2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Tour St. Lawrence River Day 2: Cifuentes Claims Lead with 43-03lbs!

Canadian Erik Luzak 9th

Consistency key to Cifuentes climb into the lead. 
(Photo: MLF)

TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT

Press Release

Many anglers figured it’d take at least 20 pounds a day to compete for the win in the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Bad Boy Mowers event on the St. Lawrence. And after Day 1, 14 anglers had eclipsed the mark, with nine more within a pound of it to get the Savage Arms Stop 6 Presented by Abu Garcia off to a rollicking start.

Today, the number hitting the magic 20-pound mark got chopped hard.

Only six bags over 20 pounds crossed the stage today, and only five anglers have averaged that now for two days (six if you count Miles Howe being 1 ounce off).

It was a day of surviving strong, cold-front winds and some fickle smallmouth, and Joey Cifuentes survived the best to the tune of 18-14 today to get him to 43-3 for the event.

“Today was tough with the wind,” said the man many call “Cowboy.” “The fish were not biting really well. You want to bring your bait naturally with the current, but the wind was so bad and going against the current you couldn’t.

“Regardless, I’m on top and fishing Day 3. So, I’m pumped.”

Cifuentes is fishing deep humps in the Clayton area and got off to a strong start this morning with a pair of 4-pounders to get him around 17 pounds by the time he left his main area.

From there, he started trying different things, even going shallow to fish for largemouth at one point. While no green fish helped, he bounced around enough to keep culling up a few ounces at a time.  

Based on the rest of the field, the move shallow was the right call, as the majority of the bigger bags today came up shallow, especially once the sun popped out later in the day. That said, the majority of Cifuentes’ weight has come from those deep humps, and he admits it’ll be hard to leave them the rest of the event.

“I’m kind of zoned in on the deep deal,” Cifuentes said. “I just don’t know if my area is going to replenish. So, I’m going to start there [on Day 3], but I need to expand there. I’m going to have to find some new stuff. That’s just my gut.”

Fortunately, he feels he has plenty of new stuff to hit, as he has a number of areas and patterns from practice that he dabbled in today that produced fish. Still, the potential of his main area will play big in his mind.

TOP 10 BELOW

2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Tour St. Lawrence River Day 1: John Cox Smacks 24-12Lbs for slim lead!

Cox continues stellar year, Cifuentes ounces behind.
(Photo: MLF)

TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT

Press Release

Catching 24 pounds, 12 ounces of smallmouth in a day is a big deal. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime bag for most. The type of bag that should’ve put distance between John Cox and the rest of the field by a decent margin.

It didn’t. Not even a little. Welcome to the St. Lawrence River.

While Lake Ontario often steals the show for tournaments in the area, Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Bad Boy Mowers event showed that the river is hardly a slouch in terms of quality.

Aaron Britt cracked 20 pounds on the nose and didn’t make the Top 10 (he’s in 14th). And Todd Walters’ 18-pound bag squeaked him into the top 30.

So, circling back to Cox, yes, he had an incredible day; the best day of smallmouth fishing he says he’s ever had. However, it’s just a day here, and he knows it, especially since it was so unexpected.

“It’s crazy,” Cox said. “Both days of practice, I was like, ‘This is the worst practice I’ve ever had.’ Day two was so bad I loaded up at noon, went back to the hotel, took a nap, and then came back out at 5 and got a couple more bites.

“I don’t know why today was so different. I really just wanted to catch five because you don’t want to not catch five at this place. And I caught seven and they were just all big ones.”

If this story from Cox sounds familiar, it should. The man rarely has good practices and often finds things on the fly. Yet, it’s a pattern that routinely works for him, which should worry the rest of the field.

2022 BASS Elite schedule features nine events across seven states

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With this year’s Bassmaster Elite Series schedule barely written into the history books, B.A.S.S. officials are already looking toward a bright future with Tuesday’s announcement of the Elite Series slate for 2022.

