Mike “Ike” Iaconelli said the goal was to put together a 5-day, “bucket list” trip, a memorable adventure to sample the best fall fishing in the Northeast.
And he kicked it off Oct. 11 with an outing on the Salmon River in Pulaski. Along with him was an international contingent of anglers from Taiwan, Japan and Russia.
Iaconelli, a professional bass angler from Pittsgrove, N.J., hatched the idea for the trip more than a year ago with fishing enthusiasts he had met through his TV show “Fish My City with Mike Iaconelli,” on National Geo WILD. Iaconelli is also host of the “Ike Live” bass fishing podcast and the “Going Ike” internet video series.
“In my travels I meet some amazing anglers from other places and keep in touch,” he said. “These guys were from ‘Fishing Traveler,’ a group of like-minded sports fishermen from around the world who share stories, recommendations. They just don’t fish for one species. Many have a bucket list (of what they’d like to fish for).”
Iaconelli picked up the international contingent that Thursday evening at JFK Airport. Each had just traveled 13 to 18 hours to get to New York. Once they all arrived, Iacconelli said he immediately loaded them up in his vehicle and hit the road and headed to Pulaski. The group included Peter Shihyung and Liszt Tzeng from Taiwan; Shota Jenkins from Japan and Maxim Philippov from Russia.
They pulled into Pulaski around 3:30 a.m. Friday morning (Oct. 11) at the Tailwater Lodge in Altmar. There was no time to rest, though. Plans had been made to fish the privately run Douglaston Salmon Run, accompanied by Douglaston guides. The guides, Adrian LaSorte and Matt Ertzinger, asked that the anglers be at Douglaston at 4:30 a.m.
“Sure, they were all messed up (from the long plane trips and the drive) and their body clocks were off,” Iaconelli said. “But they were pumped, as I was. We literally fished all day Friday. We were running on adrenaline. We all caught salmon and steelhead. I’d heard about the salmon run on the Salmon River, but had never done if before. It was amazing.”
Mike Iaconelli, center, and anglers he was hosting from Korea, Japan and Russia relax for the evening at the Tailwater Lodge after a day of fishing the Salmon River. The other anglers were Peter Shihyung and Liszt Tzeng from Taiwan; Shota Jenkins from Japan and Maxim Philippov from Russia.
Iaconelli’s prowess as a bass angler is well-known. He has won, or come close to winning almost every major award in tournament bass fishing, and is the only angler to have ever won the Bassmaster Classic, Bassmaster Angler of the Year and B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, with career winnings of more than $2.6 million alone from Bassmaster tournaments, according to bassmaster.com. Tournament bass fishing is done with bait casting or spin casting rods and reels.
This experience on the Salmon River outing, though, required that all five anglers fish with fly rods.
“Only myself and the Japanese angler had a little bit of fly fishing experience. And for me, it was when I was a kid. They taught us how to cast, about the drift, the presentation, how to fight the fish -- everything,” he said.
Following a full day of fishing on the Salmon River, the five ate dinner and stayed that night at the Tailwater Lodge.
The following morning (Saturday), Iaconelli then drove the group to Old Saybrook, Conn., “where the Connecticut River meets the Atlantic Ocean.” They had a good day of fishing for striped bass, blue fish, cob (black fish) and black sea bass. On Sunday, Iaconelli drove the anglers to Harrisburg, Pa., where they fished with guides in two boats for smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River.
“It was insane. We all caught over 100 bass,” he said.
Pro bass angler Mike Iaconelli holds up a nice smallmouth bass he landed on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pa. Shota Jenkins from Japan is also pictured.
Since everyone was “really beat and tired” at that point, Iaconelli said he then took the group to his New Jersey home, where they spent a day fishing his favorite,nearby lake. He declined to give the lake’s name, calling it Lake X. He said he made it more interesting by having the four fish out of Hobie fishing kayaks.
“They caught 12 different fish species, including several they’ve never caught before, such as chain pickerel, black and white crappie, yellow perch, largemouth bass and bluegill.”
The final day (Tuesday), Iaconelli again guided the group as they fished the Delaware River in the tidal section “right in Philadephia.” The anglers landed largemouth bass, striped bass, hybrid stripers, bowfin and channel catfish.”
Reached Wednesday afternoon, Iaconelli was tired, but happy. The intense, five-day trip had gone well, he said. A video featuring all the anglers appears on Iaconelli’s “Live Ike” website.
“And the gem of the entire trip was the Salmon River,” he said. “How many we caught, the beauty of the area. It was the best part of the trip.”
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