Last year saw Cody Huff finish third in his third Bassmaster Classic and, while the opportunity to place first in his first has past, the Missouri pro said he’s not only pleased with his Classic improvement, he’s more confident now than ever.
Suffice it to say, with his first two Classics yielding 24th- and 36th-place finishes, a top-3 in 2024 marked a huge leap. Heading into his fourth Classic, Huff shared a few thoughts on his climb.
The Look Back: With conditions changing toward the end of last year’s Classic, Huff found that the pattern he’d leveraged the first two days was diminishing. Making peace with that reality has allowed him to absorb the positives from that 2024 Classic.
“I had a lot of fun, I was happy with the event, because my bite went away and I didn’t get to catch them as good as what I thought I could. It was one of those deals where you left it all out there. You did what you can do and you came up short.
“That’s all right. It’s something I can live with. It’s not like I went out there the last day and they were still doing what they were supposed to be doing and I messed it up.”
Huff said his biggest takeaway was a serious confidence builder.
“It was a good experience to know how close you are to being able to win.”
Drive & Optimism: After 12 months of thinking about how close he came to owning the sport’s biggest honor, Huff said his fire’s burning hotter than ever. The week’s inclement conditions have been less than encouraging, but his focus has not strayed.
“This is the one tournament that we get to fish to win and every one of us want to win it so bad. Honestly, it’s a lot easier to be fired up about it when you had a good practice, but a few days of not getting very many bites tries to put a damper on you.
“The good news is, we’ve had a lot of sunshine, the weather’s changing and the fishing’s going to be a little different. Every day we’re getting closer to the spawn, and I hope I get into one of those areas where some big females decide to swim into.”
Some the Same: Looking back at his 2024 tactics, Huff said he’s hopeful that shallow game plan will deliver again.
“From the looks of things, it’s going to be very similar for me. I’m going to spend a lot of my time really shallow. In practice, some of my biggest fish were in less than a foot of water.”
Contrasting his 2024 plan, which comprised a crankbait and a jig, Huff said he’ll probably need a broader assortment of baits including those two, plus a spinnerbait and possibly a jerkbait.
“I’m hoping I can cover enough water to where I can put a bait in front of five a day. Five bass is going to go a long way this week, because if you get five on this lake, they’re not gonna be small.
The Bottom Line: Taking a nuts-and-bolts approach to his Classic game plan, Huff’s dispelling rhetoric and, instead, focusing on putting himself in position to seal the deal.
“You gotta be there on Sunday to win and that’s something that I had to do last year. You can talk about swinging for the fence and if you put the ball on the bat, it’s a great deal; but if you don’t, you’re not there for a chance to win on Sunday.
“If you’re not on a winning deal, you have to know when to just go catch a few and when you need to just keep swinging for big ones. For me, it’s all about having a chance to win on Sunday, so it’s just trying to get there.”
