By MLF Communications Staff


Rookie Cody Pike of Powhatan, Va. brought a five-bass limit to the scale Sunday weighing 22-03 to win the MLF Pro Circuit regular-season finale at the St. Lawrence River. Pike’s four-day total of 20 bass weighing 82-12 gave him the win by a 1-12 margin over Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Wis., and the top prize of $135,000, including a $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 capturing 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 tournament with just the hope of qualifying for the TITLE 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 bronzeback expert. Add his lack of experience fishing rivers to that and his expectations for the 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 dropshotting a green-pumpkin Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm with a 1/2-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight and 6- and 7-pound 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 four top performers who now qualify to compete in the MLF Bass Pro Tour event at Lake St. Clair Sept. 10-15 are Cody Pike, Stefan, Cifuentes and Scott Dobson.



Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Cody Pike -- 19-07 (5) -- 22-02 (5) -- 19-00 (5) -- 22-03 (5) -- 82-12 (20) -- $135,000

2. Matthew Stefan -- 22-07 (5) -- 19-02 (5) -- 18-13 (5) -- 20-10 (5) -- 81-00 (20) -- $30,000

3. Joey Cifuentes -- 24-05 (5) -- 18-14 (5) -- 24-02 (5) -- 12-05 (5) -- 79-10 (20) -- $25,000

4. Scott Dobson -- 20-11 (5) -- 21-12 (5) -- 15-06 (5) -- 20-09 (5) -- 78-06 (20) -- $20,000

5. Jon Canada -- 15-12 (5) -- 21-15 (5) -- 18-14 (5) -- 20-02 (5) -- 76-11 (20) -- $19,000

6. John Cox -- 24-12 (5) -- 11-08 (3) -- 20-07 (5) -- 19-13 (5) -- 76-08 (18) -- $18,000

7. Skeet Reese -- 17-10 (5) -- 16-14 (5) -- 24-00 (5) -- 17-14 (5) -- 76-06 (20) -- $17,000

8. Ron Nelson -- 23-07 (5) -- 19-10 (5) -- 16-05 (5) -- 16-02 (5) -- 75-08 (20) -- $16,000

9. Justin Cooper -- 19-08 (5) -- 18-03 (5) -- 18-03 (5) -- 17-09 (5) -- 73-07 (20) -- $15,000

10. Aaron Britt -- 20-00 (5) -- 17-02 (5) -- 18-06 (5) -- 16-01 (5) -- 71-09 (20) -- $14,000