KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — What species are you going to target, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass or both? That’s the big decision the 55 anglers in the 53rd annual Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota will have answered over the previous practice days. And their answers vary widely.
“I’d like to have one or two smallmouths in my bag in the morning,” Cory Johnston said. “That’s my game plan. Could I get lucky and catch five of them? I think so. Could I catch none? Absolutely.
“I like to catch smallmouth and smallmouth are going to play a big role here. I’m only going to spend maybe 25 percent of my day fishing for smallmouth. And I feel like they’re bigger now than they’ve ever been here. I don’t know what’s changed, but the ones you do catch here are big and fat. They look like Lake Ontario fish.”
At first glance, it might seem like an easy choice to concentrate on smallmouth bass. However, a legal smallmouth must measure at least 18 inches in length, according to Tennessee regulations. A legal largemouth requires only 15 inches in length.
“Those guys that think they’re going to win this thing with smallmouth, it’s a tall order to catch five 18-inch smallmouth a day,” said Brandon Lester. “I’m from Tennessee. I know how hard that is.”
However, Jeff Gustafson did just that – over four days – in winning an Elite Series tournament here Feb. 25-28 in 2021. Gustafson had one unlikely spot to himself in doing so. That spot is well known now. In fact, local anglers have been all over it ever since.
“It seems like that canal is a pretty popular spot,” said Gustafson, with a knowing smile of understatement. “And it’s to be expected. I was down there a little (in practice). There’s still some fish in there. They’re a lot harder to catch. I’m definitely going to put in a bit of time there, but it’s probably not going to be my main program.”
Smallmouth bass will continue to be Gustafson’s main program.
“For me to win, I’ve got to catch 15 smallmouths – 100 percent,” he said. “So that’s how I’m going to fish. I don’t love the weather. I think if it stayed cold, it would be more helpful to me. But I don’t think it’s going to change the offshore fishing that much.”
Gustafson said the water surface temperature was 48 to 50 degrees when he won in late February. It’s 52 to 54 degrees now.
Greg Hackney, who is fishing in his 17th Bassmaster Classic, believes the winner is more likely to have a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth. Ott DeFoe weighed both species when he won with 49 pounds, 3 ounces in the 2019 Classic held here in mid-March.
“I do think it will be really hard for a guy to win here with all largemouth,” Hackney said. “I think all smallmouth can win this tournament. I don’t think all largemouth can. If you catch largemouth, you need to catch a couple of smallmouth every day to go with them. There are a lot more 3- to 4-pound smallmouth than there are 3- to 4-pound largemouth.
“I’m not saying it’s impossible for a guy to win here on three days of largemouth. But it’s so much easier if he can catch a couple of 18 ½-inch smallmouth. These fish are really healthy right now.”
Jason Christie is the defending Bassmaster Classic champion. He finished 40th in the 2019 Classic at Knoxville. He was 9th at the 2021 Elite Series event here.
“I think it’s going to play out real, real similar to what it did in ’19,” said Christie when asked how he expected it would be won this week. “A guy may catch 20 pounds one day. The next day he may catch 12. The last day he may catch 17. I think it’s going to be like that.”
As a point of reference, Ott DeFoe’s totals were as follows: Day 1 – 20-0, Day 2 – 10-5, Day 3 – 18-14. And, as mentioned earlier, he did have some smallmouth bass in those three-day totals, but he weighed primarily largemouth bass.
