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Born Michael Thomas Lionetti, June 13th 1966, in the town of Ridgewood, NJ. I lived in Wycoff NJ, while taking the frequent weekend adventure to my Grandfathers dairy farm in Wyalusing PA. This is where my love for fishing sparked into the obsession that it is today. You see, there was a 30 acre lake about 200 steps in those days, just outside the back door of his house. My brother and I would spend hours and hours fishing for the bounty of Bluegill, Bullhead, Crappie, and occasional Largemouth with nothing more than a cane pole, rusty hook, and worms my Grandfather would coax from the ground with his secret potion. As the years progressed the Bluegill were fewer, and the Largemouth became more plentiful as the endless hours of researching fishing catalogues, now readily available, brought our equipment and skills out of the dark ages. The rig of choice, fiberglass spinning rods and Mitchell 300 reels rigged with a purple Creme Scoundrel worm with the propeller and the orange beads. You see, now the quest for the best bait took over, which just fed our weakness. The Bass got bigger, and the tackle more intriguing. At age 11 my Father got a job offer in Los Angeles and off the family went with me kicking and screaming to a world completely different than what I knew. My fishing habit was now replaced with Skateboards, BMX bikes, girls and becoming a rock star. I played drums for about 15 years, I was in bands, and played all the famous clubs on the Sunset Strip. This became my new passion, although I would relive the fishing frenzy a couple times a year when we would visit my Grandfather, it would just be a tease. My years as a Musician led to a career as a Sound Engineer, which led to me marrying my wife Melissa. During the 15 years of achieving semi maturity with my wife, we lived in various parts of LA and eventually found ourselves buying our first home in Henderson NV. Living just 2 miles from Lake Mead, it didn't take long to rekindle my fishing habit. It started with Striper fishing from the bank until one day while seeking some local info,I started talking to the guy behind the counter at my local tackle shop. He eventually offered to take me fishing and I accepted, since he had a boat and I did not. This is the point where all hope of being a normal fishing enthusiast disappeared. As I stepped into my first Bass Boat semi intimidated, but definitely enchanted, I could feel the addiction building, We idled out past the no wake zone and we were off, GAME OVER! I died and went to heaven. My new buddy eventually got me into fishing tournaments which completed my addiction, I mean you do the math, screaming across a lake, to go fish, and get paid for it!, there was no stopping me now. Since then I've accumulated 3 boats, 20 or so $500 fishing rigs, and enough tackle to open a store. I've been fishing tournaments for about 7 years now and have put my career on hold for becoming a full time Pro and definitlely catching more and much bigger Bass. I've been blessed so far, I've spent close to 20 years touring with famous bands of all kinds, working on the Grammy's and achieving an Emmy for my contributions to the audio team for the 66th Annual Academy Awards .I've stepped foot on just about every continent in the world and experienced life to the fullest. With all that I've done in my life thus far, I have to say my favorite spot in the world is that lake, just 100 steps now, right outside my front door, where I now live with my beautifull wife of 16 years Melissa, my daughter Shasta, my two boys Jacob and Dominic, and my fishing buddy, Fenwick the long haired Chihuahua. Could it Get any better? So I invite you to check back in and see what happens next, I for one can't wait to see.... |