Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson is preparing himself for his fourth tournament of the season as he’s in South Carolina for the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes.
The four-day event begins Thursday (March 17, 2022), and Gustafson has a good game plan heading into this tournament.
“I have a section of the lake that I can keep myself in so I’m going to have a lot of time to fish. It’s going to be hunting down a big one here and a big one here. It’s not my ideal situation.” said Gustafson
He said the Santee Cooper Lakes is shallower making it a tougher event to reel in those big catches.
“This is just going to be a lot more beating the banks, fishing shallow, and catch one here and catch one there.”
Gustafson took part in this event in the fall of 2020 and had a great week of fishing he said. He finished the event with the Big Bass of the tournament catching a 9 ½ pound fish.
Though he hasn’t had the start he was hoping or wanting Gustafson is just taking it day by day.
“It hasn’t been the best start for me,” said Gustafson. “You kind of just got to go every day and take every day as it comes, and catch the best fish that you can.”
In the first three tournaments, he is sitting in 47th place with 104 points in the Angler of the Year (AOY) standings.
Gustafson will take off at 6:30 a.m. CDT, with weigh-ins starting at 2:30 p.m. CDT.