Jeff Gustafson has two things going for him today as he tries to cap a wire-to-wire victory doing something no one thought possible – catch four-straight limits of 18-inch-minimum smallmouth bass at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at the Tennessee River.
The first one is obvious. The 38-year-old third-year Elite Series pro from Keewatin, Ontario, Canada, is the best Damiki rig angler in this field. Elite Series emcee Dave Mercer described Gustafson’s expertise in this technique as simply this: You could be standing on the boat deck, side by side with Gustafson and he would be catching fish while you caught nothing.
It’s the combination of Damiki rigging – a simple soft plastic bait on a jighead fished straight down – and current that has made Gustafson untouchable for the first three days of this tournament.
Let Seth Feider, Gustafson’s frequent roommate on the road, explain: “He’s doing what he does best. He’s probably one of the best guys in the country doing what he’s doing now. There were guys all around him the first couple of days of the tournament, there’s fish all over, they did not get a bite and he’s catching them right and left.
“There’s a real art to what he’s doing, especially in current. It’s easy to do in a lake. He’s keeping his bait just above the bottom, getting the fish to come up to it. But he’s doing it in pretty good current. He’s having to chase his bait around with his trolling motor so he can keep his bait in the (sonar) cone. It’s really hard to do in current. He catches a lot of fish doing this back home. It’s one of his strong suits.”
Gustafson’s other asset? Karma. Gustafson is known as an all-star of a good guy.
“He’s probably the best dude on planet Earth,” Feider said. “He’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. You’ll never hear about him poaching on somebody or doing anything like that. He’s right as rain.”