TTBC Rewind: Ike’s Amazing Spot
One hot spot in Caney Creek yielded 75 pounds of bass in three days for Mike Iaconelli. (PAA: Alan Clemons)
PAA Communications
CONROE, Texas – Toyota Trucks pro Mike Iaconelli of New Jersey has seen some remarkable things in more than a decade of tournament fishing at the highest levels, but Lake Conroe provided a new twist.
He’s won championships and angler of the year titles. Finished second in too many tournaments for his liking, but was there at the end with the chance to win. Had giant bass on his line and little dinkers that helped nudge the scales a few more ounces. Witnessed changes in technology and techniques that provide more tools for him to use.
But what he put together on Lake Conroe last week in the Toyota Texas Bass Classic was arguably one of the most intriguing things he’s ever witnessed.
“Just unreal,” he said, in complete understatement. “In three days, I caught 75 pounds of fish off two little spots in one area. That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.”
Iaconelli finished second in the TTBC for the second straight year after tying Powerline Services pro Keith Combs of Texas with 76 pounds, 12 ounces. They competed in a sudden death fish-off, with Combs catching the first 14-inch keeper that gave him the TTBC championship.
That didn’t sit well with Iaconelli, as might be expected. He not only wears his eruptive emotions on his sleeve but also competes at all times with a high-intensity focus and determination that has helped drive him to the top.
From a tactical standpoint, however, his exhaustive preparation and ability to dial in on the pattern that gave him a chance to win were exemplary. Without benefit of practice prior to the 30-day off-limits period, Iaconelli found his key area during the TTBC’s three tournament-week practice days, figured out exactly what he needed to do and then capitalized handsomely.
He put together three limits of 26-12 the first day and followed with two 25-pound bags the final two days. The first day was overcast and windy, followed by post-frontal bluebird days when the 50-man TTBC field figured the bite would get tougher. It didn’t for Combs and Iaconelli, who were on the money.
Ike's hot crankbait, a Rapala DT-10 in Helsinki Shad. (PAA: Alan Clemons)
“I was up in Caney Creek, which had a ton of shallow sandbars where the creek wound through there,” Iaconelli said. “But the key things for my spot was that the creek channel bent in hard enough to contact one of the bars really well, and in two areas there were little flat spots where the fish were staging and feeding.
“The sand bars came off at about a 45-degree angle into the creek, but in my best area they sloped, hit the two little flat spots and then dropped off into the creek. Those flat spots were the key areas I fished. The bass were moving through into the back of the creek, but they would pull up on them and feed.”
Iaconelli’s bite was stronger in the morning. He worked a combination of a Rapala DT-10 in Helsinki Shad color, a silent Strike King Series 5 and a Berkley Gripper Jig and trailer in brown crawfish. He cast to the top of the sandbar, worked the baits to the flat spot and then got bites either on the spot or when the bait left it dropping into the channel.
“It was a pure reaction bite,” he said. “With either the crankbait or the jig, it had to be moving pretty quickly or erratically. It wasn’t a slow, methodical presentation. I figured out they didn’t want the jig crawling along, so I was stroking it and making it jump. That’s when I’d get the bites.
“A few times just to see if I could get a bigger bite, I’d throw a Texas-rigged 10-inch PowerBait worm in there and drag it down the bar onto the flat spot. Never got a bite on it. Never. They wanted something moving, something to make them react. It was pure reaction.”
Iaconelli typically tries to establish two or three patterns but said he never found anything else as productive during his three practice days. He also fished in Weir and had other areas he checked, but they yielded smaller fish that didn’t help his limits. That inability to find good backup or similarly-productive areas or establish an afternoon bite was frustrating, as was the runner-up finish.
But for three days, he said, that morning slamfest was awesome.
“I cracked ‘em for three straight days in a row,” Iaconelli said. “It’s not often you get to do that, all in the same place. It’s been an unbelievable week.”
