OK, this weather is nasty. I’ll go with that. This would be cold fishing even in my neighborhood. That doesn’t mean we can’t fish through it, however. It’s nothing more than an extreme version of what I wanted.
I like it tough. I was hoping for cold water and cold air. This is a little more than what I had in mind, but I’ll take it. I have the equipment, the tackle and the clothing, along with the attitude, that it takes to handle stuff like this. Years of winter fishing in New Jersey have made sure of that.
I’m looking forward to Wednesday. It’s a very important day for me. I rely on practice. It’ll give me a chance to check a few things out, see what the weather’s doing to the fish and allow me to make any last minute adjustments to my equipment. It’ll be cold and the wind will be blowing but so what? This is professional bass fishing. Every tournament isn’t going to be sunny and mild.
Cold water, cold wind, ice, snow, rain…bring it on!
But, for those of you who don’t see it my way and who are lucky enough to be here, I strongly recommend you spend your days at the Expo. Almost every manufacturer of quality products in the industry will be exhibiting there. Everything that’s new and ready for the market will be on display — in a warm, dry environment.
One thing I do want to mention before I go is the Ike Foundation. We’ll have portable drop stations set up around the Expo so you can make donations to our cause. The two biggest ones will be at the Yamaha booth and at The Bass University TV location. I can’t tell you right now exactly where they are located but there’ll be maps of the floor near every entrance.
We’re especially in need of gently used or new rods and reels. If you donate one, we’ll ship it back home and from there we’ll send it to the place where it’ll do the most good — in the hands of a kid who needs it.
I also have several things that’ll be on display later this week. The first one is the Ike Series of fishing rods by Abu Garcia. After almost three years, all 15 models will be available to the public. I’ll be fishing with them this week.
There’ll also be my new Missile jig available almost everywhere they’re selling tackle and my approved sunglasses will be on display, too. They’re made by Renegade Pro.
Like I said, though, it’s not just about my stuff. There’s something for everyone. And, the cool thing is that most of the booths will have an expert there to help you pick out what you need for whatever you’re going to do this year. That’s no small thing. It’s frustrating to find out later that another model or size of a product would have worked better for what you do.
If you can’t attend the 2015 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro in person, make sure you follow everything on Bassmaster.com. The coverage will be extraordinary.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
