Canadians Cory Johnston 48th, Chris Johnston 67th & Gustafson 76
Mosley junk fishes way to early lead.
(Photo: BASS)
BASS PRESS RELEASE
After a few forgettable practice rounds, Brock Mosley polished his junk fishing repertoire to produce a shining start at the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Neely Henry Lake.
Mosley, a 32-year-old pro from Collinsville, Miss., weighed a limit of five bass on Friday that totaled 16 pounds, 15 ounces, putting him at the top of the pack in the tournament that was due to start Thursday but was postponed because of extremely heavy rain in the region earlier this week.
All that rain swelled Neely Henry’s water level and sent sediment shooting through the north end of the fishery. Anglers struggled to find clean water, if they could at all, and a muddy Neely Henry made fishing tough on those heading uplake. Others heading down the 11,250-acre impoundment found many of their spots inaccessible thanks to the flow of water choked at the natural bottleneck on the lake known as Minnesota Bend.
The varied conditions led Mosley to “junk fishing,” or using a variety of techniques and lures in numerous places to see what worked.
Something certainly did for him, with 5-pound and 4 1/2-pound kickers anchoring the limit he brought to the Gadsden City Boat Docks.
“It was a special day, especially after my practice,” Mosley said. “The biggest one I had in practice was only 2 1/4. I was hoping to just catch a limit today and they just bit better than they have all week. I’m fishing upriver, downriver, anything I can. It was just one of those days where everything bounced my way.”
Because he struggled to find anything consistent during practice, Mosley had no idea where he wanted to begin fishing Friday morning. He settled on a place, he said, mostly “because no one else was in there.”
