Gustafson Will Take Big Lead Into Day 4

By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff

With a five-bass limit that weighed 15-05 on Saturday, Jeff Gustafson held onto the lead for the third straight day at the Tennessee River Bassmaster Elite Series. The Canadian pro has a three-day total of 48-13, potentially setting himself up for his first career tour-level victory.

Gustafson holds nearly an 8-pound advantage over Steve Kennedy, who rebounded on day 3 with a 20-14 bag of largemouth that lifted him from 19th to 2nd place with a three-day total of 40-15.

Unlike the previous day, when he suffered through a couple of lulls and struggled to land his fifth keeper, Gustafson caught fish for most of the day Saturday, filling his limit of 18-inch smallmouth within the first hour.

“I went right back to my best spot where I caught all my fish yesterday and it took about 40 minutes to get my limit and yesterday it took me all day,” he said. “The 18-inch thing is tough. I caught a lot of 17-inchers today. I threw a 13-pound bag of those back. You have to get the right ones.”

Using the same technique as the previous two days, the Keewatin, Ontario native expanded his area and caught quality fish, culling twice around midday. He added that he felt a few more bass have moved into his “juice” spot.

“With all the current happening, those fish are moving around and hopefully there will be a little batch of them tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of those little flurries and it happens quick. Hopefully it happens again tomorrow.”

During the afternoon, Gustafson said he made a couple of big drifts searching for more bass, catching one or two occasionally but never going back over his best spot. With dams along the Tennessee River open to account for the heavy rain pushing through the area, the current in Gustafson’s spot has ratcheted up and he isn’t sure exactly how that will affect his bite.

If he is able to pull off the wire-to-wire victory, he will become just the second Canadian angler to win a Bassmaster Elite Series event. The first was Chris Johnston, who claimed his first title on the St. Lawrence River in 2020.

“I’m very confident there are five there for me, I just have to catch them,” Gustafson said. “I’m in a good spot and have a good program going and I just have to do my job tomorrow. I’m going to have three spinning rods on the deck and that’s going to be how it goes.”

After catching just two bass Friday, Kennedy recovered in a big way Saturday with the biggest bag of the tournament.

The jig he was throwing on day 1 failed to produce on the second or third days, so Kennedy switched techniques on Saturday and found the big bites he needed to jump into the cut. He's fishing for bass migrating into pre-spawn areas.

“Yesterday was 45 (degrees) and raining and I didn’t feel like they would be up there shallow, but everyone caught them and so I had to figure out how to catch them,” Kennedy said. “They called me on (Bassmaster) LIVE after I caught a 4-pounder. I went around the curve and caught a 4-pounder.”

As he was ready to make a move, the Bassmaster LIVE crew called Kennedy via Skype again – and again, the call proved to be a good-luck charm.

“I was ready to leave. It took forever to talk to them,” he said. “So, I went around the corner and there was one tree that I had run the boat over top of that I didn’t get a good cast to. I was talking to them and made one cast and caught that huge fish on LIVE.

“I kept wondering when they were going to call me again.”

The 6-05 largemouth earned the Auburn, Ala., resident the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day and clued him in to the type of water he needed to be fishing. He culled several more times to reach the 20-pound mark, the first angler to do so in this event.

“They are moving, obviously,” he said. “The main river is 47 degrees, the creeks are 52 or 53. They are wanting to move in but the water dropped. Some were coming in and some were coming out. I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.”

Floridian John Cox caught 14-03 to jump from 5th to 3rd heading into the final day with a three-day total of 38-01. Cox caught two fish earlier in the day when the water temperature was still low, both of which were barely hooked.

“It fell to that 51, 52 range and I haven’t been catching anything on that Berkley Frittside until about 53 degrees. So, I kind of started off and I could feel it bump fish and every once in a while one would swat at it. The first one I caught, one little bit of the hook got him.

“I lost a really good one and then I came back an hour later to where I lost that good one and hooked it again. They weren’t eating. Once that water temperature rose to about 53, I caught the rest of my keepers.”

The water temperature has been key for Cox, who has had very little success with temperatures below 53 degrees.

“(Today) I knew the water was going to be kind of cold, but I didn’t know how cold,” he said. “It’s just so dead until the temperatures start rising and then they start swimming into the area.

“The crappie are coming in, the bass are coming in. It’s really cool to watch them come in there.”

The Frittside has been the bait of choice for Cox, an angler who historically hasn’t thrown crankbaits, after he realized every fish he weighed-in on day 1 came on the bait.

“A lot of them weren’t hooked good. They would swat at it and I would get them,” he said. “I ruled out the ChatterBait and everything that they had to actually take.”

