Kenora’s Jeff Gustafson made history on Sunday by becoming the first Canadian to win the Bassmaster Classic
Gustafson’s win was so dominant he took title during the final weigh-in with only two fish, for a total of 12, versus his closest competitors having 15, during this weekend's competition in Knoxville, Tenn.
“That's my Stanley Cup right there,” Gustafson said while on stage accepting the trophy, which also comes with a $300,000 U.S. prize.
After the first two days, Gustafson was so far ahead, that many of his competitors basically conceded that it would take a disaster for him to not win.
“The first two days went as perfect as they could be. But I knew I didn't have a lot of spots so I knew that [Sunday] was going to be a lot tougher.
It was a roller coaster because the first two days, everything was perfect and then yesterday it was far from far from perfect,” he said during a phone interview with Dougall Media during his 21-hour drive back to Kenora on Monday.
He said it still hasn’t really sunk in and that he had about 1,000 messages waiting for him on his phone.
Sunday proved to be challenging for all the competitors.
“That was one of the hardest days of my life. I mean, since six o'clock this morning, my heart has been [racing] and I fished my butt off,” he said.
“I looked at 100 fish today on my [fish finder] and they were hard to catch. It was the sun, there was the pressure and thankfully two of them bit my bait.”
Gustafson said he didn’t feel confident on the ride back, but credited his camera guy for helping to calm him.
“It was great spending the time with him this weekend and he kind of consoled me a little bit, but I didn't feel like I was even going to be close or had a chance,” he said.
He explained that he felt horrible on the hour-long boat ride back to the check in.
“Like all the way back. I just felt like I blew this amazing opportunity that I had,” he said. “And then when I got back, my camera guy said ‘you're actually probably going to win. You're in good shape, but it's going to be close and you didn't totally blow it.’”
“So once I knew that I had a chance, I felt better. It was still very stressful,” Gustafson said. “Obviously, I knew it was going to kind of come down to probably ounces and that can go either way.
It worked out in my favor this time and I finished second or missed getting a cheque in a lot of tournaments by ounces. You kind of catch both sides of that. This was a good one to come out on the right side of it.”
“Thankfully the first two days I caught enough to buy me some breathing room [Sunday].”
“I get my butt whipped by these guys all the time.,” he said. “So it feels good to be the boss after this one.”
Gustafson said he used a fishing technique that is really popular in Northwestern Ontario for bass fishing and catching walleye as well.
He said he uses a little four-inch a soft plastic, minnow imitator developed by Bryan Gustafson [no relation] who owns Lake of the Woods Sports Headquarters in Kenora and actually traveled with him for support.
“He actually makes the jig heads that I was using in the tournament,” he said. “It was just something I was comfortable doing. And it was a really good bait on this particular body of water where we had the tournament.”
Jeff Gustafson’s partner, Shelby, also from Kenora, usually accompanies him to most tournaments said she was so proud of him.
“I knew he had such a stressful day out there and I knew it was probably one of the worst days of his life thinking that he lost it. But that it was about to turn into the best, it made it that much sweeter,” she said. “The affirmation of that with a long career and it means everything.”
When asked on stage about what it’s like coming from a small town in Northern Ontario to the biggest stage in bass fishing, Gustafson said, “Oh, man, it's been a wild ride.”
“I'm only here because I'm a regular guy. I had a lot of help to get here,” he said, thanking his sponsors.
“I wouldn't be out here [without them] and my whole career has been in a Lund boat and that's my office and I love that thing."
Gustafson credited his dad and grandfather who took him fishing when he was a kid.
“And you know, if no one takes kids fishing, they're never going to go,” he said.
“So take your kids, your neighbour's kids, your buddy's kids and dreams can come true.”
Gustafson said competitive fishing may make them relocate closer to the tournaments.
We've considered it because it's a lot of travel [to get to] most of the tournaments in the southern U.S.” he said. “I don't know how long I'll do this for, but for the foreseeable future, it's my job. Tennessee is pretty central to the schedule and where a lot of the places that we fish. So, at some point, maybe that would be something that we do.”
But he said Kenora is home, and they’ll always have a place in Kenora. “We love the summers up there,” he said.
