B.A.S.S. writer Don Barone always captures his experience at Elite tournaments with words, and sometimes he sends us a pile of pictures. Here's his latest set, his favorite images from his time in La Crosse for the Diet Mountain Dew Mississippi River Rumble presented by Power-Pole. Knock...knock...
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La Crosse, Wisconsin...
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...when you see this in one of your hotel's parking lots...
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...it's a sure sign the Bassmaster Elites...
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...are visiting...
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...and getting ready for the Diet Mountain Dew Mississippi River Rumble presented by Power-Pole.
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Eh...slight detour here for a moment...
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...I happen to be a car freak...and believe it or not...
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...a car exactly like this 1954 Chevy, was the first car I ever rode in, my parents had a car like this when I was born and it sort of freaked me out when I saw it in the parking lot for...
...registration of the La Crosse Elite event...
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...where this trophy was up for grabs.
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Love this photo because it looks like so many different things, except of course what it is...a massive close up of a huge ceiling light that lit up Elite registration in the hotel meeting room where...
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...my great friend James Niggemeyer was given a gift for the volunteer work did here in the city last year.
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A shout out because these dudes help keep the sport you love afloat...
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...like Livingston Lures...that dude showing those folks the lure thing, that's Erick...big sponsor of B.A.S.S. but even more importantly...their trailer is Air Conditioned and the dudes let me sit inside it when it's brutally hot outside...they even give me all the hot dogs I can eat...hope Barb doesn't read that last part...
Photo: Don Barone
...Bassmaster Magazine, join up with B.A.S.S. and they send that mag to you, then go to Bass Pro Shops and buy the stuff you read about....the Circle of Advertising right there...
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...check out how big that tire is and...
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...how this is the only way you can clean the hood...
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...of the amazing tricked out Toyota Tundra ultimate fishing truck that was designed and built for Toyota by Elite angler Britt Myers.
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Not a B.A.S.S. title sponsor...but quite possibly one of mine.
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To me, this...
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...is what the sport...
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...is all about...
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...the children who come to watch...
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...come to get autographs from the anglers, but the sport is also about...
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...families...ours...
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...and the fan's. BTW, thats Gerald Swindle getting his photo taken with a fan and his child...but if you have time go back and read the story I did with the G-man at this event...the story is called, The Catch...
Photo: Don Barone
...and while you are at it check out the story about this young lady, Bella Grace Cherry, Hank Cherry's baby daughter who...
Photo: Don Barone
... someday will be standing on a dock waiting for daddy like Elite angler Ott DeFoe's daughter, Abby or like...
Photo: Don Barone
...Vegas Iaconnelli...who is following in the footsteps of Daddy...that story will be up later this week.
Photo: Don Barone
Thank you LaCrosse for the great crowds...here they line the bank watching Fred Roumbanis come in for a weigh-in along with...
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...the Cajun Baby, Cliff Crochet who has had a great year so far and who is currently sitting in 6th place for Angler of the Year just a few points behind...
Photo: Don Barone
...this dude, my bud Skeet Reese who is sitting in 2nd place in the AOY race with...
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...this dude, KVD, in sort of an iconic photo, sitting in 3rd place in the AOY race.
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My great friend on the tour, K-Pink, Kevin Short who had a good tournament but who's photo is in here so that I can publicly apologize about forgetting to be at a fried chicken dinner his wife Kerry had invited me to...sorry, sorry, sorry...
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...sorry here too. Brandon Palaniuk, pretty much an adopted son to me on the tour, was leading the whole shindig when...
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...he went over a line and broke a rule and was DQ'ed which pretty much cost him winning the event...
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...I wrote him an open letter about it that pretty much said, nothing is as bad as it seems, nothing is as good as it seems...but also in life son, know where your feet are, and where they should and shouldn't be.
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Many times you hear B.A.S.S say they cover the event from all angles, well here's...
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...proof...
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...lots of press at the event, this is Terry Brown one of the guru's over at Wired2Fish interviewing Randy Howell...
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...and this, this, is a media guy interviewing himself and making a point of it.
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When I first saw this, whatever it is freaked me out but...
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...I'm better now. Have no idea what it is, or...you know...why.
Photo: Don Barone
One of the classiest ladies in the biz, Noreen Clough who is retiring from her position at B.A.S.S as National Conservation Director. I sat down with her and did an interview for a story that will run soon, and all I could think of was how lucky we are to have someone like her who has spent a lifetime caring for the animals on this planet,
Photo: Don Barone
Edwin Evers, great dude, one of the best anglers out here, ended up 11th in this event, but #1 in Angler of the Year race...
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Aaron Martens had a great tournament, came in second, one of my dear friends out there and, trust me on this, I have been around sports a long time now, and Aaron is as close to a natural in this sport as you can get, great angler, but even...
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...a better family man, that lady smiling there in the center of the photo, that's his wife, Leslie...without a doubt, Aaron's best catch.
Photo: Don Barone
In the end, this dude, Tommy Biffle won the tournament by 3 or so pounds over Aaron, it was Tommy's 4th Elite series win...and it punched a ticket for him to the 2014 Bassmaster Classic...nice job dude....but as I was leaving LaCrosse I caught...
Photo: Don Barone
...this shot. And I knew it to be a message from the universe wishing us all well as we leave LaCrosse and head to our next stop, New York, and the St. Lawrence River Showdown to chase the next...pot of gold.
Photo: Don Barone
