Early last week Publisher Kevin Stobbe and I got to spend a day on the Winnipeg River with top bass pro Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson. Jeff was in between tournaments on the Fishing League World circuit (FLW) and wanted to get a little practice in on some river smallmouth before he left for the last tournament on this year’s circuit. It is being held on the Potomac River outside of Washington D.C. this weekend. Gussy needs a good finish to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup for the second year in a row. He is currently in 41st place.
We launched Gussy’s new aluminum bass boat on the Winnipeg River in Keewatin and headed north towards Minaki. His mission on this day was to fish some totally new water, targeting smallmouth bass. We found the bass along with walleye and pike on shallow rock, sand shorelines and caught them on small natural colour swimbaits. We used a variety from a number of different companies including Northland, Jackal and one I hadn’t seen before, Keitech. All were fished off of small 1/8 ounce black or straight grey jigheads. All in all we had a great day on the water with one of the best bass anglers in North America.
Jeff has fine tuned his approach to catching fish to an elite tournament level. His every action in the boat is precise, from his casts to his tying on lures. When he decides to move you better get your line in because the troll motor is up and big motor started in less than 10 seconds. All this is geared toward trying to compete on one of the largest bass circuits in the world. He knows the value of every second, and if he needs to retie a lure, his hands are a blur. We at Hooked Magazine appreciate having Jeff as a regular contributor and i bet our readers do too! Thanks Jeff and good luck in making the Forrest Wood Cup!