It was nice and peaceful on Lay Lake a few weeks ago on Tuesday and the bass were biting, if you knew where to go and what to throw. Zeke Gossett knows both. I met this young man about eight years ago when he was a sophomore in high school. I set up a trip with him for a magazine article not knowing his age and was shocked. His skills and knowledge of fishing were better than mine!
Zeke won many fishing awards in high school and college, including winning the College Classic on Lay Lake last year. This year he was third in the College Classic in Texas and he and his partner won the point standings College Team of the Year in 2020.
Now Zeke is trying to establish a professional fishing career while guiding on the Coosa River chain of lakes and Lake Martin. His father is one of the best bass fishermen in the area and coaches a high school team that has won high school team of the year two years in a row.
His knowledge of these lakes is exceptional from his own fishing as well as the teaching of his father. I have recommended him to some friends for guide trips and they were pleased. As many good fishermen as I get to fish with doing magazine articles, Zeke is the only one I have done three articles with!
Zeke showed me two good patterns for Lay Lake in August, and they are already working now. Lay is full of shallow grass beds and Zeke caught several nice bass casting frogs to the grass. Bream were bedding and Zeke knows there will usually be a big bass or several around a bream bed.
Another good pattern is fishing the many brush piles fishermen have put out on points and humps. These brush piles in 10 to 20 feet of water are magnets for summertime fish. They hold in them and feed around them day and night.
The night before we fished Zeke had placed second in a three-hour night tournament. He weighed in a three fish limit weighing almost ten pounds in that short time, missing first place by a couple of ounces!
While we fished Zeke caught about a dozen bass on humps and points with brush casting a topwater plug over the brush and working a jerk bait down deeper. I even caught a nice keeper spot while taking a casting break from my pen, pad and camera.
I get to fish with many amazing fishermen doing my magazine articles and Zeke is one of the best. There are a lot of young fishermen out there coming up into the pros and I get to watch as their careers develop. I am jealous!
While we fished many college fishermen were on Lay Lake practicing for a college wild card tournament that was held Thursday and Friday. I was amazed to see college age kids drive up in $50,000.00 trucks puling $80,000.00 boats.
When I was in college I ate 10 cents a can Showboat Spaghetti and loaf bread for dinner to save money. And I was one of the few lucky ones in my fraternity to have a car, an eight-year old hand me down Chevy Bel Air. There were students driving around Athens in new Vets and Mustangs, but they lived and revolved in a different world.
I know some college fishermen drive old vehicles and very well used boats and have done articles with some of them, but they seem to be the exception to the rule. I fear college fishing is developing into a sport for the rich.