After a year of fishing in a variety of tournaments across the nation, 49 of the best anglers will finally compete in the 2012 Bassmaster Classic that will be held Feb. 24-26 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, LA.

I won’t say that this is the “Super Bowl of Fishing” nor will I ask, “Will the 2012 Classic bring a 3-Pete for KVD?” It’s all been said too many times. What I will say though “Is it Ike’s turn?

I thought that Mike Iaconelli had a shot at winning last year. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t. He still did well by finishing in eleventh place. Kevin Van Dam took first place with 69.11 pounds and walked home with a cool half million bucks. This was his second Classic win in two consecutive years, building his career Classic wins to four.

In 2009 Ike lost the Classic on the Red River to Skeet Reese. He was 11 ounces shy of the winning weight of 54 pounds 2 ounces. Reese brought in 54/13.

I spoke with Iaconelli at the Rosemont Outdoor Sportsmen’s show last month while he was there for his Bass University classes. He seemed confident and felt that he had a real good shot at winning this one. I’m a big believer that confidence goes a long way and separates the men from the boys.

I’ve been following Bassmaster.com which is loaded with information about the Classic and the anglers who will be competing. One interesting thing that I found was that 22 of the 49 qualifiers for these years Classic have fished the Red River before. This tells me that about half the field will not be fishing blindfolded. With a little self-taught refresher course on the river, many of the guys will be on their best game. My guess is that top ten anglers can be very close in the standings at the weigh-in and no one will just walk away with this one.

Can VanDam do it again? Will he get his third Classic trophy in three years?

Many people say that when you’re hot you’re hot. You’ll get no argument from me that KVD is on fire. From my own fishing experience, if I’m doing well on a fishing trip, my confidence grows stronger and I continue to do well.

Just a couple days after VanDam won the 2011 Classic Jim DaRosa, Ray Ludkevicz and I interviewed Van Dam on our Fishing and Outdoor Radio Show. It seemed very clear to me that he won because he had confidence in the location he selected to fish and in the lures that he selected to use. He was throwing Strike King square billed crankbaits.

But, let me put this in to his path of confidence. I’ve learned that VanDam had hernia surgery during the off season. Could that be something that let his fire sizzle out? I don’t think so because VanDam is a pro. He will be strong.

In 2003, Iaconelli won the Classic held at the Louisiana Delta. This is his only Classic win. But he does have 163 professional bass tournaments under his belt and has been in the money for 110 of them and 49 were Top-10 wins. Ike is ready for another Classic win and he’s hungry.

But VanDam, Edwin Evers, and Brandon Palaniuk join Iaconelli as anglers to watch in my opinion. All of these are strong anglers and they’re considered today to be among the best of the best.

So if I was a gambling man, I would put two bucks on each of these pros, but maybe a little extra on Iaconelli.

Long range weather forecasts for the Shreveport, LA area show that they’ll have increasing warm and mild weather. No rain is in the forecast and temps will be in the in the high 60s and low 70’s leading up to the tournament. With that should be normal river levels and clarity. No rain is in the forecast to the north and west so there is little chance of any flood waters coming down the river. This all adds up to good fishing weather and an exciting tournament to follow.

Minute by minute updates can be monitored at www.Bassmaster.com all the way up to the weigh in on Sunday.

Visit Don’s ChicagoNow blog at www.IllinoisOutdoors.com.