LA CROSSE, Wis. — When it was announced that Old Milwaukee was presenting a Bassmaster Bass Trek Challenge on the Upper Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis., the field filled up quickly. The no-entry fee tournament took place Saturday, October 18 at Veterans Freedom Park in La Crosse.
This is where the Bassmaster Elite Series pros launched for their tournament here in June of 2013. Oklahoma’s Tommy Biffle won by sacking four five-fish limits of mainly smallmouth bass.
The unique challenge with the Bass Trek tournament was that each team could bring in only two bass. One had to be a largemouth and the other a smallmouth. If a team failed to catch both species, they could not weigh in.
Thanks to the abundance of smallmouth and largemouth bass in the Upper Mississippi River, catching both species isn’t a daunting task. However, catching two sizable bass was during the Bass Trek event.
This far north, the peak of the fall feeding spree was already over, as was the shallow frog bite for largemouths. The bass were still in a feeding mode, but they were moving toward their deep wintering holes.
Even so, most of the competitors believed it would take at least 8 pounds to win and that it could take as much as 10 pounds. Given the 5 hours that were allotted for this one-day tournament, those predictions proved too optimistic.
When the bass hit the scales Saturday afternoon, the team of Chia Vang and Jeff Bye clinched victory and $2,000 with 7.46 pounds. Their catch was anchored by a rotund 5.42-pound smallmouth.
“We were fishing channel drops on the main river 10 to 15 feet deep for the smallmouths,” Vang said.
They landed about 20 brown bass by Carolina rigging a Reaction Innovations Sweat Beaver. Their only largemouth came by casting a SPRO Aruku Shad lipless rattling crankbait to a stretch of riprap.
Jimmy Johnson and Dan Thill nabbed second place and $1,000 with two bass that weighed 7.36 pounds. They invested 4 hours of their tournament day culling through largemouths in hopes of getting a kicker. Their kicker came in the last hour when they targeted smallmouth and netted one that weighed over 4 pounds.
Small swimbaits and a Lethal Weapon Swim Jig produced their bites. The largemouths were holding on rocky structures 10 to 15 feet deep. The smallmouth came from a sandy bottom on the main river 5 feet deep.
Dan and Josh Mohn finished third with 6.88 pounds and earned $500. They caught most of their bass by running Strike King Series 3 crankbaits over rocks, wood and sandy spots in 3 to 8 feet of water.
After the weigh-in, the anglers were treated to stacks of pizzas and Old Milwaukee memorabilia that included t-shirts, ball caps, sunglasses and beer coolers. Prior to takeoff that morning, there were also trays of cinnamon rolls and plenty of hot coffee free for the taking.
The Bass Trek celebration began the night before at Tom Sawyer’s Bar & Grill in La Crosse. Bass Trek competitors were invited to gather at this establishment for fellowship, free Old Milwaukee Beer, Old Milwaukee memorabilia and more.
A large deck on the back of Tom Sawyer’s Bar & Grill was the meeting place. It was well populated with Bass Trek anglers that evening.
Three Old Milwaukee Girls were on hand to help pass out memorabilia and mix with the anglers. The Girls also helped with drawings for prizes. One prize was a chance to fish with Elite Series pro Chad Pipkens the next day. Jeff Holthans was the lucky angler. The outing with Pipkens would be for fun, as they would not be fishing in the tournament.
Other drawings were for an eight-day trip to Mexico and a three-day trip to Las Vegas. These prizes were presented by Tom Sawyer’s Bar & Grill, which is something they do often.
DJ John Stevenson from Kicks 106.3 radio was on hand to promote the event. There was a $250 prize from Old Milwaukee for whoever came closest to guessing the winning weight without going over it. The anglers wrote their estimates on a ticket and placed them in a box. The winner will be announced soon.
See 83 photos from the event here.