Author: Mike Iaconelli

A Super Short Delay Is a Good Thing – Part 2

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A Super Short Delay Is a Good Thing – Part 2

Last time we talked about the two rods in my Abu Garcia Ike Delay Series that are designed for twitching techniques. This time I want to cover the other five models. I’ll detail what they’re designed to do and why I recommend you take a close look at them when it’s time for you to upgrade. I may have mentioned this before but it’s important enough to repeat: The name Delay was no accident. The idea behind these rods is to make them hesitate just a little bit before you feel the bite and set the hook. But, I don’t […]

A Super Short Delay Is a Good Thing, Part 1

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A Super Short Delay Is a Good Thing, Part 1

Recently I received a really good report from a friend who’s a serious recreational angler about one of my rods — the 6 foot, 4 inch, medium power, moderate action Ike Delay Series made by Abu Garcia. I thought I’d share some of his experiences with you and give you my perspective on why they should be in your rod box. He fished jerkbaits for smallmouth with it. Here’s a mix of what he had to say and what I have to say. First, let’s talk about the length and the handle. At 6 foot, 4 inches it’s short enough […]

Stay on Top of Things When the Water Gets Hard

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Stay on Top of Things When the Water Gets Hard

In the last couple of blogs we talked about winter bass lures. That’s great, up to a point. But, somewhere along the line it just gets too cold to fish and at some point the lakes freeze over in much of the country. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop getting better at your craft. You can still learn and practice. I can’t say how many videos in total are posted on the Internet but to give you a clue here at The BASS University we have something like a thousand of them, more or less. About 500 are […]

My Second Favorite Winter Bass Bait

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My Second Favorite Winter Bass Bait

Last time we talked about jerkbaits, my favorite bait in the winter.  This time I want to talk about my second favorite, the Rapala Rippin Rap Lipless Crankbait.  But you should know this: Just because it’s my second favorite doesn’t mean I don’t use it all the time.  In fact, when the water’s cold I never leave the dock without one tied on and ready to go. I fish this little jewel two ways. The first is with a traditional yo-yo type retrieve.  I just cast it out, let it fall to the bottom and then make it lift and […]

Winter Bassin’ with Hard Jerkbaits

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Winter Bassin’ with Hard Jerkbaits

Becky and I got back from vacation last Saturday and I decided to fish a Winter League tournament up here on Sunday. The air temperature was really cold and the water was in the low 40s. The bite was tough. Nevertheless, we won with four bites that put four bass in the livewell. They weighed 6.86 pounds. Here’s how we did it… We used what’s probably my favorite winter bass lure — a hard jerkbait. But, we didn’t fish with just any jerkbait. We spent a lot of time matching size and figuring out how we wanted the bait to […]

Austin, Texas: Blue Cats, Guadalupe Bass and Smallmouth Buffalo

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Austin, Texas: Blue Cats, Guadalupe Bass and Smallmouth Buffalo

Austin, Texas, is one of the truly neat places we visited doing the show. There’s no doubt that the fishing there is fantastic but the city itself is equally fantastic. The music is really cool, the art scene is one of the best I’ve ever been around and if you don’t gain weight eating the barbecue, it’s your own fault. We targeted three species this time — blue cats, Guadalupe bass and smallmouth buffalo. Here’s the story… Blue Cats Blue cats are big and they are bad. A giant can grow to five feet in length and can weigh upwards […]

Taiwan: The Land of Aggressive Fish

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Taiwan: The Land of Aggressive Fish

In a lot of ways our trip to Taipei, Taiwan, was one of our best. It’s an amazing place. The culture is so different from ours that it’s striking. You can see and feel the magic the minute you step off the plane. I’d never been there before. And like I said, everything there was really neat but there was one thing that really stood out — it’s such a clean city. The streets are clean, the drainage ditches are clean and even the buildings are clean. It’s an example of what can be done when everybody pitches in and […]

Miami’s Hot

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Miami’s Hot

Fishing Miami, Florida, was one of the most interesting and challenging fishing experiences of my life. As you know, we typically targetthree species for our shows. This time, however, we decided to double the challenge. We targeted three freshwater species — grass carp, peacock bass and Midas Cichlids — and then we went after three saltwater species — snook, sailfish and tarpon. But, just to keep things interesting we kept the same timeframe for our fishing. That’s right, no more time, just more fish. I love keeping it real! Grass Carp They may not be all that exotic or pretty […]

London Here I Come

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London Here I Come

Ok, so we’re in London, England, this time. This was the first time I’ve ever been there and I have to say that it’s awesome, really cool for a guy from Philadelphia. I’m going to go back in the near future and take Becky with me. There’s no doubt that she’ll like it as much as I do. Let’s talk fishing: Our targets are English Pike, Barbel and European Yellow Perch. You saw most of it on TV last night but I’m guessing you’d like to hear a little more about exactly what we did and how we did it. […]

New Orleans: It’s Special

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New Orleans: It’s Special

This trip was really special. As you probably already know, I won the 2003 Bassmaster Classic on the Louisiana Delta. I won’t go so far as to say that it totally made my career but I will say that it’s a huge part of it. If you want to be considered one of the best, you need a Classic title. I will be forever grateful to New Orleans and the surroundingarea for mine. So anyway, when we arrived in New Orleans we had three species on our five day bucket list: Alligator Gar, Sea Trout and Bull Reds. Alligator Gar These […]