-season. There's the tournament season from
February through September, and then there's the time of year that he devotes to his other fishing-related business endeavors. He's in that latter mode right now, and his schedule is cramped. And it's only going to get more hectic as autumn marches on and gives way to winter.
He has all of the sponsor obligations that go along with being one of the small handful of the most successful, recognizable anglers in the world. There's also all the other stuff he does on his own, such as The Bass University, his City Limits television show and assorted other enterprises.
And making the beehive even bigger this year, he'll welcome a new child just a couple of weeks prior to the 2011 Bassmaster Classic.
"I've never been a person who was able to sit still and do nothing for very long," he said. "Right now there's a tremendous amount of opportunities that are opening up and I don't want to let any of them slip by, whether they're business ventures or whatever they may be. If I have a chance to go somewhere to try to help build the sport and build my brand, I'll usually try to take advantage of it.
"I'm not taking anything away from the guys like Roland (Martin), Guy Eaker and Rick (Clunn) who choose to compete for a long time, and I understand that drive and passion for competition. But I don't want to be 65 and have (tournament) fishing be my main source of income. I'm 38 right now and I can't imagine giving it up, but things might be different 20 years from now, and one of my goals is to set up a lot of different outlets so I can stay in fishing without driving 40,000 miles a year or being on the water for 18 hours a day."
A Time for Everything
As long as his major commitments fall outside the tournament season, Iaconelli takes the attitude that there's no such concept as being "too busy." Besides, he still finds plenty of time for some fun fishing near his home in New Jersey.
But these days, he even turns those outings into quasi-work ventures.
"I've got a project that's a couple of months old, and it's a new 'webisode' show that's available through my site (www.MikeIaconelli.com)," he said. "They're 3- to 5-minute shows with me just going fun-fishing and I'm filming them myself with some nice but pretty inexpensive equipment. I'm calling them 'Going Ike.'
"In some of them I'm out wading, or I might be in the canoe or the kayak. I'm up to five now and I'm trying to get a new one up there every couple of weeks."
He's cognizant of the fact that he could spread himself too thin if he's not careful and it could start to affect his tournament performance, but he now has an ever-growing team surrounding him to ensure that he doesn't become overburdened.
"(Wife) Becky handles all the business stuff and the sponsor appearances and my mom takes care of all the merchandising. We're bringing a marketing person on and we're also actively seeking sales people in different parts of the country. It's going to be interesting to see how it grows.
"From '03 to now things were manageable, but it's gotten to be a bigger animal and it was starting to get a little bit out of control. That's why we need to expand."
Iaconelli won the 2003 Bassmaster Classic at the Louisiana Delta, and he's looking forward to his return in February.
The Big Easy on his Mind
The 2011 Classic will take place in New Orleans, which was the site of Iaconelli's greatest triumph. His victory in the '03 version of bass fishing's biggest event put him on the path toward superstardom within the sport. Subsequent success and his attention-grabbing persona did the rest.
Perhaps more than any fishery in the country, the Louisiana Delta has changed over the past 7 years, with Hurricane Katrina serving as the biggest agent of transformation. Much of it will likely be unfamiliar when he returns, so his Classic pre-practice trip will be longer than usual.
"I usually make a 4- or 5-day leg, but this time it'll probably be 8 or 10 days in December, right before the cutoff," he said. "I'll do a lot of looking but not necessarily a lot of fishing. The biggest thing will be learning how to navigate.
"I'll need to process the historical information into the pot, but I won't let that determine where I go. I want to fish fresh, but I can't throw away all of the memories."
His third child (he has two daughters, ages 12 and 10, from a previous marriage) should be here before he leaves for official practice for the Feb. 18-20 event. The due date is Feb. 3.
"I'll have my uncle (Don Fort) drive my truck and boat down there and the latest I could leave by plane and still be there by the start of practice would be on the 10th. That leaves a 7-day window and Becky's already been bugging the doctor, telling him we're going to need an inducement if it hasn't happened by then. But it'll happen – it'll all work out.
"I've been having fun with the things I've been doing this off-season and with the baby on the way, it's kind of refreshed me. I'm ready to go again and I can't wait to get started."
Notable
> Iaconelli said one of the two City Limits shows left to be filmed this year will be an ice-fishing episode in Minnesota.
> He was dismayed that he failed to make this year's 12-angler Elite Series post-season, which was brought on by finishes of 56th or worse in three of the last four regular-season tournaments. "It was an up-and-down year with a great start, a pretty good middle and then a really bad end," he said. "I lost some key fish and missed some key bites, and those took me out of it."
