A statement from Michael Iaconelli

I want to publicly apologize to anyone I have offended by my actions and words during the 2006 Bassmaster Classic. I am a very passionate and emotional person. After finding all of my fish dead or dying, I handled this crisis in the wrong way. I am human, and I made a mistake. I will be sure to be more careful with my words and actions in the future.

I want to ensure everyone that my frustrations and anger were in no way purposely directed toward damaging safety equipment or degrading the American Flag. I love this country and I love everything that the flag stands for. I totally support our American troops.

By quoting the famous American president JFK, he said that "When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters--one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity." In the spirit of this statement I want to apologize for my actions and at the same time take this opportunity to thank my sponsors, my fans and my family for sticking by me. I will learn from this experience and I am already looking forward to applying this new knowledge to the rest of the 2006 season.