In terms of his affinity for the Bagley product, Gussy has been a fan for some time, using the baits prior to this official relationship. “I’ve used the topwater baits, the muskie trolling baits and a lot of the crankbaits. I played with the Pro Sunny B a lot this summer and a couple hundred smallmouths later from Lake of the Woods it really proved itself as a bait that’s going to be part of my arsenal. It’s going to be like a Ned Rig—one of those baits that’s always going to be tied on and in my rod locker.”
Gussy continues: “On the Elite Series we’re fishing all over the country on different bodies of water. Looking ahead, you never know what kind of conditions you’re going to be faced with but one thing I do know, when a crankbait bite is happening there’s no way to beat Bagley baits. Every year there are a few tournaments that are big crankbait bites. Looking forward to the Bassmaster Classic there’s a good chance that the Bagley squarebill-style crankbaits will be players. Obviously, some of the topwater lures will come into play—one of my favorites is the Bang-o-Lure Twin Spin Tail. On the Tennessee River we’re fishing Pickwick and Guntersville in the spring and there’s a good chance those will be crankbait tournaments. In the summer we’ve got a couple solo events and then I’ll be fishing back home; hopefully I won’t be away for the whole summer. The Pro Sunny B was a really good crankbait on Lake of the Woods and yeah, just excited to learn more about some of the baits I haven’t gotten to use yet and I know the guys at Northland are going to be pretty open about new bait designs. I’ve got some ideas there. That’s pretty exciting for me.