Mike Iaconelli Wins Bassmaster Open James River
The James River in Virginia is more than a four-hour drive from Mike Iaconelli's home in Pittsgrove, N.J., but he always feels right at home there. The main reason for that is the James fishes very similarly to the other tide-influenced venues on the Eastern Seaboard. "All the tidal (fisheries) feel the same to me," he said. "The James is like the Delaware, the Delaware is like the Potomac and the Potomac is like the Hudson. I always feel like I'm in tune with the movements and the seasonalities of the patterns.
"Growing up on the Delaware, with its extreme fluctuation, has helped me a lot on all those other places. If you can figure it out there, you know you stand a good chance anywhere else." Five years after winning a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament at the Delaware, Iaconelli topped the field last week at the James River Bassmaster Eastern Open out of Richmond, Va. He caught twin 15-02 stringers the first 2 days to lead the standings at the cut to the top 12 before a 13-12 haul on day 3 gave him the victory with a 44-00 total that outdistanced runner-up Whitney Stephens by just over 2 pounds.
Practice:
Iaconelli's in-laws live in the Richmond area, so his entire family came along for the event. They arrived on the Sunday prior to the tournament and settled into the house and just generally hung out that day. He practiced Monday and Tuesday, then took Wednesday off (the derby got under way on Thursday). "I practiced one day on the Chickahominy River (a tributary of the James) and one day on the upper James," he said. "I had good days in both places, but two things led to my decision to stay up north. "The day I put in on the Chick, I noticed that low water was critical - when you didn't have it you could hardly catch a keeper," he said. "The other thing was I couldn't go 50 to 100 yards without coming into eyesight of another competitor. Those two things spooked me a little."
He found a much different scenario the following day on the upper reaches of the host river. "It was totally the opposite situation with the boats - I went dark to dark and only saw four. Also, the primary pattern I found was what we call the 'trout stream pattern' back home. Basically what happens is that when you have extreme heat on a tidal fishery, there's a big migration of fish to the very, very backs of creeks. The telltale sign is that when you get to the very back, the water temperature is 2 to 3 degrees cooler than it is on the main river." There was plenty for the fish to eat, as gizzard shad were literally jumping into his boat on the way in. The bottom composition was also favorable. "That's the last piece of the puzzle," he said. "When you get back there and put the Power-Poles down, you want to hear them digging into gravel. It's a very distinctive sound and it's money."
Competition:
Iaconelli rotated through six creeks during the event, all within a span of 10 miles. He'd start on the lowest one and work his way up to maximize his time under low-tide conditions. Pursuing bass that were relatively unpressured, he power-fished throughout the derby. Everything he caught was enticed by either a bladed jig, a flipping jig or a crankbait. "The hardest thing wasn't getting the fish to bite or catching them, it was getting to the fish," he said. "I did things you should never do to a fiberglass bass boat and my boat got really beat up."
All of his bites came from hard cover - primarily laydown logs, cypress stumps or old pilings. "I felt like it was important to have vegetation around; two of the six creeks had hydrilla and the other four had lots of pads. I never caught a fish off the grass itself, but it was important to have that asset." One of the creeks was stood apart from the others. It drained from a pond, just like his best creek at the Delaware in '14. He managed that one deftly, pulling out after catching two fish on day 1 and four in the same number of casts on day 2. "The last day I got there at about 10:30 after I'd fished four other creeks and had 10 pounds (in his livewell) with one good one. Between me and my co-angler, we caught close to 20 fish from then until noon, and then it was over. "I ended up culling everything I had except the one good one. Those fish weren't long, but they were fat and I can promise you they hadn't seen a lure in a long time."
Winning Gear:
Bladed jig gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Ike Signature Power rod, Abu Garcia Revo Ike casting reel (8:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Molix Lover Skirted Vibration Jig (black/blue), Berkley PowerBait Chigger Bug trailer (Ike's sapphire blue).
Flipping gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Abu Garcia Ike Signature Power rod, same reel and line, 1/2-ounce Missile Ike's Mini Flip Jig (black/blue), 2 1/2" Berkley PowerBait Power Chunk trailer (flippin' blue).
He said the trailer color made the bait a good imitation of both crawdads and the blue crabs that inhabit the system.
Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Ike Signature Delay rod, same reel (6.6:1 ratio), 17-pound Berkley Trilene Sensation monofilament line, Rapala DT-6 (old school).
Notable:
Iaconelli did not compete in the first two Eastern Open this season and therefore the 2020 Bassmaster Classic berth that is awarded to Open winners (provided they fish all four events in that division) will go to an Elite Series angler based on points at the end of the Elite Series season.
Iaconelli said he likes his chances at the inaugural RedCrest (the Bass Pro Tour championship event), which will take place Aug. 21-25 at the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wis. "It's not a tidal system, but it'll be the heat of August and a lot of the same stuff that was happening here will be going on."
Bassmaster Open James River Winning Pattern BassFan 7/30/19 (John Johnson)