The top professional bass fishing circuit in the world will once again kick off its season in warm, sunny Florida, with events on the St. Johns River in Palatka, Feb. 10-13, and the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Feb. 17-20.

From there, the trail will visit six more states in seven months while working its way to a season-ending event on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wis., Aug. 26-29. 

“We’re proud to have the kind of schedule that allows fans from so many areas to enjoy and celebrate the great sport of professional bass fishing,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “With events in seven states from Florida, north to New York, and west to South Dakota, it will be a true test of our anglers’ ability to compete on all types of fisheries.

“It’ll also provide an incredible variety of entertaining scenarios for our fans, both in attendance and watching live on the multiple platforms that are now available to them.”

2022 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule

Feb. 10-13, St. Johns River, Palatka, Fla.
Feb. 17-20, Harris Chain of Lakes, Leesburg, Fla.
March 4-6, Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk, Lake Hartwell, Greenville, S.C.
March 17-20, Santee Cooper Lakes, Clarendon County, S.C.
April 7-10, Chickamauga Lake, Dayton, Tenn.
May 19-22, Lake Fork, Quitman, Texas
June 2-5, TBA
July 14-17, St. Lawrence River/1000 Islands, Clayton, N.Y.
Aug. 4-7, Make-up date
Aug. 18-21, Lake Oahe, Mobridge, S.D.

Aug. 26-29, Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wis.

This will mark the fourth-straight year the Elite Series has held its season-opener on the St. Johns River — a quintessential Florida fishery that features vast shoreline cover, big Florida-strain largemouth and breathtaking scenery with Spanish moss-covered trees, alligators and manatees. The 2021 event on the St. Johns was won by North Carolina rookie pro Bryan New with a four-day total of 79 pounds, 7 ounces.

Berkley PowerBait Gilly Wins Best of Show at 2021 ICAST

The new Berkley PowerBait Gilly, a soft, bluegill-shaped bait infused with the flavor of PowerBait, captured top honors in the ICAST 2021 New Product Showcase, winning the prestigious Best of Show award as voted on by international fishing media and retailers. With the win, the Gilly becomes the first bait to win the overall Best of Show award at ICAST, an award often dominated by electronics, rods and reels.

 
To win the award, the Gilly won the Best Freshwater Soft Bait on Day 1 of ICAST before competing against the 29 other best-in-category award winners on Day 2. In all, the PowerBait Gilly beat out hundreds of new products submitted into the awards showcase.
 
“Berkley’s commitment to innovation means every bait we make is the result of leading scientific research and constant testing in the labs and on the water truly making it a bait made by anglers. We’re proud of this award and for the recognition of this extremely important team win,” said Berkley CEO Harlan Kent. “And as science-fueled as the bait is, the Gilly is extremely accessible to anglers of all levels. Even new anglers will catch fish on this bait.”
 

ICAST 2021: ZMan's Chatterbait MiniMax

“This little blade really sings,” asserts Z-Man pro Luke Clausen, assessing the new, baby-sized bladed jig at the end of his line. After studying the lure’s physical assets, Clausen goes subsurface, contemplating how bass perceive the fresh-from-the-oven ChatterBait MiniMax on its levels of action and sound. 

“Everyone’s throwing ChatterBaits these days—and for good reason,” notes Clausen. “But that means bass eventually tune out the same baits and vibration, cast after cast, day after day. It’s been a major motivating factor driving the development of this new, bite-sized ChatterBait: to produce a subtler sound, profile and a vibe that stands apart from traditional bladed jigs.” 

From the first crank of the reel with Z-Man’s finely-honed ChatterBait MiniMax, lively tremors up the line sing an alternative tune— albeit, a few octaves above the usual bladed jig melody. As Clausen notes, too, its downsized blade and frame yield advantages such as the ability to burn the bait like there’s no tomorrow. 

“We crafted the MiniMax with a downscaled hex-blade and other componentry, but with enough punch and muscle to handle big, tough smallmouth, spotted and largemouth bass, even in high-pressure tournament scenarios,” notes Clausen. 

