Ike: No complaints after Guntersville

Mike found good fish in practice but conditions changed. He tried to change with them and was successful for three days, but then things didn’t work out on Sunday.

Hey all, this is Becky Iaconelli. I’m going to cover for Mike this week.

He went to the doctor early Monday morning to have his knee and ankle checked out. They’re both swollen and really painful. As you might expect, the doctors wanted to run tests before they made a diagnosis. The testing is going to take some time – he’s already been there seven hours – so I thought it would be better to write something now.

We’re hoping it’s nothing serious, something that can be fixed quickly so that he can get back to full speed in a few days. We’ll be heading out West as soon as possible. He needs to be 100 percent when he gets there.

I’m hopeful that’ll happen. Modern medicine is an amazing thing, and Mike’s a tough guy. And, he’s usually pretty good at doing what they tell him to do. (I know that’s hard to believe but it’s true. I swear. He really does follow their advice.)

The deal with the tournament was really pretty simple. Mike found good fish in practice but conditions changed. He tried to change with them and was successful for three days, but then things didn’t work out on Sunday. He said to tell everyone that he “just went fishing.” It worked for a while. It’s “no complaints” all the way.

The knee and ankle didn’t have anything to do with his not catching fish the last day, though. That’s not the reason for his problems on Sunday. Heck, it’s not even the excuse. It just didn’t happen for us this time even though he tried really hard.

Congratulations to Skeet and all the other guys who did catch them. They got it right and deserve credit for doing so.

I’m headed to Kerry and Kevin Short’s house in Arkansas to do Ike Live! tonight. They’re super nice people so I’ll enjoy the evening even though things on my end are kind of up in the air. That’s one of the things I like the best about this business — all the good people you meet. It’s a real joy to spend time with people like them.

Mike is supposed to call in, if he can. I’m sure he’ll talk about all the details when he does and answer all of your questions. To be honest with you, I think he’s anxious to tell the story. He’s not happy, but he’s not real upset, either. I think he feels like he did the best he could under the circumstances.

I don’t think you’ll be reading this on Monday, so you won’t know about the show and him calling in. But, you can watch it anytime on the website, www.mikeiaconelli.com, or on iTunes for free. All the shows are archived in both places.

That’s all there is for now. As soon as Mike is released we’ll head out for the Sacramento River. The week after that we’ll be in Arizona. I’m sure Mike will bring everyone up to date as soon as he can.

Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.