By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Mike Iaconelli was relaxing at home Wednesday afternoon, hanging out in his backyard with his kids, occasionally serving as sandbox referee and pointing out frogs when one hopped by.
Fishing wasn’t front and center in his mind, which may come as a bit of a surprise considering the mild predicament he finds himself in as far as his qualification status for next year’s Bassmaster Classic, an event he hasn’t missed since 2001.
Despite two finishes in the 90s this season, including a miserable 95th at the Chesapeake Bay last month, and having cashed just one Elite Series check since April, Iaconelli managed to qualify for the Sturgeon Bay Angler of the Year Championship in 45th place in points (the Top 50 made it). Mathematically, the New Jersey native has a legitimate chance to lock up a Classic berth, but it’s likely going to take a finish among the top half of the field to get it done.
With Aaron Martens eliminating all drama surrounding the Elite Series Angler of the Year chase at Lake St. Clair, much of the talk next week will focus on those jockeying for AOY positions, which means a more lucrative payday, and those on the Classic bubble, which is where Iaconelli finds himself.
“I’m relatively calm and not as uptight as you’d think,” he said. “The season is what it is. There were definitely some downturns and chances where I was just out of the money and missed fishing another day.”
He’s currently 8 points out of 39th place, which figures to be the cut-off point for Classic qualifiers.
“The positive is I’m in this last tournament – being 45th versus 51st is a big deal – so I have a chance to advance,” he added. “Mathematically, if the right things happen, a Top-30 finish could put me in and that’s doable. A Top-20 definitely gets me in, so those are the things I’m focusing on.”
Beaten by the Bay
Iaconelli’s victory at the Delaware River in 2014 was firmly rooted in the amount of time he’d spent fishing the tidal waters that meander through the area around Philadelphia. History was certainly his saving grace while others struggled to be at the right place at the right time.
This year, he had another chance to capitalize on past knowledge at the Chesapeake Bay. He was one of the heavy favorites for many of the same reasons he was a popular pick to win at the Delaware. Nothing, however, went according to plan at the Chesapeake. He zeroed on day 1, weighed two fish on day 2 and finished 95th.
“Within a week or two afterward, especially after seeing some of it live, you can pinpoint the pitfalls and there were two or three for me,” he said. “One was my history there. It worked in reverse of the Delaware. It hurt me. I drew a straight line from Aberdeen to Sassafrass and said I wasn’t going to go below that. I’d stay on the (Susquehanna) Flats the whole time. Obviously, that didn’t work and Aaron wound up winning on an area that I used to fish all the time.”
He also said his practice was off-the-charts good, which only reinforced his commitment to fish a specific area.
“In a practice where every day I’d get back to the ramp and hear guys whining about how tough it was, I had a phenomenal practice,” he said. “I had 15 bites the first day, 13 the second and nine on the last day. I was on a pattern and on the caliber of fish to have the potential to win. If today was the day before the tournament I’d tell you I feel like I had a chance to win.
“I had such a great practice that even when everything changed overnight – and it did – I didn’t adjust (on day 1). I wanted to catch them how I caught them in practice, but the water was lower and clearer and there was no wind. Instead of fishing the conditions, I ran to multiple spots and fished how I fished in practice and by the time I knew Plan B had to kick in, those areas were already consumed – people were parked on them or the key docks had already been hit.”
Zeroing on what he considers some of his home waters was a humbling experience and he hopes to get another swing at the Chesapeake in the future.
“On day 2, I still got sucked back to what I did in practice a little,” he added. “I don’t know if I would do anything different. I was fishing to win and coming off a year ago where I did the same thing at the Delaware, it was hard to break away from something like that. I hope to go back and get revenge on that place.”
Clean Slate
One thing Iaconelli believes will work to his advantage next week will be his lack of history at Sturgeon Bay, an area northeast of Green Bay, Wis., and home to one of the most fertile smallmouth fisheries in the country.
“This year, history hurt me in a lot of events,” he said. “Outside of Green Bay (in 2012), I don’t have any history up there at all. I know it’s a Great Lake with smallmouth and I’m going to go fish how I fish. I’m going to try not to stress about points and pounds and try to catch as many big smallies as I can for as long I’m in the tournament.”
If he’s unable to seal up a Classic berth next week, he’ll have one last shot at the Lake Erie Northern Open the following week where a victory would sew up an automatic berth at Grand Lake next March. He won the 2013 Northern Open out of Sandusky, Ohio, so it’s not a foreign concept to him, but again history will be a factor.
“The hurt of the Bay is still fresh in my mind, but at the same time, I’ll have an extended practice – maybe 3 days – so that’ll afford me time to both look at new water and fish fresh and revisit some key things I have in that area,” he said. “That’s such a big fishery and they move around. Guys will be chasing memories from the Rayovac 2 weeks ago, so the key is finding the balance between what’s been good and what is good.”
