Despite a shortened event on Lake Erie, Michael Iaconelli earned his seventh professional tournament victory this past weekend. The Runnemede, NJ native had a two-day total of 48-pounds, 8-ounces of smallmouth on Lake Erie.
Iaconelli has been on a tear as of late, getting voted into BASS All Star week and punching his ticket to the 2014 Bassmaster Classic with the recent win.
"This is so exciting," said Iaconelli. "I used a 6' 9" Veritas rod with an Abu Garcia Revo Premier size 20 reel. This was important to the whole thing. I used 15-pound Spiderwire FluoroBraid with a small micro swivel tied to a two-foot Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, and that was key to getting the bait down quickly."
Success on Lake Erie was made possible by a small vial of concentrated Gulp! Marinade and a bait designed by the man himself – the Havoc Flat Dawg. His best color was watermelon silver with red flake. When the fish weren't eating the drop shot Ike switched to a deep diving crankbait.
"The Flat Dawg had a bigger body to it and just had more movement to it. The baits only take a few drops of the Gulp! Marinade to make a potent bait," he said. "I've used this in the past weeks up in the north, and I am floored by its effectiveness."
Ike has struggled through the Elite Series a bit this year, but things starting picking up lately.
"It's been a weird year. I had a bad year on the Elite trail, and I had a lot of downs, and I just kept my head in it and kept working and it turned around finally."