MASSENA, N.Y. (Aug. 1, 2021) – Rookie Cody Pike of Powhatan, Virginia brought a five-bass limit to the scale Sunday weighing 22 pounds, 3 ounces to win the MLF Pro Circuit Stop 6 tournament at the St. Lawrence River. Pike’s four-day total of 20 bass weighing 82 pounds, 12 ounces earned him the win by a 1-pound, 12-ounce margin over pro Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Wisconsin, and the top prize of $135,000, including a lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus.
“You don’t do this sport for the money, you do it because you love it,” said a very emotional Pike after earning the win. “This is awesome – it’s like a dream. I’ve tried to make it here for so many years.
“I qualified [for the Pro Circuit] through the Toyota Series last year,” continued Pike. “You aren’t guaranteed the opportunity to make it and fish these professional circuits every year, so I went ahead and jumped on the opportunity and I’m loving it.”
Pike said he came into the final qualifying event of the Pro Circuit with just the hope of qualifying for the 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit TITLE presented by Mercury, the Pro Circuit Championship, where anglers have the opportunity to compete for up to $235,000.
“Things happened this week that made no sense – things that weren’t supposed to happen and there was no explanation to it,” said Pike. “I had one main area that I was fishing today, with 15 to 20 good spots along it. I just kept making circles through those areas and kept getting bites.
“I honestly couldn’t ask for more,” continued Pike. “To qualify for the TITLE, then fish in the Top 10, find myself in contention for the win – then take home the win, all in my rookie season – it’s just unbelievable.”
Pike said he loves catching smallmouth but would not consider himself a smallmouth angler. Add his lack of experience fishing rivers to that and his expectations for this event were low.
“I could understand figuring out fish that I was more comfortable with, but to do this on a smallmouth fishery is just incredible,” said Pike. “I usually get my tail kicked in smallmouth tournaments.
“I mostly fished shoals and rock piles the size of my boat this week. If I didn’t get bit on the first cast, I just moved to the next one. I probably had 40 to 50 spots that I found during the tournament. Once I knew I had a solid bag each day, I could just go fish and look around. That helped a lot.”
Pike said he caught most of his fish this week drop-shotting a green-pumpkin Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm with a 1/2-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight and 6- and 7-pound-test Gamma Touch fluorocarbon line.
“I had no idea what I needed to do to catch Joey [Cifuentes] going into today. He had such a strong lead, I just didn’t think it was going to happen,” said Pike. “I still can’t believe it.
“This trophy means a lot. People work their whole lives for this and don’t ever get one. I got lucky and everything lined up just right to go home with one my rookie year – that doesn’t happen often.”
The top 10 pros at the Pro Circuit Stop 6 tournament on the St. Lawrence River finished:
1st: Cody Pike of Powhatan, Va., 20 bass, 82-12, $135,000
2nd: Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Wis., 20 bass, 81-0, $30,000
3rd: Joey Cifuentes of Clinton, Ark., 20 bass, 79-10, $25,000
4th: Scott Dobson of Clarkston, Mich., 20 bass, 78-6, $20,000
5th: Jon Canada of Helena, Ala., 20 bass, 76-11, $19,000
6th: John Cox of DeBary, Fla., 18 bass, 76-8, $18,000
7th: Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., 20 bass, 76-6, $17,000
8th: Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., 20 bass, 75-8, $16,000
9th: Justin Cooper of Zwolle, La., 20 bass, 73-7, $15,000
10th: Aaron Britt of Yuba City, Calif., 20 bass, 71-9, $14,000
Overall, there were 50 bass weighing 183 pounds, 4 ounces caught by the final 10 pros Sunday. All of the final 10 pros brought a five-bass limit to the scales.
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MLF Pro Circuit Archive