Jeff Gustafson of Kenora, Ont., competes Friday in 'Superbowl of bass fishing'

Friday morning, on Lake Guntersville, Ala., 53 professional bass anglers from across North America will take part in the 2020 Bassmaster Classic, what many call the "Superbowl of fishing."  Jeff Gustafson, of Kenora, Ont., or "Gussy" as he's known in the fishing world, will be one of the competitors.

This will be Gustafson's first time fishing the event, an experience he calls "surreal".

"It's the equivalent of getting to play on Hockey Night in Canada, or playing in the NHL or playing in the Olympics," he said. "You know it's sort of the Superbowl event in bass fishing. It's been a dream of mine literally since I was like 10 or 11 years old. So I am pretty pumped to be taking part."

Gustafson said he started fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series after taking part in the Fishing League Worldwide tournament series for several years.

He said the Bassmaster Elite is considered one of the top fishing tournament circuits in the United States.

After making the jump to the Bassmaster Elite, Gustafson took part in 10 tournaments all over the U.S.A. in 2019, competing against 75 anglers in the field.

The anglers were awarded points based on where they finished in each event.  The top point winners booked a ticket to the classic.

Gustafson made the cut.

"You know, there was a lot of fishing to get here," he said. "I had some bad days last year in a couple tournaments, but fortunately the good outnumbered the bad days and I made it."

The Classic is being held on Lake Guntersville in northern Alabama, one of the most historic bass fishing lakes in the southern U.S.A., said Gustafson.

Anglers competing in the Bassmaster classic will do the live weigh-in of their fish in downtown Birmingham, in an arena full of spectators.

The Classic also has a large Expo and features the largest consumer fishing show in the US.

"I mean the whole fishing industry will be here and there's a lot of coverage of the event," he said. "You know a lot of my idols and anglers that I've sort of looked up to became superstars from from winning this tournament."

Gustafson said his practice fishing has been difficult, describing Guntersville as a lake that sees plenty of pressure from bass anglers. But he said the lake is known for large bass and his two fellow Canadian's in the Classic, Chris and Cory Johnston, were having pretty good fishing during the lead up to the event.

"It's a super busy, popular lake and I think there was like seven different tournaments going on out there over the past weekend," Gustafson said. "So you can imagine there's just like boats everywhere. And you know it makes the fishing kind of tough because they're educated, they see a lot of lures."

Gustafson noted that his family has been supportive of his fishing passion since he was a kid and that has continued as he has climbed the ranks as a professional .

His parents, brother, sister and wife were all able to come to Birmingham to cheer him on.

Gustafson also said he has had "a ton" of support from friends, fans and fishing industry colleagues in Canada and northwestern Ontario.

"Someone's life's going to change on Sunday," he said. "Whomever wins gets $300,000 as the first place prize and I mean that's significant. But just having the title of Classic Champ is a big deal. If you win this tournament you buy yourself several years of good sponsor support and promotional opportunities."

The Bassmaster Classic runs from March 6-8.