Inside Elite Boats: Mike Iaconelli

Welcome to another edition of Inside Elite Boats, this time featuring Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Mike Iaconelli’s final boat he’s competing in during the 2026 season which is his 31st season on tour. Iaconelli is Bassmaster Classic champion, a Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year and a nine-time Bassmaster winner.

Before we even got started Iaconelli wanted to pose on his Wilderness Recon 120 Kayak mounted on top of his truck for an opening shot.

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“This thing is as solid as a rock.”

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Iaconelli has competed his final season on the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series out of his Bass Cat Puma STS powered by a 250-horsepower Yamaha SHO Outboard.

The bow of the boat is home to a Lowrance Ghost X.

“I keep it pretty simple, as the sport is evolving you look at guys’ trolling motors and they got so much stuff on there.”

And indeed he does, he keeps the Active Target 2 transducer on the shaft and the Lowrance LCS on the bottom of the trolling motor.

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A closer look at the Lowrance LCS transducer.

Overhead view of Iaconelli’s front office.

At the bow he also keeps it pretty simple. Two Lowrance HDS units, one HDS 12 and one HDS 16 (not pictured). These photos were taken at the Pasquotank River event where he had taken the HDS 16 off for rough water.

Here is a look at the trolling motor accompanied by two stomp switches for his Power-Pole Blades.

Keeping his graphs mounted is the Boatlogix Dual Bow Panel Mount.

A beaten and battered but still strong Lowrance Prop after a week on the Pasquotank featuring the T-H Marine Prop Nut.

All the lids open on the Bass Cat Puma STS chock-full of rods, reels and tackle for the taking. Where is Ike?

Ope, there he is!

First up is the rod locker located on the port side of the boat.

“The nice thing about the Bass Cat locker is that it is big and it has a dual divider,” Iaconelli said.

“Honestly I have had as many as 35 or 36 rods in here, but my sweet spot is like 25 to 30 rods … that is what I like to carry,” said Ike. “About 60% of them are casting and the other 40% are spinning.”

Featured in his rod locker is all Abu Garcia reels with a mixture of Abu Garcia Ike Series rods and Veritas rods.

Up next is the front compartments that are home to all of his hard baits.

“It looks like I have no organization but there is a method to this. All of my really heavy tungsten, jigs and anything that is ultra heavy I keep in the back of the boat,” he explained. “Plastics and crankbaits I keep up front to keep the front of the boat lighter.”

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Iaconelli keeps all of his crankbaits on the right side of the front two divided lockers and all of the other hard baits on the left side.

A look inside Iaconelli’s squarebill box.

“I love cranking. When I look back on 31 years I would say a lot of my success was some sort of power fishing, especially crankbaits. A lot of my wins and top finishes have been cranking; I love it. It’s my favorite way to fish.”

The left side of the front compartments is host to an assortment of different baits. First is a box full of jerkbaits.

“I always have the Stunna shallows and the Stunna deeps with me.”

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Not only are there jerkbaits in the front compartment but he keeps a collection of other baits such as topwaters, Berkley Choppos, Berkley Krejs and wake baits in there as well.

Next we find ourselves at the big center compartment where Iaconelli keeps everything he will need quickly during a tournament stored away.

“I really went to a lot of bags now for my soft plastics. I feel like hard boxes are rigid, and I can’t store as much so I went to these soft zip storage kind of bags.”

Iaconelli keeps all of his soft plastic worms, creature baits, craws and others in the front compartment.”

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One thing we noticed immediately when he opened the lid was this Walgreens grocery bag.

“This is my Walgreens bag, this is my favorite tackle storage system from Walgreens. This is going to sound ridiculous but I create one of these bags every tournament after practice. It’s not always a Walgreens bag, it can be something else, I am not brand loyal. Anyhow, I keep the things I know I am going to be using in it and that keeps me from having to go through this mess.”

Inside the bag this week was a cull beam, packages of Berkley PowerBait Shape 108 craws and Berkley PowerBait Max Scent Creature Hawgs.

In the other rod locker, he keeps a stockpile of miscellaneous items.

“I keep random hooks, bulk treble hooks, swimbaits, Berkley Chopblocks, bladed jigs in this hatch.”

A look at a bag full of Berkley PowerBait Unrigged CullShads.

In the miscellaneous rod locker he keeps a variety Berkley PowerBait Chop Blocks.

There was a small pile of Berkley PowerBait Max Scent bags laying in the floor, and we saw a perfect opportunity for a photo op.

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Weeeeeeeeeee!

As we worked our way to the back, Ike mentioned he keeps the front ice chest pretty clean.

He puts very few items in here, and instead uses it for extra ice storage during those hot summertime tournaments to keep his livewells cool.

As we take a look around in the bottom of the boat, we noticed there was no hot foot.

“Honestly the only thing I could tell you about not having a hot foot would be that my first bass boat I won was a Ranger 374V with a 150-horsepower Johnson that had no hot foot. So when I was learning everything about bass boat fishing, I learned without a hot foot.”

Iaconelli also mentioned without the hot foot he can sit on top of his foot and get a better view over the dash.

“I’m not standing but I am high up in my seat and with my eyes I can see cover, structure, depth changes. Call me crazy but I prefer no hot foot in rough water,” said Ike. “This week I loved not having it. I think the Johnston brothers don’t run hot foots either, and they are some of the best rough-water drivers on tour.”

While we were shooting a fan stopped by to get his throwback vest signed by Iaconelli.

“This is what bass fishing used to look like.”

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“Nowadays we all have these super light shirts, but back then we used to wear these 100% cotton vests. Brings me back to the old days.”

