Some Ups, Downs In Second Half Of Season

(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part story in which Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year Mike Iaconelli analyzes each event of his season.)

After the Clarks Hill Bassmaster Elite Series, Mike Iaconelli moved into the lead

in the Elite Series Angler of the Year (AOY) points race – a position he'd hold throughout the rest of the season.

The Series next headed for Oklahoma, where Ike was able to clamp down and notch another Top 12 finish.

Event 6: Grand Lake, Oklahoma (10th)

> Day 1: 5, 18-09
> Day 2: 5, 14-12
> Day 3: 5, 10-12
> Day 4: 5, 10-14
> Total = 20, 54-15

Just like Amistad, Ike was stoked to fish Grand – a lake he'd never been to. "I love that – you fish more wide-open," he said.

The event was dominated by Mike McClelland, who cut his teeth on the lake. But Ike hung tough with a 10th, and he did it on a very defined pattern that he found early on the first day of practice.

"The nice thing that happened was, after I found the pattern in the first 3 hours of practice, I was able to really expand and define it," he noted. "I figured out they were on chunk-rock banks with a 45-degree angle. That's getting dialed-in, when you find something that quick in practice."

Another bonus: He got to fish his strength with a spinning rod and light line.

"I was fishing a Tru-Tungsten Ikey Head with a Berkley Shaky Worm. They were post-spawn fish as I said, on chunk-rock banks with a 45-degree angle.

"But I was able to define it even more. The neat thing I learned on Grand was, when you think about a shaky worm, you usually cast it out, let it sit on the bottom and shake it. Instead, I started stroking it.

"We've stroked jigs for years, and I did the same thing with the Ikey Head – I ripped it up off the bottom and combined a power technique with a finesse technique. When I was working those banks, if it got rough or I got caught, I'd stroke it. I caught a lot of fish as it fell back down."

It was now past the halfway mark of the season, so the AOY title was definitely on his mind. But he wasn't talking about it much, because the pivotal event was next, and all he wanted to do was survive it.

> AOY position after Grand Lake: 1st (54-point lead)

Event 7: Kentucky Lake, Kentucky (39th)

> Day 1: 5, 10-03
> Day 2: 5, 11-08
> Day 3: 5, 10-14
> Total = 15, 32-09

Ike knew Kentucky Lake was a crucial event. The bad news for him was a disaster practice. He'd been so dialed-in through the first half of the season, but Kentucky Lake baffled him. He wound up fishing the event cold.

"For me going in, I felt like it was the pivotal tournament," he said. "It was after the halfway point. We were leaving the South and the springtime tournaments, and going to the North for summertime. Once we went north, I felt I'd do great.

"In my mind, I said, 'Mike, this is the turning point. You have to survive.' So I did a whole lot of research on the lake and knew it would be won on the ledges. So I committed myself 99% to the ledges. But I never caught them. I never figured them out. I never got on a group of fish or found a section of the lake that was better than another."

Faced with what could be a hopeless situation, he regrouped and fought the panic. He noted that one thing every angler should do when they get near a panic point is to choose a confidence technique and just go fishing. That's what he did.

He chose the same Ikey Head/Shaky Worm combo he threw at Grand Lake and fished rocks around marinas and bridges.

"In my mind, that's something I can do and always go out and catch some fish. I had five keeper bites a day and turned a potential disaster into a Top 50 finish. That was real important.

"Honestly, looking back at the year, this was the most pivotal tournament of the year for me," he added. "I went into that first day with nothing – no pattern, no area, nothing to do. It could have been hopeless.

"When I let my instincts take over, and survived it, I really started thinking about AOY."

> AOY position after Kentucky Lake: 1st (30-point lead)

Event 8: Oneida, New York (6th)

> Day 1: 5, 15-05
> Day 2: 5, 14-13
> Day 3: 5, 15-06
> Day 4: 5, 14-14
> Total = 20, 60-06

Ike's exceptionally strong on smallmouths. He grew up fishing the Northeast, where Federation events, plus the Bassmaster Invitationals, were held throughout New York and New Jersey. He was picked as an early favorite to win at Oneida, and came darn close. Just as important – maybe more important – was his 6th-place finish extended his AOY lead to 105 points.

"I felt like those next three tournaments (Oneida, Champlain, Potomac River) were going to be my kind of tournaments," he said. "Oneida and Champlain were just like the waters I fished growing up – clear, glacial lakes with smallmouths.

"Oneida was definitely one of those tournament where finding the right area was key. In practice, I figured out a super-key area. It was a bay, and I actually saw the birds working the area real heavy. I drove my boat over and ended up finding holes and points in the grass. That was the whole key. I ended up catching them on a Berkley Power tube and a dropshot Gulp Minnow."

He noted another key to his finish: "It really stands out in my mind how the Biosonix unit helped me take a 2-day area and turn it into a 4-day area."

> AOY position after Oneida: 1st (105-point lead)

Event 9: Champlain, New York (66th)

> Day 1: 5, 12-09
> Day 2: 5, 12-02
> Total = 10, 24-11

Again, Ike was one of the favorites to win at Champlain. He has a lot of history on the lake, and won his first career-changing event there. But ultimately, it was that history that killed him. Champlain marked his first (and last) finish outside the Top 50 all year, which cut his AOY lead in half.

