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Orlando,
Fla – Fishing fans often paint New Jersey pro Mike Iaconelli as a hothead. But those who know him well know that no one in pro fishing has a bigger heart or more time for their fans, especially for the kids.
So when Ish Monroe met 16 year old Scotty Goldman at a boat show, he didn’t hesitate to pick up the phone to see if Ike could fulfill Scotty’s dream to spend a day on the water with Ike. The young man has cancer and is part of the Make A Wish Foundation.
“When Ish called me, it didn’t take me even half a second to make the decision. It was a no-brainer,” Iaconelli said.
Ike’s schedule is absolutely jam-packed, and he’d scheduled a vacation with his girlfriend Becky between the Classic and the Harris Chain. But once it became apparent that it would be the ideal time to take Scotty fishing, he cut his vacation short and the two met up
Thursday on Disney’s Bay Lake.
“Scotty is a young man who just loves to fish,” Ike said. “The kid is absolutely driven both on and off the water.”
So how did the fishing go? Ike never gives up or lets up and he beat Scotty pretty badly in their morning session, but after a mid-day lunch break, Scotty absolutely unloaded on him, catching fifteen fish to Ike’s two.
“It was really, really cool just to sit back and enjoy what he was doing on the water,” Ike added.
In addition to leaving Scotty with an unbelievable memory, Ike gave him a bunch of lures and a signed copy of his autobiography. But the plum prize that the young man took away was Ike’s contact information, with instructions to “pick up the phone and call me any time you want to talk.”
Footage of their day on the water will be seen later this Spring on ESPN2’s “Yo Ish!.”
Iaconelli had previously granted a similar request to take a make a wish individual fishing on Lake Logan Martin in 2004.
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