It’s not often you see a 20-pound bag brought to the scales in a tournament with over 100 competitors in West Virginia, but today was one to remember when Gary Ross and Jason Kusich brought 20.68 pounds to the scales.

Kusich and Ross won the 2023 BASS Nation of West Virginia Buddy Trail on Stonewall Jackson today after a long tenure with the Buddy Trail without a win. Making a monumental statement by finishing ahead of the second-place team by over five pounds at the first stop of the year. They have had second and third-place finishes but have just come up short of a win multiple times in the past.

And while though they have never won a Buddy Trail tournament, the duo has found success on the trail before. Kusich and Ross were the 2019 BASS Nation of West Virginia Buddy Trail Team of the Year Champions and joined the ranks of accomplished anglers who have also won that title. And now have joined the ranks of those anglers who have won Buddy Trail tournaments.

While this might not be Ross’ first win at Stonewall Jackson, this one solidifies how great of an angler he is on the famed West Virginia lake. Ross accredits his win to his history and his days spent walking the banks of Stonewall Jackson.

“I’ve been fishing from the bank at Stonewall since the day it opened in 1986. Me and my girls were there last Friday and fished from 10 o’clock until 5 o’clock that evening,” said Ross. “That’s all we did was walk the bank that day.”

And partner Kusich also chimed in about Gary’s determination to walk the banks of Stonewall Jackson.

“To tell you the truth, he use to drive down to the lake and sometimes sleep in his truck before walking the banks because he was afraid, he was going to miss the bite,” Kusich said. “He is one of the most avid bass anglers I have ever seen in my life. Just to walk the banks as grown up as they are now is pretty remarkable.”

When the horn sounded this morning and the duo took off to their first spot, they had started out with a bit of a bang.

“This morning when we got started, I caught one about four pounds and I said we’re off to a good start. And then we kind of hit a slump.”

That was until 10:00 AM when the duo found themselves with only one fish in the box. But their willingness and deep knowledge of the lake would soon prevail as they pulled up on a spot they had historically done well off of.

“I told Gary, ‘Hey I got a good idea where these fish might be’ and that’s when we pulled up on a spot and Gary caught our second fish which was about four pounds.”

The duo would continue with little luck in that next hour, but as time raced on Kusich and Ross kept their focus and relied on their previous experiences on the Buddy Trail.

“If there is one thing we have learned from the Buddy Trail, it is that it’s always a grind,” said Ross. “Finally, at about 11 o’clock I caught another and kept on moving. Around 12:30 or 1 o’clock, we decided to circle back where we had caught our second one and ended up catching our entire limit there including the 6.62-pound lunker.”

The duo would hang tight in the area catching fish after fish but none of the fish they had caught after the first five they put in the boat would help them out. They relied heavily on a reaction bite and the technique of covering a lot of water in one confined area.

Ross and Kusich claimed to have caught their fish on a customized spinnerbait Ross and other local anglers have worked diligently on. They have been making customizations with different blades and gathering information from other local anglers to come up with a spinnerbait that will work better.

“The night before the tournament I built the spinnerbait we won on,” said Ross. “While the customizations I make I believe help, the real key is knowing where to throw it, how to throw it and how to retrieve it.”

While Ross’ knowledge of spinnerbait fishing might run deep, his knowledge if he had won his first Buddy Trail tournament or not when he arrived back at the ramp, was still to be determined.

“If I don’t have 20 pounds on Stonewall, I feel like I didn’t do good,” Ross said. “I know we had a good bag, but it is Stonewall and you never know how everyone else did. But regardless, anytime you are putting three-and-a-half pound fish back in the lake you are having a good day.”

Kusich and Ross would win the tournament and stamp their name as BASS Nation of West Virginia Buddy Trail Champions.

Daniel Pearl and Daniel Post would finish second with 15.27.

Ben Huffman and Randy Huffman would finish third with 14.77 and would win Freedom Outdoors “Freedom Bucks”

66 teams competed.

189 fish were weighed. The average being 2 pounds.

The live release rate was 98%.