sponsored by
Zeiner's Angler Supply
The Kansas Angler Online
and Swim Tail Lures |
Inside BASS:
Iaconelli Assumes Angler of the Year Lead
May 9, 2006 - Don't look now, but Michael
Iaconelli has quietly assumed the lead in the CITGO Bassmaster
Angler of the Year race as the CITGO Bassmaster Elite Series
nears this season's midway point.
Quiet is not a word often associated with the colorful,
sometimes controversial winner of the 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Classic.
But quiet is an appropriate term, since it is a mentally retooled
version of the 33-year-old New Jersey pro that has him in prime
position to make a run at winning his first Angler of the Year
title.
For many fishing fans, the lasting image of Iaconelli
has been his highly publicized meltdown on camera during the
2006 Bassmaster Classic on Kissimmee's Lake Tohopekaliga. His
actions cost him a boat sponsor and some of his fans; it even
tarnished his bad-boy image somewhat.
Since then, the emotionally charged competitor
has been a model citizen. It is obvious he has learned from his
mistake.
"I take responsibility for my own actions,
he said. "But I think you can draw positives from a bad
experience. It's like when you have a bad tournament. When I
have a bad tournament I'm mad at myself, but I look back and
try to look at what I did wrong and learn from that.
"I've always had an issue with failure, with
mistakes and with being hard on myself. And my temper. That was
bad, Iaconelli explained. "And obviously I looked at it
and said, This is something that I've got to work on., One thing
that I have done this year since that happened, I've been able
to really take a bad situation "like a lost fish or a broken
line or whatever" and just turn it into a positive. And
fish harder. I've done that in every tournament.
"And that's going to help me become a better
angler. That's just maturity. So, maybe I've matured a little
bit in the last couple of months.
Looking back, Iaconelli admits his life and career
had gotten out of control leading to the Bassmaster Classic in
late February.
"It was just a lot of negativity to get through,
but I think what happened is it put me back into a place where
it made me think, What's this all about?, he said. "And
what this is about for me is the competition and fishing. I'm
passionate about fishing. So it grounded me more.
"I think I needed grounding. I think my life
was getting a little out of hand, spiraling a little out of control.
Basically what was happening was my career had gotten to the
point where sponsorships were coming in left and right. All these
opportunities " the product lines, non-endemic stuff. Photo
shoots with non-traditional magazines. All of this literally
was happening within a three-month span.
"You throw on top of that I had gotten sick.
You throw on top of that trying to be normal,, Iaconelli said.
"I've got two girls and I tried to go home on my off days
and be a normal dad. I booked 22 shows in January and February
before the Classic. Again, I don,' blame anybody else. I brought
this on myself.
"It (caused) a lot of self-examination. I'm
human. Everybody makes mistakes. All I can do is move forward.
And move forward he has.
In addition to winning last month's Bassmaster
Elite Series event on Alabama's Lake Guntersville, Ike has finished
no worse than 18th this season in five tournaments; that was
at South Carolina's Santee-Cooper Reservoir. His other finishes
were 16th in the season opener on Lake Amistad in Texas, 13th
on Texas, Sam Rayburn Reservoir and 12th last weekend at Georgia's
Clarks Hill Reservoir.
That has put Iaconelli atop the Angler of the Year
standings with 1,296 points. He is trailed by Greg Hackney at
1,238 points, John Crews (1,233), Toyota Rookie of the Year leader
Steve Kennedy (1,228) and Dean Rojas (1,222).
Back to
Zeiner's Angler Supply | Kansas
Angler Online |
Swim Tail Lures
|