"Looking back, it's what I consider my worst tournament of the year," he said. "It's funny, because I literally drove from Oneida to Champlain riding a wave of confidence, but I do it over and over every year.

"We're human, and you can say in your mind, 'I'll never do that again.' Then you do it. And I did it. The trap for me at Champlain was fishing my history. I'd been fishing the lake since 1991, and I won my first tournament as a pro there in 1999."

As he explained it, he knew how to fish there in July when the water was at normal level, or a little low. But this year in July, Champlain was 4 feet high.

"I'd never seen water that high in July. Instead of fishing the current conditions, I fished my history. The lesson there is to fish the moment. Forget about your history. Don't go to a place because you caught them there 2 years ago."

He was disappointed with the finish, and knew he blew the chance to nearly clinch the AOY title. "I lost that opportunity," he said. "But I saw that the Potomac was coming up, so in my mind, I was still okay."

> AOY position after Champlain: 1st (50-point lead)

Event 10: Potomac River, Maryland (4th)

> Day 1: 5, 11-00
> Day 2: 5, 16-03
> Day 3: 5, 16-05
> Day 4: 5, 11-14
> Total = 20, 55-06

The Series now turned south again to visit the Potomac River. And yep, Ike was one of the favorites to win. He won the Potomac FLW the year before, but remember that he'd just come from event where history killed him. He was determined not to let that happen again.

With a 4th-place Potomac finish, he held onto his lead in the points, but hard-charging Steve Kennedy finished a spot ahead of him in the event, and pulled well within danger range.

"My key at the Potomac was two things," Ike said. "The first was obvious – not letting what happened at Champlain happen again. That was still real fresh in my mind. When I got the Potomac I could have easily fallen into the same trap and tried to fish where I'd won the FLW. But I fished new water, which was key."

He dialed in a new pattern too, which was key No. 2.

"I figured out the tides in very unique way," he noted. "When you're fishing a tidal river, 90% of the time you always want to fish the lowest tide possible – the last hour of outgoing and the first hour of incoming. You run the tides and that's generally the rule for summertime on the Potomac.

"It was different this year, and I think it was because of the amount of grass in the river. It was wall-to-wall grass. On the second day of the tournament, I figured out the bass wanted high incoming water. That was because of the grass."

He added that on low tides, the expansive grass filtered the water too much – it was too clear. That made the fish skittish and hard to catch. But the water in the main river was still muddy from floods in June. The incoming water brought mud from the main river back into the coves and bays, and the adult shad followed. That put the bass on the feed.

"There were 5- and 6-inch shad coming in with the mudline, and I threw a shad-imitating crank. I was being real observant of the tides and not letting history hurt me."

As noted, Steve Kennedy's Potomac finish moved him up close to Ike in the points. About the AOY race, Ike said: "I felt good. I was thinking about how tough Table Rock would be, and that made me excited. I thought, 'That's the kind of tournament where I can seal it.' I knew going in that if I could go to one of my strengths and just catch five a day, I'd have a real shot (at AOY)."

> AOY position after Potomac: 1st (45-point lead)

Event 11: Table Rock, Missouri (41st)

> Day 1: 3, 7-00
> Day 2: 2, 3-00
> Day 3: 3, 5-05
> Total = 8 15-05

Table Rock was predicted to be a tough event, but nobody knew how tough. It turned out to be brutal.

"It was a lot tougher than even I expected," Ike said. "I didn't catch a limit any of the 3 days. But I fished a technique I had confidence in, even though I was fishing real deep and out of my element – 50 to 60 feet down – using a Lowrance to catch most of my fish. I think 75% of the fish I caught I saw on the graph.

"I was real proud of being able to get out in the deep water," he added. "That's one of my weaknesses. But I stuck to my guns and felt good about it."

He also noted that like the season itself, this event had a turning point within it. He caught three good fish on day 1 with a dropshot. On the day 2, he caught three again, but one was a short, so he lost that fish and was assessed a penalty.

He had to catch fish on day 3 to lock up AOY.

"Going into that last day, I don't want to say it was nervousness, but I was anxious," he said. "I was definitely thinking about AOY, but I did the best thing I could do – I just went out and went fishing. It's another example of how important it is to fish the moment.

"I went out, dropped the motor and engaged in pure fishing. I switched up and caught two keepers the last day on a 3/4-ounce prototype Berkley football-head jig. The wind was blowing and the dropshot was becoming a little more ineffective.

"But that's the kind of thing you need to do to win AOY. You need to be versatile."

Notable

> BassFan asked Ike to describe his most memorable fish of the season. Here's what he said: "It was probably the last fish I caught at Guntersville – the one that won it. Literally, it was like a repeat of the (2003 Bassmaster) Classic. There was a couple minutes left to go and I looked down and saw a male guarding fry. He missed the Power Noodle. I reeled back in, bit it in half, threw out and caught him on the 2-inch bait."

> Runner-up to the most memorable fish was the 13 1/2-pounder he caught in practice at Amistad.

– End of part 2 (of 2) –