It was Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson who became the first Canadian angler to win the Bassmaster Classic when he caught 42 pounds, 7 ounces of smallmouth over the course of three days. For $300,000 and the coveted Bassmaster Classic Trophy, he beat his nearest competitor by only 1 pound, 8 ounces. In his own way, he did it.
Up north on Canadian waters, Gustafson’s rig is known as the Moping rig. However, he has become synonymous with it. The smelt he caught on a jighead technique they called minnow rigging, or moping, was covered in an article we wrote with Gussy more than a decade ago. On a jig and minnow rig consisting of a 1/4 to 3/8 ounce jighead and a soft jerkbait, they have mimicked dying smelt in Canada for decades on a jighead and minnow.
Gustafson cites his use of a Humminbird Mega Side Imaging, Mega 360 and Mega Live combination as key to successfully targeting fish in the Tennessee River near Knoxville. His preferred setup during both wins was a 4-inch Z-Man Jerk ShadZ in smelt colour on a Bass Tactics Smeltinator Swimbait head. G. Loomis NRX+ 872 – a 7-foot, 3-inch medium action rod – was used with Shimano Stella 3000 reeled with 10-pound PowerPro and Shimano Mastiff fluorocarbon leader.
Gussy focused intensely the first day and was able to catch a limit of 18 pounds 8 ounces within an hour. The second day, he had to work harder but managed to secure five decent smallmouth weighing 17 pounds 3 ounces, providing him with a healthy lead. Unfortunately, the final round proved to be more challenging; though Gussy cast at numerous fish, just two succumbed to his efforts – enough for him to outpace Bryan Schmidt’s final tally by a slim margin of 1 pound 8 ounces.
“I started having bad thoughts like I wasn’t going to get it done, but I stuck with it and thankfully those two fish bit and it was enough,” Gussy said. “Knoxville has been very good to me. This is my Stanley Cup. I’m not sure how we’re going to do it yet, but we’ll figure out a way to drink a toast out of this trophy with my good friends and support circle that is here with me this week.”
“I have used the same bait both times I’ve won here doing the same thing. That Z-Man Jerk ShadZ in smelt color is what I caught all my fish on this week. I knew in practice I could win with it.
“Spot-Lock is one of the greatest things ever invented,” he said. “Every time I’d catch a fish before I’d even put it in the livewell, I’d hit Spot-Lock because, a lot of times, there were other fish following it. So, Spot-Lock kept me on them.”
“When I won the Elite event here a couple years ago, I relied heavily on MEGA 360 Imaging and Humminbird 2D Sonar,” added Gustafson. ”Adding MEGA Live this week, I could still pick out rocks and other hard bottom areas on 360, but I could be much more efficient with my bait presentation and quickly learn how the fish were behaving – getting them to bite in real time.
“Those first couple days, it looked easier than it was to get those suspended fish to bite,” he added. “Between catching short fish and the fish not committing to the bait, it was tough to catch five bass a day. It got tougher and tougher each day, and you could see how the pressure affected them on the final day.”
Sources: Wired2fish
