
Mike Iaconelli was a recent guest on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast and gave some new insights into his decision to leave Major League Fishing and return to B.A.S.S. last year. Here's the transcript of his answer to that direct question:
“It was a super-tough decision. I’ll try to give some context to the listeners. Our sport had a shakeup where a new league was formed, and a lot of the big athletes defected to this new league. The reasoning was almost identical to other sports, leading up to this new league forming, there was this thing where the anglers felt like they were not the priority. A lot of us felt like we were down on the ladder (of what) was important. Those 80 anglers, including myself, a lot of that was based on a unified feeling of needing to change this. Do we want all these young anglers feeling 8th or 9th most important? No, it was about the athletes getting a good income and being top priority. I might get hate mail after this, but it needed to happen. A lot of guys want to be here instead of there or vice versa, but it had to be done. I think it made both leagues realize that the anglers are the most important thing, they are the ones generating the money, it was a wake-up call. But for me, Major League Fishing didn’t pan out to what I thought it would. It started to feel like how I did before that, the same problems started to creep back. For me it was a no-brainer to go back to B.A.S.S., it is a better environment there and just felt more comfortable. But you can’t just go back, you have to re-qualify. There was a legends exemption rule, but I didn’t want to go back that way, I wanted to qualify. So last year I had to qualify, get in line, work hard, get dirty and qualify. I re-qualified and it feels good; this is where I belong.”
To hear the full interview, click here.