ICAST 2021: Samurai J-Fluoro® Hidden Concept

A couple years back, Daiwa tipped the fluorocarbon line market on its ear with the launch of Samurai J-Fluoro®, a superior Japanese developed and manufactured fishing line. And now, Daiwa changes the paradigm in fluorocarbon again with Samurai J-Fluoro® Hidden Concept.  Aggregating all the principal features of the original Samurai J-Fluoro – narrow diameter, low-stretch, abrasion resistance, no float, minimal memory, strike indicating and long casting – the new Samurai J-Fluoro Hidden Concept takes perceptibility to a new tier, virtually eliminating its visual presence in the water column.

Humminbird MEGA Live Wins Best of Category for Electronics at 2021 ICAST

Humminbird MEGA Live^® received the award for best electronics at the ICAST 2021 New Product Showcase, currently underway in Orlando, Florida, as voted on by fishing media and retailers. 

This new sonar technology, which rounds out the One-Boat Network^®  to give anglers the best-equipped boats on the water, delivers unparalleled clarity and detail of MEGA Imaging^® in live action. MEGA Live Imaging technology allows anglers to see fish and structure in real time, even watching fish on screen as they move or even bite an angler's lure. Now with the addition of MEGA Live, anglers will have access to the most complete package of industry technology to help them catch more fish. 

"It was important for us to get it right with MEGA Live. Building a live sonar technology that could operate at the level of MEGA Imaging took time but it was definitely worth the wait," said Humminbird Brand Manager Matt Cook. "It's very rewarding to have our efforts recognized by an international collection of key opinion leaders in the fishing industry and we look forward to bringing MEGA Live to even more anglers this year."

MEGA Live Imaging Views

• Down Mode: Live imaging looking directly below the transducer.
• Forward Mode: Live imaging looking out and away from the transducer, steered using the trolling motor's foot pedal or remote
• Landscape Mode: Live imaging from a wide, bird's eye view looking out and around the boat.

Humminbird's MEGA Live Imaging retails for $1,499.99 and will be available to ship come September 2021. MEGA Live Imaging transducers are compatible with all Humminbird APEX^®and SOLIX^® models, as well as HELIX^® 8-15 G3N / G4N models with MEGA Imaging. For optimal performance, the MEGA Live Imaging transducer is designed to be paired with a Minn Kota Ultrex™ trolling motor. 

For more information on Humminbird, https://www.humminbird.com.

ICAST 2021: ZMan's Big Blade Chatterbait

 

By the time you read this, Bryan Thrift will have already lipped livewells full of big bass on prototypes of a new bladed jig he’s been designing and tweaking on the down-low for the better part of three years.  Can’t really blame Thrift if he’s been taking his sweet time, ironing out every last little kink and imperfection—all while more of less enjoying the fruits of being the only angler on earth with a few of these bad boys in his boat. Tough job . . . These days, safeguarding any sort of “secret new lure”—especially one with so much boom and bravado—  is next to impossible. If you’ve been paying attention to recent bass tourney coverage, though, you might’ve caught a quick glimpse of the cage-rattling Big Blade ChatterBait hanging from Thrift’s rodtip. To date, the Z-Man-ChatterBait pro has flung the badass bladed jig toward several near-tournament wins, starting with 2nd place at the MLF Bass Pro Tour Stage One at Lake Eufaula last February.  Following three years of R&D, Thrift has given his blessing on the definitive, head-banging version and says it’s your turn experience the Big Blade ‘boom’.

ICAST 2021: Daiwa's Zillion SV TW

Behold the new standard in freshwater low-profile baitcasting reels, Daiwa’s brilliantly designed Zillion SV TW. Style, innovation, research, and passion come together in the birth of the new Zillion SV TW. With 40 years of research and experience in magnetic braking systems, Daiwa has added a brand-new SV Booster System gives anglers total control, now with the added benefit of longer casting distance. The reels also feature Daiwa’s new Hyper Drive Design for an ultra-smooth retrieve and powerful winding performance.