I Do, I Do: Rebecca Mattes and Michael Iaconelli

You could say that national champion bass angler Mike Iaconelli went for Becky Mattes hook, line and sinker.

“Yes, I landed him,” joked Becky. “Although when we first met I had never fished at all in my life.”

That would have been three summers ago when Becky, a James Madison University graduate and daughter of Sandy and Roy Mattes of Midlothian, flew off from her home in Washington, D.C., for a weekend escape in Las Vegas with some girlfriends.

Heading for the bar in the same hotel was Mike Iaconelli, summa cum laude graduate of Rowan University, son of Roberta Iaconelli of Runnemeade, N.J., and dad to Drew and Rylie.

“My friends and I went down for a drink,” explained Becky, “and there was Mike, and we started talking. I thought he was nice, but every few minutes he kept disappearing.

“‘Where do you keep going?’ I finally asked him.”

Mike laughed and said to her, “Come with me and find out.” Sure enough, soon Mike was pulled away again.

The 2006 Angler of the Year and owner of a sprawling business empire built on bass fishing, including the show “City Limits” on Versus, a book, “Fishing on the Edge” and top billing on the championship circuit, ESPN’s BASS “Tournament Trail,” the high energy sportsman was in Vegas for an I Cast show.

“He kept getting asked for autographs!” said Becky. “All of these 40- and 50-year- old men were stopping him. When he told me what he did I was astounded—I had no idea he was so established. I remember saying, ‘Can you pay your bills doing that?’”

Once back on the East Coast, the two found ways to get together. “My brother Josh Googled him,” said Becky, who soon went to watch Mike, in a tournament on the Potomac.

“I travel 80 percent of the time,” pointed out Mike who started fishing professionally 13 years before. “It’s a great sport. My mom and grandparents used to take me on summer vacations in the Pocono Mountains and I just loved to fish. If the fish pulled back, I just loved it.”

Now both Becky and Mike are involved in the business. “Becky has become such a big part of it,” he said proudly. “The sport is so mental and sometimes the stress builds up. . .”

“Mike knows that I’m here, that he can chill out with me,” Becky said, looking at him protectively. “What he does is very difficult—the year we met he won ‘Angler of the Year.’”

While traveling, the two began to design a home on a ten-acre site in Pittsgrove, N.J.—right on a lake.

“Mike has wonderful ideas, really incredible style,” said Becky.

No one could dispute that. In Orlando this past July, at another I Cast show, Mike took Becky out to dinner with friends.

“At the end of the meal, a dish of fortune cookies arrived and I opened one,” said Becky. “Mine said, ‘Becky, will you marry me?’ I was so totally amazed!” Then Mike gave her a magnificent emerald-cut diamond ring he had designed himself.

Working around their busy schedule, efficient and talented Becky planned a beautiful wedding in three months.

“We married outside at The Mill at Fine Creek on Oct. 3. And do you know what Mike did on the morning of his wedding?” said Becky, laughing. “He took his groomsmen out—out fishing on the James River!”