Gossetts cap dominating season with state wins
By Greg McCain

When the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation finalized its dates and venues late last year, Zeke and Curtis Gossett knew the 2022 schedule worked for them.

The father-son duo from Pell City fit the ABN qualifiers into their busy tournament schedules, but little did they know at the time just how successful they would be. The Gossetts wrapped up a dominating season by winning the ABN State Championship on Lake Eufaula (Oct. 28-29) with Zeke capturing the boater title and Curtis winning the non-boater division. In doing so, they also claimed Angler of the Year in their respective divisions.

Zeke Gossett (Shotgun Sports Supply) boated the big bag of the tournament on Day 1 and followed up with another good limit of 18.21 on the final day for 37.74. That total topped the 34.95 two-day weight of Shane Powell (Wiregrass Bassmasters), who regularly leads the local contingent on Eufaula. Another local angler, Bradley Johnson (Wiregrass Bassmasters), took third with 30.14. Johnson caught the Academy Sports + Outdoors Big Fish on Day 1 with a 6.12 largemouth.

Curtis Gossett (Shotgun Sports Supply) dropped the big bag of the tournament among co-anglers on Day 2, 10.20, and finished with an 18.52 total. His two three-fish limits topped Joseph Batton (Coosa Valley Bassmasters), who had 14.67. Travis Culbreth (Birmingham Bass Club) was just behind in third with 14.56.

The Gossetts also won the team portion of the state tournament – anglers can fish both as individuals and as a team – and earned the right to fish the Bass Pro Shops Bassmasters Team Championship on Lake Hartwell in December. They were also the top individuals in the Fishin’ 4 A Cure competition as well.

“Every tournament we were super blessed but especially this one,” Zeke Gossett said. “Overall, we’ve just been consistent all year, with him getting the bites he needed and me getting the bites I needed.”

Added Curtis Gossett, “First of all, it’s just a blessing to fish with my son. When we first saw the schedule come out, I made a deal with him that we would fish together.”

Both Gossetts said their goals entering the state championship was to maintain their AOY leads. Early in pre-fishing, the plan was to fish upriver. Those plans changed about midweek, however.

“We thought we had a safe game plan to maintain it,” Zeke Gossett said. “I thought I had found it way up the river.”

Those fish disappeared, and Zeke and Curtis scoured ledges and brushpiles closer to blastoff at Lake Point State Park on the final day of pre-fishing.

“We found some fish out deep in 18-25 feet of water, and we didn’t have to make that long run upriver,” Zeke said. “There’s a lot that can go wrong running that far.”

On Day 1, the Gossetts stopped on a school and found the fish biting. Zeke boated three quality keepers, rotating between a big crankbait, big jig, and swimbait.

“I had 15 pounds pretty quick,” Zeke said.

He finished off his limit by about noon. Meanwhile, Curtis boated a Day 1 limit of 8.32, which put him in third place. He said he caught his fish on a big jig and a shaky head.

Day 2 brought some challenges for the team. After about three hours of fishing, neither had a keeper in the livewell. In fact, Zeke said they were thinking about abandoning their deep strategy and running upriver.

“Today was a totally different story (compared to Day 1),” he said. “The fish were moving. We probably checked seven places. We finally made a move and went to a school where we had caught some the day before, and they were there. We got the school fired up, and I was able to catch three nice ones.”

Even so, Zeke said he needed a quality cull late to bump his final-round limit over 18 pounds.

“It wasn’t looking too promising,” he said. “We were thinking about running up the river, but we calmed down after I caught those fish about 9:30 and dad caught one. Even then, I went for a while with just four fish.”

Curtis eventually got his heavy three-fish limit in the livewell and finished off the tournament and AOY titles.

“Our goal is always to win, angler of the year, team of the year, whatever we’re competing in,” Curtis said. “We set the goals high. We’re trying to win everything we enter. It was just a fantastic year.”

Powell, who won the 2020 ABN state championship on Eufaula and also won this year’s Eufaula qualifier in April, stood in third with 15.74 after Day 1 but weighed 19.22 on Saturday to surge into second. He caught fish on a variety of baits, including the Day 2 Big Fish, a 5.86 largemouth, on a dropshot.

