When he fished his first tournament with his dad at ten years of age, no one would have expected what was to follow. At age 14 he started to guide out of Ash Rapids Camp on Lake of the Woods. This experience was to the lay the foundation for what was going to follow. After finishing high school he got a degree from the University of Manitoba. Gussy says with that out of the way it was time to get back in the saddle with the guiding. He loved to fish and he loved to fish tournaments. As time went on he started winning pretty much every tournament at one time or another in his part of the world.
From these tournaments, he met some of the best bass anglers in the world. He was good friends with the Lindners and many others. He then went on to fish the FLW tour in the U.S. Three years ago when the FLW came under new ownership and format he was lucky enough to be recruited for the Bass Master Elite Series. Under normal circumstances it could take years to qualify for this prestigious tournament circuit.
Check out the interview with Gussy just prior to his win here.
In his first year he qualified for the Bassmaster Classic, the Superbowl of bass fishing. In his second, he did it again. With the pandemic putting things on hold for six months, the Classic will now be held in June in Texas.
Fast forward to this past week. Gussy was in Tennessee for another Elite Series event. In his own words, he had a terrible practice, then something funny happened along way. He, mostly by accident, found a school of big smallmouth bass at the end of his last practice day. On Day One he went 35 miles downriver to this small area and fished it for four days. The end result? Gussy won his first ever Bassmaster Elite event, leading all four days, all with five fish limit of smallmouth bass over 18 inches. That is the minimum size limit on that body of water and all the other anglers in the field didn’t really think it could be done. Gussy won by over seven pounds, cashing a cheque for $100,000 U.S.
HOW DID GUSSY MAKE IT HAPPEN?
In his interview after the event, Gussy said he learned this technique from Jim and Bill Lindner after they won the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship two years in a row (2004, 2005). They were using a technique that they named “moping”. It involves hanging a jig tipped with a soft plastic minnow underneath the boat at the level just above where the fish are at and just holding it still until a fish cracks it. You want to keep the bait above the fish. This is key to the system. (Sound like ice fishing?)
Eventually the word got out on how these guys were catching these fish and other anglers began experiencing success catching suspended fish using this technique.
Moping is hard for some anglers to figure out because most folks want to move their rod and jig their bait. The key to this technique is to hold the bait as still as possible. When a fish bites it, they just about rip the rod out of your hand. Anglers need to understand that the waters where this technique works are clear and these fish can see your bait from a lot farther away than you think they can.
THE FINAL KEY
Finally, the last key to the system is to use a heavy ¼ or 3/8 oz. jig, which keeps the bait below the boat and from moving around a whole lot. Jeff used the Z Man 4 inch Jerk Shad on a 3/8 ounce Smeltinater Jig head. Gussy says he tries to keep his bait underneath his sonar transducer as well so that he can watch where most of the fish are in the water column and for fish taking a run at his bait and then be ready when they strike.
Jeff has penned many articles on this technique and others on the Hooked website or in Hooked Magazine. For articles by Jeff, do a search under his name. If you want to keep up what is happening in this part of the world make sure you visit us on a regular basis.