MASSENA, N.Y. (July 29, 2021) – A field of 154 bass-fishing professionals from around the world began their four-day competition for a top award of $135,000 at the MLF Pro Circuit Stop 6 tournament at the St. Lawrence River Thursday in Massena, New York.
John Cox of DeBary, Florida, weighed a five-bass limit of St. Lawrence River smallmouth totaling 24 pounds, 12 ounces to take the early lead after Day 1. Cox holds a slim 7-ounce lead over pro Joey “Cowboy” Cifuentes of Clinton, Arkanas, who caught five bass weighing 24-5, good for second place.
“I am in absolute shock to be leading this thing,” Cox laughed after weighing in. “I’m not kidding – this was probably the worst practice that I have ever had before. Coming into today I was thinking, ‘If I can somehow catch 18 or 20 (pounds) and maybe catch a couple tomorrow I could get out of here with a check.’ And I would have taken that. I was shooting for 50th place. So to weigh what I did today is just unreal.”
Cox said that he caught just seven fish on the day – all before noon.
“I didn’t catch many, but the ones that I did catch were the right ones,” Cox said. “Tomorrow I’m going to try to do what I did today and just bounce around and hit some new areas. I tried so hard to make those areas that I fished in the Bass Pro Tour event here last month work, but I couldn’t catch anything. They’re not even the same areas anymore – there is grass growing in now and it’s just changed completely. I had to change everything up and treat this place like I’d never fished it before.”
Cox spent the afternoon scouting new areas and trying to find a couple of spots that could possibly carry him through the remainder of the four-day tournament.
“It looks so good when I weigh in 24 pounds, and it was a lot of fun today, but I’ve got nothing for tomorrow,” Cox went on to say. “All I can do is keep trying to find new stuff, but honestly I think I’ll be lucky to catch five again.”
The top 10 pros after Day One the St. Lawrence River are:
1st: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 24-12
2nd: Joey “Cowboy” Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., five bass, 24-5
3rd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 23-7
4th: Miles Howe, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., five bass, 22-10
5th: Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., five bass, 22-7
6th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., five bass, 22-0
6th: Erik Luzak, Fenelon Falls, Ontario, Canada, five bass, 22-0
8th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., five bass, 21-8
9th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 21-2
10th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 21-0
Stefan won Thursday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass award, weighing a 6-pound, 8-ounce smallmouth to earn the day’s award.
Overall, there were 711 bass weighing 2,270 pounds, 12 ounces caught by the 153 pros on Thursday, which included 124 five-bass limits.