Hometown hero leads JSU
team to top spot
in college fishing
Story by Carol Pappas and
Bassmaster Writer David A. Brown
Submitted photos
from Bassmasters
When Pell City’s Zeke Gossett began his fishing career, he was only 10. With 35 high school and three college championships plus dozens of opens and charity tournaments behind him, Gossett certainly wasn’t finished with his winning ways.
On March 9, he hoisted the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Championship trophy high in the air with teammate Lucas Smith of Southside as proof.
They competed in the championship on Lay Lake, and they were presented the trophy for Jacksonville State University on the Classic stage in Birmingham during the Bassmaster Classic festivities.
“I really worked hard for this win, for sure,” Gossett said. “We qualified for this tournament a couple of weeks ago through the college bass tournament on Smith Lake. They took the top 10 from that tournament,” which had 250 boats in the field.
“Getting to weigh in on the Classic stage in front of all those people was amazing and winning on top of that made it that much more special,” he said. “Getting to represent JSU on such a big stage was an awesome thing as well as spreading the word about our fishing team.”
Couple that with winning in his senior year – with a freshman – and the moment was indeed one to savor. “My partner is a freshman this year, so I was happy to win it with him and watch him soak up the experience with me.”
And Gossett isn’t through by any means. When he graduates in December, he plans to fish the Bassmaster Opens and guide around the Coosa River.
Quest for the championship
Despite a slow start, Gossett and Smith capitalized on a morning flurry that yielded a five-bass limit of 17 pounds, 4 ounces, which led the JSU team to victory in the championship tournament presented by Bass Pro Shops on Lay Lake.
Gossett, a senior majoring in parks and recreation, and Smith, a freshman business management major, fished the lake’s south end and targeted main-current seams. Their first half-hour was frustratingly fruitless, but then the bite ignited, and the winners boxed their weight by 9:30 a.m.
“At one place where we actually caught three of our keepers, we ended up catching four more in a row, and we had to stop fishing to cull,” Gossett said. “That kind of hurt us because the school was fired up, but we couldn’t figure out which one to cull.
“We hit a flurry — I caught two in a row, then he caught two in a row. It was crazy. Our biggest one today was a 3-13. Our smallest was barely 3 pounds.”
Gossett and Smith alternated between 1/2-ounce Z-Man Jack Hammer ChatterBaits with Reaction Innovations Little Dipper trailers and those same Skinny Dippers rigged on 1/2-ounce swimbait heads.
“Some places were better for the ChatterBait and some places were better for the swimbait,” Gossett said. “Anywhere the ChatterBait would get hung up a lot, we’d throw the swimbait.”
Smith said being at the right place at the right time was key. Strategic site selection was also an important element of their game plan.
“There were two feeding windows; one at 7 and one about 9:30,” he said. “After 9:30, we didn’t cull anymore.
“The current definitely played a role, for sure. We targeted spotted bass because the current was so strong, and we knew we could catch them in the current breaks.”
Gossett said told reporters the victory was particularly gratifying, given its redemptive backstory. During his sophomore year, his team fell short in what he considered an ideal scenario.
“We had a tournament back in 2016 on Lay Lake in June, which is my favorite time of year, and we absolutely bombed,” Gossett said. “I put in a lot of hard work practicing for this tournament, and it paid off.”
