“I’m terrible in this state,” said Iaconelli, after a 10th-place Day 2 finish. But he’s not quite as terrible in Florida as he thinks. After making the top 50 cut Friday, Iaconelli said, “It’s been forever, forever ever. I honestly want to say it’s been at least five years since I made a cut in Florida. Maybe seven. I’m so happy right now.”
Actually, Iaconelli made a top 50 cut at Lake Okeechobee in 2012, where he finished 21st. Not good, but not quite as bad as Iaconelli remembers. He got a “surprise from the heavens” Friday when the school of “nothing over 2 pounds” he’d found near a shell bed Thursday pushed a school of baitfish near the surface, just as he pulled up.
“They were going crazy,” Iaconelli said. “I caught about 12 of them. One was a 4-pounder, and one was a 3-pounder. That really helped, and it wasn’t anticipated.”
BASSTrakk shows him with 11 bass caught today, so maybe those schoolers surprised him again. He’s threatening to make the 12 cut with 10-4, unofficially 13th place now.