MEETING THE PROS
The sun finally decided to shine and the temperature climbed to above 20 Celsius (mid 70F) as all 55 qualifiers for the Classic gathered for Media Day. This is the culmination of the year for these pros and the thousands of fans who are gathering to follow the three days of competition.
Darrin Bohonis and I arrived early just to make sure we were on time. Gussy was our first stop, but he was busy tying on lures so we left him alone. It was key to let him get his work done. Our first four interviews were with the other Canadians that qualified.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
During the interviews I wanted to vary the questions with the main theme being the strong Canadian presence at the Classic this year. First up was Cory Johnson.
Then we headed over to his brother Chris at the other end of the parking lot.
Chris was also tying on some lures that he was planning to use tomorrow. He likes Gussy’s chances as do a lot of other competitors.
Next up was Cooper Gallant, the newest Canadian to qualify. Cooper qualified by winning a Bassmaster Open event this past year.
Gussy’s friend Carl Jocumsen, who now lives near Knoxville, is pretty confident on his chances in this year’s event.
If you subscribe to Hooked you would have seen the story Gussy wrote about his trip with Carl to Australia which he shows off here!
So now our talk with Gussy, who had media lined up all afternoon long to tell his story. It was a confident angler we spoke with.
With the change in the weather it could bring up a shallow pre spawn bite that might dramatically change how things shake out. The forecast is for highs in the mid 20C (70F) with mostly sunny conditions.
Tomorrow Darrin and I will be out on the water from noon until 2 pm checking up on the action happening. You can follow all the action live from the water by going to the Bassmaster Classic webpage at
https://www.bassmaster.com/tournament/2023-academy-sports-outdoors-bassmaster-classic/