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Awesome to witness — no matter how busy Iaconelli is, he always takes the time to spend with the fans. They’re the real reason all of us are so lucky to get to do what we do.

Up next is the tool compartment where he keeps a solid collection of pliers, scissors, hook sharpers, super glue and other whatnots readily available.

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Also at the step of the boat is the DD26 Spool Stix Line Winding System he keeps attached that fits small and bulk spools of line for easy spooling onto the reels.

Next up is the dash where Iaconelli spends his time behind the wheel.

“This camera is new for this year; this is the Insta360. It’s a little bit harder for my editing guy to work because it’s such a massive file, but you can literally get my hook set at the front of the boat, running to the back and landing the fish all on one camera.”

This is Mike’s fifth season using the BoatLogix mounts. “I think they started supplying me with these because I was the guinea pig and I was so rough on everything, but they are really heavy-duty and super strong.”

At the console he runs two Lowrance HDS 12 Gen3 units. On the left side he uses mapping and 2D sonar on a through hull transducer which allows him to see depth on pad and “power graph.” On the right side he uses a combination of down imaging and side imaging.

“I spend hours and hours staring at that right side, and I feel like this is the best system for me to operate.”

At the steering is Dual T-H Marine Blinker trim switches. One for trimming the motor and the other for the T-H Marine Atlas Jack Plate.

A look at all of the switches on the Bass Cat Puma STS.

“I have this put on after. I always have them put on an analog gas gauge because it is a better measure of what gas you actually have left,” said Iaconelli.

Up next is the middle compartment where underneath is a small ice chest where Ike keeps all of his drinks and snack for the day.

On top in the middle compartment lays a variety of different things he uses throughout a tournament day.

“This is my day box, this is the stuff I need everyday. Sunscreen, Advil, especially after the Pasquotank, rope, readers and Buzzer Rocks.”

Ike keeps two pairs of readers in the box but also keeps a pair of readers in his pocket at all times.

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“The cool thing about the Buzzer Rocks stuff is that it is a lot more efficient than the powder or the chemical. You just pop these things right into the livewell like they are candy, no mess and super simple to use,” said Ike.

“But this right here is the real deal. This week in fact on the first day I had a fish hooked deep in the tongue with the Creature Hawg that was bleeding bad. I sprayed twice where the hook entered the tongue and was bleeding and it immediately stopped the bleeding.”

Ike approved!

The Puma STS features high-back bucket seats for a more comfortable ride in rough water.

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This towel was laying in the seat and we asked Mike what this was. This was his Ambassador’s towel used to hang on to the handle during the ride across the Ablemarle Sound.

Even the towel didn’t stop his ambassador from getting a couple blisters while hanging on during the ride across the Sound with Iaconelli.

“This is another day box from DD26, but in this day box I keep my phone, wallet, glass cleaner and safety glasses for long runs.”

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“For hail or rainy conditions, I wear these ski goggles. They really help me be able to see clearly, and it helps brighten everything up.”

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What Ike actually looks like whenever he is driving in rain or hail.

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Underneath the passenger seat is a small cubbyhole where Iaconelli stores an extra prop.

Then underneath the driver seat he keeps a spare hat, all of his insurance and registration paperwork.

On to the livewells.

“The Bass Cat livewells are some of the deepest livewells on the market. The triangular shape keeps the fish from jumping out. I have been in a lot of other boats where you got the big single box or split box, and they are square and they are giant. When it is a triangle shape the fish can’t hardly jump; it’s a shape that makes it harder for them to get out.”

Pumps might need a little cleaning after a week on the Pasquotank.

Also located inside the livewell is the T-H Marine Oxygenator.

The rear compartment is where Iaconelli keeps all of his terminal tackle.

“Anything heavy goes back here, worm weights, jigheads, Ned rigs, shaky heads, jigs, just anything that is heavy.”

One box Ike uses the most back here is his jig box packed full of Missile Baits Ike’s Mini Flip Jig.

Here is a close look at his favorite go-to colors in the Mini Flip Jig — Brown Purple Passion, Green Pumpkin and Bruiser.

A look inside Ike’s shaky head box.

“Keeping all of the weight in the rear of the boat is something Rick Pierce taught me. I would have boats and I would tell him the performance is off, and he would ask what do you have stored where? And he would say you need to put all of your heavy tackle in the rear of the boat.”

One thing you will notice on all of Iaconelli’s boxes is that he uses a bright colored duct tape to label them. This makes them easy to see and grab quickly in tournament scenarios.

Another look inside the rear compartment.

On the other side in the rear compartment he keeps a plethora of tools and other things he might need throughout the day.

A ratchet strap just in case he needs to pull someone in or someone to pull him in.

An extra front navigation light just in case his light on the front happens to go out.

A closer look inside the box.

“I keep this tow strap in here specifically for river tournaments. I have needed this once or twice,” said Ike.

“In a lot of other boats you have trouble accessing the pumps to the livewells. The tray on top gives you a little extra storage but underneath is my livewell pumps and Pro Guide battery charger.”

A look at that pumps.

Also tucked away in that small storage spot is his Pro-Guide PGC-1236X Multi Chemistry Battery Charger.

Then finally at the rear of the boat is where all his power is stored.

“Listen I want to tell you something, and I’m serious. When the lithium technology came out like 15 years ago, dude it was awful. I’m telling you it was awful. But now with today’s age, lithium technology is the only way to go in marine batteries. Pro-Guide batteries make some great batteries, and every year I need less and less of those batteries because they are so good.”

On one side he keeps his trolling motor batteries which he carries two of. Both are Pro-Guide 36V 75AH Group 31 LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Batteries. “I’m big on backups, so now that I need less batteries with the new technology I can keep spares in here and that’s huge for me.”