“I caught a bunch of fish, maybe 25 fish (on Day 1),” Powell said. “My biggest one and smallest one were maybe a half-pound difference.

“I fished clean both days. I caught them off three different places today, one of which I didn’t even fish yesterday, and I’m beating myself up about that. I was basically doing the same thing today, just got a little bit luckier in getting the bigger bite today.”

Batton fished behind Jonathan Harris (Coosa Valley Bassmasters), who finished ninth among boaters. He said they found fish shallow in some cooler run-in water, an effort that required about a 30-minute idle to reach. They flipped wood there for an early limit and then went back deep looking for bigger bass the remainder of the day.

A key moment for Batton, fishing the ABN trail for the first time, came with about 30 minutes left before weigh-in on Saturday, when he boated a 3 ½-lb. largemouth on a swimbait.

Rounding out the top 10 boater finishers were Jeff Kitchens (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 27.02); Lee Byrd (Birmingham Bass Club, 22.62); Keith Glasgow (Winfield Bassmasters, 22.48); Myles Palmer (Pro Line Bassmasters, 20.51); Rob Lee (Tallapoosa River Anglers, 19.72); Harris (Coosa Valley Bassmasters, 19.50); and Kenny Carroll (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 17.23).

On the co-angler side, completing the top 10 were Lucas Thornton (Belgreen Bass Club, 12.12); Ronnie Ray (Tallapoosa River Anglers, 10.70), Richard White (Alex City Bassmasters, 8.95); Wesley Rushing (River City Anglers, 8.66); Bruce Sargent (Birmingham Bass Club, 8.36); Cole Williams (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 8.07); and Parrish Argo (LA PO Boys, 8.03).

In the team competition, the Gossetts totaled 56.26 for first. Others earning bids to the Team Championship were Harris and Batton; Byrd and Anthony Mills (Birmingham Bass Club); Scott Holmes (Birmingham Bass Club) and Culbreth; Randall Carter and Bill Spencer (both from Wiregrass Bassmasters). Alternates for that competition areSkip Jackson (River City Anglers) and Wesley Rushing and Coby Carden (LA PO Boys) and Argo. The alternates earn a bid if teams in the top 5 are unable to fish.

Other winners at the state event were Jessica O’Donnell (Alex City Bassmasters) in the Academy Sports + Outdoors drawing and Palmer (boater) and Spencer (non-boater), who both won the $500 drawing among anglers who had fished all five ABN tournaments this year.

The Gossetts easily topped the AOY standings in their divisions. Among boaters, Harris ranked second and Andrew Vitu (Alex City Bassmasters) finished third. In the co-AOY race, White and Culbreth followed Curtis Gossett in the standings.

The state championship also finalized state teams members for the 2023 B.A.S.S. Southeast Regional, scheduled for Lake Douglas, TN, in May. State team members on the boater side included Zeke Gossett, Jack White (Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmasters), Powell, Josh Oliver (Shotgun Sports Supply), Harris, Johnson, Kitchens, Byrd, Glasgow, and Palmer. Co-angler state team members are Kim Giddens (Wiregrass Bassmasters), Williams, Beau Terrell (Wiregrass Bassmasters), Dylan Cornelius (Winfield Bassmasters), Batton, Culbreth, Thornton, Ray, and White.

The Eufaula tournament completes the 2022 season for the ABN. President Eddie Plemons would like to thank sponsors, which include Fish Life Fish Care Products, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Airport Marine, Office Partners, Halo Rods, Radicull Culling Devices, Davis Bait Co., George Paint and Body, Triton Boats, Mercury, Motor Guide, Lowrance, NetBait, Shell, Hammer Rods, Shelby County, StrikeZone Lure Co., Charlie’s BBQ, the Rod Glove, T-H Marine, Power-Pole, and Alabama Hosting.

The 2023 ABN schedule reasons in February on Lake Martin. Other qualifiers include Eufaula (March), Lay (April), and Pickwick (June). The 2023 state championship will also be held on Pickwick in November.

Greg McCain is a freelance writer from Russellville, AL, and a member of the Belgreen Bass Club. In addition to producing content for this website, his recent credits include articles in Georgia Outdoor News, ACC Crappie Stix blog, CrappieNOW online magazine, and the Cornfield Fishing Gear website.