The Top 10 anglers will compete for $100,000 in the final round starting at 7 a.m. ET from Volunteer Landing in Knoxville, Tenn. Anglers will check in at 3 p.m. and weigh in shortly after at World’s Fair Park Performance Lawn.

Day 3 Standings

1. Jeff Gustafson -- Keewatin, ON -- 15, 48-13 -- 100
Day 1: 5, 17-14 -- Day 2: 5, 15-10 -- Day 3: 5, 15-05

2. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 12, 40-15 -- 99 -- $1,000
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 2, 06-01 -- Day 3: 5, 20-14

3. John Cox -- Debary, FL -- 15, 38-01 -- 98
Day 1: 5, 09-14 -- Day 2: 5, 14-00 -- Day 3: 5, 14-03

4. Brandon Card -- Salisbury, NC -- 13, 36-05 -- 97 -- $1,000
Day 1: 5, 13-13 -- Day 2: 5, 16-10 -- Day 3: 3, 05-14

5. Jake Whitaker -- Fairview, NC -- 14, 34-11 -- 96
Day 1: 4, 10-15 -- Day 2: 5, 11-02 -- Day 3: 5, 12-10

6. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 13, 34-07 -- 95 -- $1,000
Day 1: 5, 13-00 -- Day 2: 5, 14-10 -- Day 3: 3, 06-13

7. John Crews Jr -- Salem, VA -- 15, 33-02 -- 94
Day 1: 5, 13-14 -- Day 2: 5, 08-01 -- Day 3: 5, 11-03

8. Hunter Shryock -- Ooltewah, TN -- 15, 32-14 -- 93
Day 1: 5, 08-15 -- Day 2: 5, 12-11 -- Day 3: 5, 11-04

9. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, OK -- 15, 32-08 -- 92
Day 1: 5, 09-10 -- Day 2: 5, 12-03 -- Day 3: 5, 10-11

10. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 13, 32-05 -- 91
Day 1: 5, 12-01 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 3, 07-00

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not fish on day 4.

11. David Fritts -- Lexington, NC -- 13, 31-05 -- 90 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 06-10 -- Day 2: 4, 09-11 -- Day 3: 5, 15-00

12. Bob Downey -- Hudson, WI -- 14, 31-04 -- 89 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-12 -- Day 2: 5, 10-03 -- Day 3: 4, 10-05

13. Keith Combs -- Huntington, TX -- 14, 31-02 -- 88 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 09-10 -- Day 2: 5, 08-15 -- Day 3: 5, 12-09

14. Justin Hamner -- Northport, AL -- 14, 30-11 -- 87 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-09 -- Day 2: 5, 11-00 -- Day 3: 4, 08-02

15. Scott Canterbury -- Odenville, AL -- 12, 30-10 -- 86 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-14 -- Day 2: 5, 12-01 -- Day 3: 2, 07-11

16. Bernie Schultz -- Gainesville, FL -- 11, 29-14 -- 85 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 10-03 -- Day 2: 3, 07-02 -- Day 3: 4, 12-09

17. Matt Robertson -- Kuttawa, KY -- 14, 29-12 -- 84 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 07-03 -- Day 2: 5, 10-00 -- Day 3: 5, 12-09

18. Ray Hanselman Jr -- Del Rio, TX -- 14, 29-11 -- 83 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 12-00 -- Day 2: 5, 09-12 -- Day 3: 4, 07-15

19. Caleb Sumrall -- New Iberia, LA -- 12, 29-06 -- 82 -- $10,000
Day 1: 2, 04-08 -- Day 2: 5, 13-14 -- Day 3: 5, 11-00

20. Ed Loughran III -- Richmond, VA -- 15, 29-06 -- 81 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-03 -- Day 2: 5, 10-04 -- Day 3: 5, 09-15

21. Taku Ito -- Chiba, JAPAN -- 14, 29-05 -- 80 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-14 -- Day 2: 5, 12-06 -- Day 3: 4, 07-01

22. Brandon Cobb -- Greenwood, SC -- 9, 28-13 -- 79 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 08-11 -- Day 2: 3, 13-07 -- Day 3: 2, 06-11

23. Patrick Walters -- Summerville, SC -- 15, 28-12 -- 78 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-01 -- Day 2: 5, 08-13 -- Day 3: 5, 11-14

24. Clifford Pirch -- Payson, AZ -- 13, 28-01 -- 77 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 05-07 -- Day 2: 5, 13-15 -- Day 3: 5, 08-11

25. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, FL -- 12, 27-10 -- 76 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-07 -- Day 2: 5, 13-07 -- Day 3: 2, 03-12

26. Jamie Hartman -- Newport, NY -- 11, 26-04 -- 75 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 06-14 -- Day 2: 5, 14-10 -- Day 3: 2, 04-12

27. Pat Schlapper -- Eleva, WI -- 13, 26-04 -- 74 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 08-02 -- Day 2: 5, 08-12 -- Day 3: 5, 09-06

28. Derek Hudnall -- Denham Springs, LA -- 12, 25-01 -- 73 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 04-13 -- Day 2: 5, 11-02 -- Day 3: 4, 09-02

29. Seth Feider -- New Market, MN -- 13, 24-03 -- 72 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 05-09 -- Day 2: 5, 09-01 -- Day 3: 5, 09-09

30. Drew Cook -- Cairo, GA -- 11, 23-12 -- 71 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-01 -- Day 2: 2, 05-15 -- Day 3: 4, 07-12

31. Mark Menendez -- Paducah, KY -- 11, 23-11 -- 70 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-11 -- Day 2: 5, 10-10 -- Day 3: 1, 01-06

32. Lee Livesay -- Longview, TX -- 12, 23-09 -- 69 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-03 -- Day 2: 3, 08-02 -- Day 3: 4, 07-04

33. Frank Talley -- Temple, TX -- 11, 22-03 -- 68 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-02 -- Day 2: 4, 07-08 -- Day 3: 2, 03-09

34. Gerald Swindle -- Guntersville, AL -- 10, 22-00 -- 67 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-01 -- Day 2: 1, 02-14 -- Day 3: 4, 08-01

35. Koby Kreiger -- Alva, FL -- 11, 22-00 -- 66 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 05-10 -- Day 2: 5, 10-04 -- Day 3: 3, 06-02

36. Kyle Welcher -- Opelika, AL -- 12, 21-15 -- 65 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 04-07 -- Day 2: 5, 12-08 -- Day 3: 4, 05-00

37. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 11, 21-14 -- 64 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-06 -- Day 2: 3, 04-13 -- Day 3: 3, 05-11

38. Todd Auten -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 9, 21-12 -- 63 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 08-08 -- Day 2: 3, 07-10 -- Day 3: 2, 05-10

39. Gregory DiPalma -- Millville, NJ -- 12, 20-13 -- 62 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-04 -- Day 2: 3, 04-07 -- Day 3: 4, 07-02

40. David Mullins -- Mt Carmel, TN -- 10, 20-10 -- 61 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-13 -- Day 2: 4, 07-04 -- Day 3: 1, 03-09

41. Shane LeHew -- Catawba, NC -- 12, 20-10 -- 60 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 04-11 -- Day 2: 5, 08-07 -- Day 3: 4, 07-08

42. Chad Morgenthaler -- Reeds Spring, MO -- 8, 20-00 -- 59 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 07-09 -- Day 2: 4, 12-07 -- Day 3: 0, 00-00

43. Bill Lowen -- Brookville, IN -- 9, 19-09 -- 58 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-00 -- Day 2: 3, 06-13 -- Day 3: 1, 01-12

44. Bryan New -- Belmont, NC -- 9, 19-05 -- 57 -- $10,000
Day 1: 1, 02-01 -- Day 2: 5, 12-01 -- Day 3: 3, 05-03

45. Cory Johnston -- Cavan, ON -- 8, 18-09 -- 56 -- $10,000
Day 1: 4, 11-03 -- Day 2: 3, 05-04 -- Day 3: 1, 02-02

46. Skylar Hamilton -- Dandridge, TN -- 7, 18-04 -- 55 -- $10,000
Day 1: 1, 01-13 -- Day 2: 5, 13-10 -- Day 3: 1, 02-13

47. Austin Felix -- Eden Prairie, MN -- 11, 18-03 -- 54 -- $10,000
Day 1: 3, 04-05 -- Day 2: 5, 08-15 -- Day 3: 3, 04-15

48. Marc Frazier -- Newnan, GA -- 8, 17-14 -- 53 -- $10,000
Day 1: 2, 04-10 -- Day 2: 5, 11-11 -- Day 3: 1, 01-09

49. Bryan Schmitt -- Deale, MD -- 8, 15-14 -- 52 -- $10,000
Day 1: 2, 03-07 -- Day 2: 5, 10-03 -- Day 3: 1, 02-04

50. Chris Johnston -- Otonabee, ON -- 7, 13-12 -- 51 -- $10,000
Day 1: 2, 04-01 -- Day 2: 5, 09-11 -- Day 3: 0, 00-00