Elite

La Crosse: Day 1 Elite action

Catch up with the Elites as they tackle Day 1 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River!

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Photography by
Shane Durrance
Catch up with the Elites as they tackle Day 1 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River!

First up, Carl Jocumsen. He didn’t run far from take-off, working a stretch of bank just off the main river channel.

He was fan casting between two wing dams, hoping to pick up some key bites.
After about 20 minutes without a bite, Jocumsen pulled up his trolling motor and moved on.
Eagles were everywhere along the Mississippi River.
Anglers were running around early. Here, Justin Hamner speeds past while we were hunting for Jacob Powroznik in the delta of pool 8.
We finally caught up with Powroznik, who finished second the last time the Elite Series stopped in La Crosse, WI, in 2018.
Powroznik was working a cut off one of the main channels. The delta is a sprawling jungle of twisting bayous that look very similar to the deltas at the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
The edges of the runs are lined with submergent vegetation, emergent grass and duck seed. It just looks like there should be bass lurking about.
From the air, you can see how the water extends into the grass, providing plenty of hiding places for bass.
Powroznik slipped around a corner and disappeared into the marsh.
A bonus was having this flock of sandhill cranes fly within 20 yards of the boat.
Luke Palmer zips by on his way from one spot to another.
Just down the delta, we ran across Skylar Hamilton, who was working a point of marsh between two channels.
Greg DiPalma was fishing not far away, working a bank on a main channel through the delta. Note the eagle in the tree above DiPalma.
DiPalma soon focused on a vegetation-covered point.
DiPalma said he had four bass when we pulled up …
… and he set the hook a few minutes later on another bass.
However, this fish didn’t make the team …
… and was quickly released.
Japanese pro Takumi Ito was out on the main river channel.
He was working a soft jerkbait over a duck seed-covered flat.
The flat also had submergent vegetation, adding to the appeal for bass.
However, Ito finally picked up and headed out.
Gregory Dipalma starts his morning in the dense fog.
Dipalma gets some angler competiton on his first stop.
Justin Hamner starts his morning off pitchng a crawfish style punching bait.
Keeping the eelgrass off his lure is always a task.
The fog finally starts to lift after several hours after take-off time.
Jay Przekurat, your leading angler for rookie of the year, struggled to find fish over the 3 pound mark.
The shallow water on the Mississippi River creates havic on the maneuverability for the anglers on day one.
No matter how tough the fishing is on day one, Jay always carries that big smile.
It is time to move on to the next stop for Jay. After taking a long look at the shallow and stump-ridden water, Jay said ” looks pretty runnable to me,” then he laughed.
One of our camera boat drivers zoms by in his purple Bass Cat.
Iaconelli struggled to put a keeper in the boat by noon ,on day one of the Guaranteed Bassmaster Elite. The influx of stained water seemed to move his fish that he found in practice.
This water system is so low that getting around is much safer with a mud motor. This type of engine is air-cooled instead of water cooled. That allows you to get into very shallow water areas.

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