Top Professional Bass Fishermen Say, We Fish to Win
Michael Iaconelli Fishes for Certain Size-Sized Bass
 Editor's
Note: Why do some bass fishermen consistently win tournaments
and other good, even great, bass anglers never win tournaments?
To learn the answer to this question, I’ve interviewed
some of the most-outstanding bass fishermen in the nation,
and they all agree that to win an angler has to make
a conscious decision to fish to win and leave the security
of trying to catch a limit behind.
Michael Iaconelli of Runnemede, New Jersey, another
hot young pro who fishes to win, won the Bassmaster
Classic in 2003 and has won the B.A.S.S. Angler-of-the-Year
title. "One of the secrets of fishing to win is
knowing what size bass you ha ve
to catch to win a tournament on a specific lake at a
certain time of year," Iaconelli advises. "I
do a lot of research on the Internet before I ever go
to a tournament. I research what size weights win bass
tournaments on particular lakes during specific months
of the year.
For instance, before we came to Lake Amistad on the
Texas-Mexican border in March, 2007, I researched fishing-tournament
results on the lake. One of the results was listed as
‘historical tournament results,’ so I knew
before I went to the lake that I had to catch at least
five bass a day totaling a specific weight to have a
chance to win a tournament on Lake Amistad in March.
"On different lakes, you’ll get a variety
of results. For example,
when we fished in Pittsburgh, I knew I had to catch
6 to 8 pounds of bass per day to win that tournament.
The research also tells you the size and the kinds of
baits you’ll more than likely have to fish to
catch a limit of bass that size. You also have to factor
in the water clarity and the seasonal patterns where
you expect the bass to be holding. To find those bass,
I have to look for the area of the lake that’s
producing the most bass during the time I’ll be
fishing.”
During practice a t
Lake Amistad, Iaconelli fished 20-different pockets
on the Mexican side of the lake and studied the weights
of the fish caught at each. The next day he fished 30-different
pockets on the U.S. side of the lake and looked at the
grade of bass he caught there. After fishing 40- to
50-different pockets, he’d learned which pockets
had the big bass in them.
"When you fish to win, you have to fish the section
of the lake that contains the biggest bass during the
time you’re fishing after you research what’s
available in the lake and then you only fish the places
where you’ve caught the bass,” Iaconelli
advises. “The spots where I’ve found the
biggest bass on most lakes have several key ingredients
– shallow-water flats, places where deep water
comes close to those big flats and nearby deep-water
drop offs. I’ll identify those places while looking
at a map of a lake I’ve never fished before."
Tomorrow: Research Tactics
from Alabama’s Hot Young Pros
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