Cliff Pace strung together a strong Sunday finish to win the MLF Bass Pro Evinrude Stage 8 Championship, and the TFO National Advisory Staff member had a little help from two of his favorite rods.
The TFO 6’10” ML Tactical Spinning rod and the 7’0” M Tactical Casting CB rod were Pace’s rods of choice last weekend. Both helped him compete and win Sunday.
The reason: Very few, if any, breakoffs or lost fish.
“The SP 6103 fits me,” Pace said. “At the Table Rock event, I caught 179 bass over the course of four days, and I caught the majority of them with the SP 6103. I never broke a single fish off. And carrying that forward, the other rod I used the last several events is the CB 704. I used it at Table Rock throwing jerk-baits and top-water baits. And that’s the rod I used championship Sunday to win. In any format, any lost fish makes a big difference. In the MLF format, any lost fish makes a huge difference. If you lose a giant in a five-fish tournament, that could be a problem. If you lose two or three smaller fish in the MLF format, that’s a huge problem. Over at Green Lake, smallmouth are notoriously difficult to land. I credit .the rod’s design and its parabolic bend that I worked so hard with TFO to build for my success.”
Each rod has a functionality
“I personally saw to that. Working with TFO is unique. They listen to my needs as an angler, not just a face. The final prototype on the CB 704, the day that I got it, I took it to a body of water and caught 30 or 40 bass on it to see what my landing percentage would be,” Pace said. “Before I signed off on it, I did that with every rod in the TFO Family.”
The SP 6103 and CB 704 helped Pace wrap up the victory in the MLF Bass Pro Tour’s final inaugural season’s event; it can also help the recreational angler on any given day.
“Anybody who goes fishing wants to be successful,” Pace said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re a weekend angler or it’s your career. When every fish counts, you can’t miss opportunities. Our rods enabled me to maximize opportunities and bring fish to hand. Their action is definitive to my success. It makes a huge difference. I won by 10.12 pounds. If I had lost a few bass out of my 47, I would not have won the tournament.”
Pace, the 2013 Bassmaster Classic Champion, bagged 47 bass for a total weight of 81.9 pounds to surpass all others in the 80-angler field in Neenah, WI. The victory earned Pace $100,000 and moved him closer to $2 million in career earnings.
Pace now has four major career wins and 31 top 10 finishes.
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