What's Ike really got?

Written by

Steve Wright

Mike Iaconelli just made a jump into third place, according to BASSTrakk. If he really has 18-4 on the day, he would be only 2-2 behind leader Mark Davis. But here’s the deal: Ike is THE big-eyer of all big-eyers on the Elite Series. He consistently over-estimates the weight of the fish that his marshal then enters on BASSTrakk. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Nothing counts until it’s officially weighed.

It’s just one more example of how Iaconelli walks to the beat of a different drummer. Most of these guys underestimate their weight. It seems to be a psychological advantage for them to have a BASSTrakk weight of say, 19 pounds, then weigh-in 21 pounds on the official scales. Ike goes the other way.

So we took a poll in the media trailer: If BASSTrakk shows him with 18-4, what’s Ike really got? Six media “experts” participated, and the guesses ranged from 17-3 to 16-1. An extra large dill pickle will be delivered to the winner, courtesy of Thomas Allen, provided he doesn’t win it himself.

No matter what Iaconelli actually weighs-in this afternoon, he’s definitely moving up. He was 40th on Day 1 with 12-5, 23rd on Day 2 with 14-10 and appears to be solidly locked into Monday’s Top 12 final, whether he’s really got 18-4 or 16-1 or somewhere in between.