Post by yihunt on Feb 23, 2010 18:31:15 GMT -4
Anyone who ever has seen Mike Iaconelli fish knows that he is, well, volatile.
The new Jersey-based professional bass angler is a top-notch fishermen. His Bassmaster Classic and Angler of the Year titles, and last summer's near miss at the Forrest Wood Cup, are proof of that.
He's perhaps the biggest crowd pleaser on the pro circuit. He punctuates his catches with kamikaze screams and even has done some breakdancing on the winner's stage.
Sometimes, though, the same passion that makes him such a tough competitor gets him in trouble. He's got a reputation as the tour's bad boy, and was once disqualified from a BASS event for cursing and kicking a light pole.
Fans who watch his television show "City Limits Fishing With Mike Iaconelli," will soon see how both sides of the man were revealed in a visit to Pittsburgh.
Iaconelli and his crew visited Pittsburgh last September to film an episode for the show's third season, which began airing Feb. 12. The show's premise is this: Iaconelli rolls into a major metropolitan area — he's visited places like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Tampa, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami and Milwaukee, among other cities — and tries, within one eight-hour day, to catch a limit of fish within the city limits.
"I hate to call it a reality show, because that's got a negative connotation anymore, but this is true reality fishing," Iaconelli said. "This isn't a show where we film for three or four days to get our best 30 minutes of catches on camera. We literally pull into a city, launch the boat and the producer says go. Whatever happens in that eight hours is the show.
"Sometimes, we do really well. Once, we've gone eight hours without catching a legal keeper. But that's the reality of sportfishing. Sometimes, you don't always kill them. We show that, and I think it's why people watch the show."
His visit to Pittsburgh — a city for which he professes a real affection because it reminds him of the fishing he experienced growing up on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers near Philadelphia — was both good and bad.
Without wanting to give too much away, Iaconelli said he did not catch a limit of fish, but still had a very good day.
But he had his troubles, too.
He and his crew arrived at the launch at 6:30 a.m., but didn't get on the water until 10:30 a.m. because of camera troubles, said the show's producer, Doug Buzbe. When they got on the water, high winds made things difficult. Then a couple of Iaconelli's rods broke.
"At one point, he pulled an Ike, and I think it might have been the most dramatic Ike I've seen in three years of doing the show," Buzbe said.
"But I give him a lot of credit. A lot of anglers would only want their best moments shown on camera, but Mike lets you see the good, the bad and the ugly."
Some of that will be aired on the show. But that's OK, since fishing occasionally is humbling, Iaconelli said.
"I think the Pittsburgh episode is going to be one of the highlights of the upcoming season," he said.
TV guide
The episode of "City Limits Fishing With Mike Iaconelli" that was shot in Pittsburgh will air at 9 p.m. Feb. 26 on Versus.
It will focus on more than just fishing. As part of the show, Iaconelli spends time walking through the city and interviewing people on the street about what makes their hometown special.
For Iaconelli — who fished a Bassmaster Classic and ForrestWood Cup here, narrowly missing out on victory each time — it was his first real chance to do some exploring. He liked what he saw.
"Not to put people in other cities down, but the people we met in Pittsburgh were some of the friendliest, most down to earth people we've met anywhere," he said.
The show also spends a few minutes with a local chef preparing a signature meal made with local ingredients. Iaconelli visited several places — he had a Primanti Brothers sandwich, which he loved, on the day before shooting began and without a camera — and settled on a meal prepared by executive chef Jacky Francois of the William Penn Omni Hotel.
The new Jersey-based professional bass angler is a top-notch fishermen. His Bassmaster Classic and Angler of the Year titles, and last summer's near miss at the Forrest Wood Cup, are proof of that.
He's perhaps the biggest crowd pleaser on the pro circuit. He punctuates his catches with kamikaze screams and even has done some breakdancing on the winner's stage.
Sometimes, though, the same passion that makes him such a tough competitor gets him in trouble. He's got a reputation as the tour's bad boy, and was once disqualified from a BASS event for cursing and kicking a light pole.
Fans who watch his television show "City Limits Fishing With Mike Iaconelli," will soon see how both sides of the man were revealed in a visit to Pittsburgh.
Iaconelli and his crew visited Pittsburgh last September to film an episode for the show's third season, which began airing Feb. 12. The show's premise is this: Iaconelli rolls into a major metropolitan area — he's visited places like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Tampa, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami and Milwaukee, among other cities — and tries, within one eight-hour day, to catch a limit of fish within the city limits.
"I hate to call it a reality show, because that's got a negative connotation anymore, but this is true reality fishing," Iaconelli said. "This isn't a show where we film for three or four days to get our best 30 minutes of catches on camera. We literally pull into a city, launch the boat and the producer says go. Whatever happens in that eight hours is the show.
"Sometimes, we do really well. Once, we've gone eight hours without catching a legal keeper. But that's the reality of sportfishing. Sometimes, you don't always kill them. We show that, and I think it's why people watch the show."
His visit to Pittsburgh — a city for which he professes a real affection because it reminds him of the fishing he experienced growing up on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers near Philadelphia — was both good and bad.
Without wanting to give too much away, Iaconelli said he did not catch a limit of fish, but still had a very good day.
But he had his troubles, too.
He and his crew arrived at the launch at 6:30 a.m., but didn't get on the water until 10:30 a.m. because of camera troubles, said the show's producer, Doug Buzbe. When they got on the water, high winds made things difficult. Then a couple of Iaconelli's rods broke.
"At one point, he pulled an Ike, and I think it might have been the most dramatic Ike I've seen in three years of doing the show," Buzbe said.
"But I give him a lot of credit. A lot of anglers would only want their best moments shown on camera, but Mike lets you see the good, the bad and the ugly."
Some of that will be aired on the show. But that's OK, since fishing occasionally is humbling, Iaconelli said.
"I think the Pittsburgh episode is going to be one of the highlights of the upcoming season," he said.
TV guide
The episode of "City Limits Fishing With Mike Iaconelli" that was shot in Pittsburgh will air at 9 p.m. Feb. 26 on Versus.
It will focus on more than just fishing. As part of the show, Iaconelli spends time walking through the city and interviewing people on the street about what makes their hometown special.
For Iaconelli — who fished a Bassmaster Classic and ForrestWood Cup here, narrowly missing out on victory each time — it was his first real chance to do some exploring. He liked what he saw.
"Not to put people in other cities down, but the people we met in Pittsburgh were some of the friendliest, most down to earth people we've met anywhere," he said.
The show also spends a few minutes with a local chef preparing a signature meal made with local ingredients. Iaconelli visited several places — he had a Primanti Brothers sandwich, which he loved, on the day before shooting began and without a camera — and settled on a meal prepared by executive chef Jacky Francois of the William Penn Omni Hotel.