She knew absolutely nothing about bass fishing when they began a three-year relationship that culminated in marriage. But Becky, who holds a marketing degree from James Madison University, and whose last name is now Iaconelli, has figured it out. She’s figured out a life centered on professional bass fishing. And she’s figured out one of its most talented and complex characters along the way. She loves him. He loves her.
And, as much as anything, he trusts her. He knows she’s on his side. She proves it to him daily with her actions. She’s a straight shooter. Becky is also very smart, and she’s looking out for him. The weigh-in has just concluded and Mike Iaconelli is required to go to a meeting with BASS officials and 46 other anglers who made the cut at the end of Day 2. Becky reminds him, “You need to go to a meeting in a hot second, mister. So while you’re doing that, I’ll go get the trailer hooked up,” she says. But before she heads to fetch their Toyota Tundra, she inquires, “Did you have your outboard trimmed way up at take off this morning? You were throwing a huge rooster tail,” she says in reference to her pre-sunrise observations of Mike’s day.
She was there early, at 5:30 a.m., watching. She’s figured it out. And he knows that. While they talk about meetings and rooster tails, a tackle tray rests on the floor of the boat. It’s not filled with lures, but instead protein packs, vitamins and a PB&J sandwich supplied by fitness and nutrition coach Ken Hoover. “If I can get him to eat the vitamins and at least the PB&J during a competition day, it’s a success,” Becky says. Hoover supplied the vitamins and protein packs. Becky made the PB & J. Becky is coaching nutrition, too. He trusts her — trusts her to keep him on track.
So before he bolts to the mandatory meeting, he tells her, “I’ve got to fish deep tomorrow, Beck. We’ve gotta get some big heavy jigs. I’ve gotta stay deep if I’m gonna upgrade my weight.” She can’t be there in the boat to make sure he fishes deep. But he can trust that if he shares the concept with her, she’ll remind him of the necessity to stick with the “fish deep” strategy several times between now and tomorrow morning’s rooster tail.
He fishes deep. He finishes a respectable 25th, and it’s time to drive the Tundra to the next derby. “On back-to-back tournaments, I do all the driving,” she says. But she’s not just driving, she’s towing. And he trusts her. Trusts her to get him, his boat and all the tools with which he makes a living, safely to the next tournament.
“I like fishing. I don’t love fishing. I see much of this effort as a business,” says the former marketing major. “If I can lend support to him so that he’s successful, then I feel like I’ve succeeded too.” She’s figured it out. He loves her. She loves him. And he trusts her.