Ike goes under the knife

After suffering two weeks with pain in his right leg, Mike Iaconelli had successful surgery Monday night to remove blood pooling in his calf.

After suffering two weeks with pain in his right leg, Mike Iaconelli had successful surgery Monday night to remove blood pooling in his calf.

A day after finishing 12th in the Diet Mtn Dew Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville, Iaconelli was going under the knife at The Orthopaedic Center in Huntsville, Ala. On Tuesday, he was back on the road to meet up with his family, and with some rest said he should be near 100 percent for the Delta tournament in two weeks.

“It was a relatively simple procedure,” Iaconelli said. “They went in and removed a blood clot, a little bag of blood that pooled up behind my calf.”

With a connection from Rigid Industries’ Chris Brown, whose wife Laura works at the Center, Ike got in first thing Monday morning. An MRI showed a pool of blood about the size of a hard-boiled egg, Ike said.

“The good thing, the reason I’m glad I got the surgery,” Ike said, “when they went in and actually opened it up, it ended up being the size of the Coke can. It was a lot bigger than they thought from the MRI.”

Doctors made a 4-inch incision on his calf then used, as Ike described it, “a shop vac, a wet-dry vac with a smaller nozzle,” to suction out the blood. He was sutured with dissolvable stitches and bandaged tightly.

“The key thing now and through the next month is compression,” Ike said. “Stop pooling effects with a really tight bandage, and for the next month, all the way through Kentucky Lake, wear a compression sock, which is not very attractive. Hey, I made high heels look good, I can make anything look good, even pantyhose.”

How about a cane? When asked, Ike said he might need one.

“That actually opens up a good sponsor category for me,” he said. “I might get Becky to work on that this afternoon. HurryCane Ike.”

Ike was certainly in good spirits despite the setback. He tore the muscle during his 30th-place finish at the Sabine River event, March 19-22, possibly while standing on rocks changing his prop. He didn’t realize something was wrong until the next day, then was too busy to have it looked at. He had commitments all week before competing at Guntersville, where he led for three days before a disappointing one-fish final day.

“Last week was a really tough week for me physically, from not being able to do the things I do in the boat,” he said. “I know I’m getting older, but I’m used to being very agile and having a lot of mobility on the boat. Last week was a wakeup call. I got to take care of this, take better care of myself.”

Iaconelli’s visibly swollen right calf was mentioned several times during weigh-in by emcee Dave Mercer. Despite worsening throughout each day on the water, the injury really didn’t affect his finish, Ike said. Photographer James Overstreet covered Ike on Day 3, and said he thought he looked like his spry self, but Ike was hurting more than he let on.

“It was really swollen and painful,” he said. “The way I learned to fish over the years, the pedal foot is my left foot. My weight-bearing foot is my right, and unfortunately that’s the same calf. As the day would go on, it would get worse.

“To stand and put weight on it was a hard thing. A lot of those big fish, especially during the first three days, was a challenge. When that fish is over 5 or 6 pounds, they go where they want to go. Your adrenaline is pumping and you’d lose sight of everything else trying to land it. When the fish is safely in the boat, the pain would hit you and you’d go, ‘Aaaargh!’”

Right after the surgery, Iaconelli said his leg felt twice as bad, but a night’s rest had it back to where it was. The doctor told him healing will be gradual but he should feel relief soon.

“There’s inherent pain with surgery itself, but once that’s gone, then it should be a quick turnaround,” Iaconelli said. “I’ll notice a huge difference within three or four days. The doctor there did an amazing job. All that happened because of Chris Brown and his wife directed me over there. A big shoutout to all those guys.”

Becky felt some guilt that she left Huntsville and missed being there for the procedure. She took the kids for a planned visit with Elite angler Kevin Short and his wife, Kerry. On Ike Live, her husband’s web show, Becky detailed what was going on, thanked everyone for the great support her family receives on the road, then had some fun.

“I don’t think the man has ever had anesthesia, so I’m a little ticked I’m not there because I have lots of questions,” she said. “I could totally mess with him.”

Maybe that’s why Ike sent her on to Mayflower.

“If she asked me anything before I met her, that would have been dangerous,” Ike said laughing. “I’ve been pretty tame since I met her.”

Becky then busted him out for his comments at Guntersville. He was quoted saying she told him to be a man and put on his big boy pants, then he was goofing with Mercer on stage saying his injury was from her hitting him with a softball bat. But as his No. 1 fan, she came back around to show her admiration.

“I personally just want to give mad props,” Becky said. “Wow, did he give it his all. It’s not like he had a set pattern. He went out every day and refigured it out. He busted his butt. I think it’s a shame the way it all panned out, but he’s fishing really good. I think this is going to roll into the next couple events. This is exciting for all us Ike fans.

“When he gets challenged, you often see the best out of that guy. This is when you find out who you are, what you’re made of.”

Ike said this was the first severe injury he’s ever had in his 16 years of fishing full-time, and it served as a wake-up call for the 42-year-old.

“In my 20s and 30s, you’re invincible, then you hit your 40s and stuff starts to falter, you realize you’re human and you have to take care of yourself,” Ike said. “We’re athletes. This is an athletic sport. A lot of people don’t realize that. So when an injury creeps up and gets you, it’s a reality check.

“I’m motivated. I’m happy with last week, but I’m also a little frustrated, disappointed. I want to alleviate that frustration and have some good events. I have a good feeling about this year.”