LA CROSSE, Wis. — Carl Jocumsen had to hold his breath backstage Sunday. At least Brock Mosley had a chance to compete. Both were on the cusp of Bassmaster Classic qualifications in the ninth and final tournament of the season, and both couldn’t help but think about all the crucial fish that came unhooked over the course of the year.
“It’s been pretty miserable because I’ve had the fish hooked up to have a really good year,” said Mosley, 34, who has five second-place finishes on the Elite Series and three Bassmaster Classic qualifications. “Frustrating would be the best word.”
Jocumsen, the 38-year-old native Australian, has been dreaming about being on the Bassmaster Classic stage since he was a kid. He’d been on the verge of qualifying all season long, but he saw his chances fade after missing the Day 2 cut Saturday by less than two pounds after he fell one bass short of a limit. Jocumsen had started the day in 21st place and fell to 56th.
When the Day 3 standings were finalized Sunday and the Progressive Insurance Angler of the Year points were set for all but the final 10 anglers competing Monday, Mosley was in 42nd place, after his 11th place finish at La Crosse, and Jocumsen was in 43rd – the final two spots for Bassmaster Classic qualification. That list could grow past 43, depending upon the results of the final four Bassmaster Opens, but it can’t shrink. Mosley and Jocumsen are in the 2023 Classic.
“It’s hard to explain how I feel,” said Jocumsen, who fished his first Open in 2011, made the Elite Series in 2014, didn’t requalify after the 2016 season, then requalified through the Opens in 2018. “It doesn’t seem real because it’s been such a long journey. I’m at a loss for words.”
Earlier in the week, he said, “Twenty years ago and almost every single day since then, I can almost get tears thinking about making the Bassmaster Classic, an Aussie kid standing on that stage. I heard a quote this week, ‘What’s meant for you will not pass you up.’”
Jocumsen and Mosley weren’t passed up, but both men suffered through seasons of the ultimate frustration in bass fishing: You locate the right fish, you hook the right fish and those fish come unhooked before you land them – again and again, and again.
“It seems like that’s been every event – losing fish,” said Mosley, who missed the Day 2/Top 47 cut in five of the first six tournaments, after competing for Angler of Year the last two seasons, finishing 4th in 2020 and 14th in 2021. “Surviving this year and making the Classic is remarkable. During the season, it seemed like I couldn’t do anything right.”
Jocumsen had the same lament – losing key fish near the boat that came unhooked, repeatedly.
“Everyone loses fish, I get it,” Jocumsen said. “I don’t generally lose fish. It’s not been a problem in my career. This year every single crucial fish came off. It kind of started at Chickamauga where two fish basically cost me a win. If I land those two fish, I win the event on a glide bait, which had never been done. Basically, that happened three events in a row. At the St. Lawrence River a five-pounder falls off at my fingertips, and I miss the cut by two ounces.”
All those frustrations for Mosley and Jocumsen faded into relief when the AOY points were totaled Sunday.
There is so much knowledge and skill required to succeed at this level of competitive bass fishing. And there are also some seasons where, no matter your skill level, the inexplicable just keeps happening – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
This story won’t end without an example of the former. Tyler Rivet, a 28-year-old, fourth-year pro from Raceland, La., finished 25th in the AOY standings.
“Everything came in the boat just like it was supposed to,” he said of his season. “You know how it goes. A lot of times in tough tournaments you’ll go, ‘I lost that four-pounder or I lost that five-pounder.’ But this year those fours and fives came right in. I had a few fish that came off, but nothing I can still remember.
“It was fun this year. It wasn’t stressful. When it’s your time to do good, it’s your time. Like today, I just threw my bait behind the boat and caught a three-pounder in dirty water. I was just trying to get a backlash out.”
