Gustafson fills ‘a tall order’ early

The story of this tournament, or at least a big chapter in it, has been written by Jeff Gustafson in the first three hours of this four-day event. As Brandon Lester noted Wednesday, it would be “a tall order” to catch a five-bass limit of smallmouth bass here because of the 18-minimum length limit. And making it a double-tough task was fishing conditions overall, where catching five keepers – period – 14-inch largemouth or spotted bass – seemed like a tall order.

However, Gustafson has done it early. He’s got a limit of 3-pound smallmouth bass estimated to weigh a total of almost 17 pounds. He’s catching them deep. The Bassmaster LIVE camera showed Gustafson fizzing the swim bladder of a smallmouth as he put it in his livewell.

Gustafson’s work for the day is done, not that he’s going to quit fishing. But he did say, “I think we’re going to get out of here.”