Inside Elite Boats: Mike Iaconelli

Here's the 2014 BassCat Puma FTD that Elite Series pro Mike Iaconelli is running this season. He likes the boat's storage layout and what BassCats are known for: performance. With a tournament-day load, Ike hits 76 mph with his Yamaha 250 SHO wide open. That's with a Marshal, two full tanks of fuel and a brimming livewell.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here's the cockpit. His 'Cat sports touchscreen Lowrance HDS depthfinders here and up front. "I keep one on the map and one on sonar here and up front," he says. "For the sonar screen, I keep one side of the screen on traditional and the other half on DownScan."

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Ike keeps his crankbaits and plugs up front because they're lighter. This 'Cat has two forward storage boxes.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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On the left side, he keeps topwaters, lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits and squarebills.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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On the right side, he keeps diving baits like the Rapala DT-6s and 10s seen here.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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You know you wish you had this box, because Rapala DT-series baits are hot commodities since Randy Howell used a demon-colored DT-6 to win the Bassmaster Classic.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here's a box full of Storm Arashi squarebills. Brandon Palaniuk used one of these to slay smallies on the upper Mississippi River in the 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series event there.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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That's his box of topwaters on the deck.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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In the main middle box, Ike has all of his soft plastics. They're slightly heavier than plugs, but lighter than jigs and terminal tackle. To get the most top end speed out of his 'Cat (or any boat, actually) he wants heavier gear in the back. This is a heavy load for this box. During practice, Ike's 'Cat sees 68 mph wide open. As he eliminates baits that he won't use, his 'Cat busts 75 mph on Day 1.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Though it looks like he hasn't unpacked, there's a genius method to his system. In the blue bag is creature baits. The red bag has worms and the black bag has trailers. It's simple and brilliant and saves him time on the water.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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"It's all about efficiency on the water," the New Jersey pro explains. "If I save 5 minutes a day, which doesn't sound like much, that's 30 minutes over a whole tournament and hours over an entire season. That's a lot." Again, this blue bag houses his creature plastics.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here are a few, the PowerBait Fight'n Bug and his own Devil Spear.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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No surprises here: Inside his rod locker are, well, rods.

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His go-to reels are Abu Garcia Revo variants and his rods are Abu Garcia Vengeance, Vendetta, Veracity and Veritas.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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On the right side locker, he carries a multitude of stuff. Underneath everything is a brand new Minn Kota Fortrex trolling motor. On top are spinnerbaits and other wire baits and some jigs.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here are some Molix Venator spinnerbaits.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Another look at the Venator. These stay near the front of this compartment because they are lighter than the next items...

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...jigs. Again, for maximum performance out of his 'Cat, Ike keeps heavier stuff toward the back of the boat, even if it's within the same compartment.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here, we see that he carries a very limited color selection of jigs. "For football jigs, I'm trying to imitate a crawfish, so I keep only those colors," he explains. From front to back are 3/8 ounce to 1-ouncers.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here's his bow graph setup, a pair of touchscreen Lowrance units that match the console units. "I keep one on the map and one on sonar here and up front," he says. "For the sonar screen, I keep one side of the screen on traditional and the other half on DownScan."

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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The console again. He says that having two large units also acts as a fail-safe in case one cuts out on him.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Let's look into his mid-boat boxes, including his "stuff" pile.

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"As I practice, this pile takes on a new shape each day as I go through baits and try lots of different things," he says. He'll clean this nifty pile up after each event.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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On the driver's side is food and stuff.

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Shakes, waters and more are his staple.

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Iaconelli subscribes to Ken Hoover's Athletes Outdoors program. Hoover travels to every Elite event and has tailor-made nutrition ready to go each morning based on a particular angler's needs. Other pros who use Hoover are John Crews, Alton Jones and many more.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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On the passenger side are more accessories like culling beams, dyes and scents.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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There isn't a nook or cranny that doesn't have baits or accessories in it.

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This bag has Rejuvenade, a fizzing tool and other necessities. Rejuvenade is a chemical that is added to the livewell to help reduce fish mortality.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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In between the seats is a dry box that Ike keeps his cell phone and wallet in, among other things.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Just behind this storage are marker buoys.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Under the passenger seat is a spare prop.

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Here's where the load gets heavy, behind his seat.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Hooks, weights, jigheads, swimbait heads and everything that's tungsten or lead that's not a skirted jig resides back here.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here are his VMC Swingin' Rugby heads.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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On the other side are tools.

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A block of wood to change props, a tow rope, an auxiliary bilge and others stay here year-round.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Here's the 'Cat's battery box. Ike uses Lithium Pros lithium batteries. "The fact that I can run this whole boat on only two batteries saves me close to 300 pounds in the rear," he says.

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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First things first, and front of mind. The sign reads:

FISH THE MOMENT

-Don't rule anything out

-Fish from the bank out to deep water

-Fish fast and hit everything

-No pre-conceived notions

-Listen to the fish (no accidental bites)

-NEVER GIVE UP!

Photo: David Hunter Jones

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Inside Elite Boats: Mike Iaconelli

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