Ike Live! debuts in February

OK folks, I’m really excited about our new project. It’s called Ike Live! What we’re going to do is take our fan interaction to a new level.

OK folks, I’m really excited about our new project. It’s called Ike Live! What we’re going to do is take our fan interaction to a new level. But we’re not going to get too serious about things while we do it. The idea is to have fun. I don’t think anything like it has been done in the fishing industry before.

Ike Live! will debut on Monday, February 10, from 9 until 11 p.m. After that we’ll do it once a month until…

It’s going to be a live Internet broadcast from our new studio. You’ll be able to phone in questions, or if you prefer, you can send them in by email, Facebook or Twitter. We’ll answer them on the air in the order they’re received.

I put some memorabilia around the studio and broadcast area from my career.  When I got stuck on what to do, or what I should I do, with the decorating thing I watched a couple of episodes of Wayne’s World for inspiration. Those guys were pretty cool. They got it done.

You can access the program live from my website. All you have to do is follow the banners and click. If the live broadcast doesn’t suit your schedule, you can watch the whole episode later at your convenience. It’ll be archived in a number of places including YouTube and iTunes.

This is going to be really neat. We can all get together in an informal atmosphere and talk about anything you want. This isn’t going to be just a fishing show. You can ask me anything you want, about any subject you want.

In between all the back and forth, there’ll be a formal fishing tip with my friend and expert bass angler Pete Gluszek. At some point during the show, we’ll have a visit with a guest — live, of course. Our guest won’t always be an angler. It might be anyone, from almost any walk of life.

Our first guest will be Ed Bassmaster. For those of you who don’t know he’s a standup comedian from the Philadelphia area. And yes, Bassmaster is his legal name. He’s also one heck of a serious, and talented, fisherman.

At this point, I can’t tell you much more than what I already have. We’ll just have to wait and see how things go. The show will be a work in progress depending on what you want. As for right now, I’d appreciate it if you would think up some good questions for the first show and give us a call.

This thing is going to be a lot of fun but there will be a serious side to it. I want more interaction with bass fishing fans. You know, take things to the next level. It’s fine to see people at tournaments, shows and seminars. I enjoy it. I hope they do. Nevertheless, we don’t seem to have enough time to laugh, cutup and get to know each other on a human level. This show is designed to remedy all of that.

We’re going to make this happen!

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