Officially speaking, the Underground is not a big fan of bass fisherman Mike Iaconelli’s histrionics. It borders on obnoxious, and yes – I think he’s playing to the camera to the point he’s becoming the Paris Hilton of the bass fishing world.
On the other hand, the guy can catch fish – and he’s willing to do what it takes to land fish (it comes about 15 seconds in):
Everybody has their own “I dived into the frothing waters” or a twisted “I landed a fish with the fly I broke off yesterday in his lip” story. It’s just that Iaconelli got his with a camera present.
Damnit. I’m going to work on my fist pumps.
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Not sure which is funnier to watch that clip or his cheesy TV Show
I’m not so sure all of us haven’t done that two or three times when an unopened beer was kicked over accidentally…
What kind of miscreant stores unopened beers where they could be lost? That’s Ale Abuse…
Notice what it says on the side of his hat…
Well, I’m going to admit here and now… I actually tivo his show… he’s over the top, yes… he’s very fond of himself, it’s true… but, he catches fish and gets excited. I get a little annoyed by the folks that catch the fish of a lifetime and show zero reaction, just keeping it cool and pretending they do this sort of stuff all the time. Be excited. This guy… he gets excited. Plus, he caught a bunch of bass in Sacramento on his show and I thought that was pretty cool.
I’ll give him points for athleticism and presence of mind.
But that was no Ninjinsky he landed. And when the line breaks off at the rod it is the angler, not the fish, who is responsible.
Don’t get me wrong. I grew up watching guys like Bill Dance catch trophy largemouth on TV. But there is a big difference between instructional fishing TV and modern bass tournament TV. Bill Dance did not fish to a techno music soundtrack nor was he stoic. Sport fishing is inherently an emotional pursuit. Tournament fishing for a TV audience, through outsized egos and deft editing, is often reduced to a performance sport lacking basic respect for the fish. It’s that disregard for fundamental sportsmanship that keeps me from classifying such flamboyant performances as fishing. To each his own, I suppose.
Yeah, but didn’t he go mad at 29? (Is Iaconelli far behind?)