Monday, April 15, 2002 Updated: March 9, 6:00 PM ET
Pro has grass-roots bass club connection
BASS Communications
Iaconelli showing one of his keepers during the Georgia Tour event at Lake Seminole.
SHREVEPORT, La. — Next week's world championship of amateur bass fishing on the Red River is also the springboard into what any of the 51 contestants believes is their dream career. And that job is getting paid big bucks to go bass fishing.
That is exactly what happened when New Jersey bass club fisherman Mike Iaconelli won the CITGO BASS Federation Championship on the Red River in 1997. And it did not take long for Iaconelli to quit his job as a fishing tackle salesman. In fact, he turned pro and quickly established himself as one of the hottest anglers on the CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail.
Iaconelli has done what few bass club fishermen could ever achieve in just five years. And that is, amass $365,000 in tournament earnings, sign lucrative sponsorship endorsement contracts worth even more, and live a comfortable lifestyle as a professional bass fisherman. Just last month, the hot pro netted $110,000 for winning the CITGO Bassmaster Tour event held on Georgia's Lake Seminole. The 29-year-old Iaconelli is indeed living the dream of most any hard-core bass angler, yet he remains endeared to his roots as a bass club angler.
Iaconelli joined the Top Rod Bass Casters in 1991, one year after he graduated from high school. The club is one of 2,500 affiliated with the BASS Chapter Federation, the grass-roots level of BASS competition. He fished not from a sleek, high performance bass rig but from a simple johnboat. Yet that johnboat went away in 1994 when Iaconelli won a top-of-the-line bass boat as the amateur division champion of a BASS pro/am event. From there, it was off to the races for the talented angler. But even though he found early success, he was by no means an overnight sensation on the pro tour.
"If you look at what I did like a timeline, I had a very systematic approach," he says. "And that is what the Federation does. It gives you a taste of what competitive fishing is all about before you get totally committed financially with it and as a full-time career."
"Federation-level tournaments are more than about catching fish," he continues. "If a guy is really serious, they can teach you about the business side of the job. And that is, making sound decisions, developing communication skills, and learning about money management and time management. I learned about all those things through the Federation in just three years. And if you look at it in a timeline, you can see that every year I did a little bit better."
He is quick to point out there is another inroad into the pro ranks, although it can be akin to day trading on the stock market. Quick success can lead to complete failure.
"I know most of the guys on the pro tour," he observes. "And there are only a handful who could have made it through the entry level and gone directly into the pro circuit. There is nothing better than experience."
"For the amount of money and time it takes, taking the slow route, one step at a time, is best over the long run," he adds. "Look at me: I went from fishing from a johnboat as a hobby to competing for my livelihood from a bass boat. And did it all through the club ranks in just six years."
The CITGO BASS Federation Championship is April 18-20 in Shreveport. Fishing the Red River and its bass-rich bayous will be anglers from 46 states and Canada, Japan, Italy, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Also competing will be the Paralyzed Veterans of America Grand National Champion from the BASS-sanctioned PVA Bass Trail.
In this unique competition, winning the title is merely a bonus considering what else is at stake. Advancing to the sport's world championship from this tournament will be the top five anglers representing the geographic regions of the BASS Federation. They will go against the world's top pros when the CITGO BASS Masters Classic is held in July on Alabama's Lay Lake near Birmingham.
The contestants will weigh their catches on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Stoner Park in Shreveport. The BASS Outdoor Festival and the Bassmaster CastingKids National Semifinals will also be at the park. Weigh-in begins at 2:30 p.m. each day. Admission is free to all events.
Details about the CITGO BASS Federation Championship can be found at www.Bassmaster.com.
Sponsors of the CITGO BASS Federation Championship are: CITGO Petroleum Corporation, Chevrolet, Armstrong Industrial Hand Tools, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Eagle Claw, Exide Technologies-Stowaway Batteries, BASS Platinum Visa/First USA Bank, Flowmaster, GMAC Insurance, W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc., Kumho Tires, Long John Silver's, Lowrance, Mercury Marine, MotorGuide/Quantum, Skeeter, Triton, Yamaha.
The CITGO BASS Federation Championship is presented locally by the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority.
For more information contact: BASS Communications (334) 272-9530.
