Getting a lot right, Cody Huff is working on getting everything right.
The 27-year-old from Ava, Mo., is enjoying his best season on the Elites, making all five cuts to stand fifth in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.
“So far, it’s been one of those years where you just make good decisions. You just don’t do much wrong,” he said. “When things get rolling your way, they’re rolling your way.”
Making nine consecutive cuts on the Elites, Huff has come close to breaking through with a victory. Good outcomes, yes, but he’s had good days follow poor ones, and vice versa.
“It seems like the deal for me, it’s been all about busting them one day. Every tournament, I’ll catch a big bag one day,” he said. “I haven’t put all four days together yet. Seems like I’m one day away from winning. I just need to figure out how to get all four days to go that way.”
Case in point was at Lake Fork, when he started in 90th with only four fish for 12 pounds, 1 ounce.
“The second day I went to a whole new area I hadn’t fished and caught 33,” said Huff, who finished 35th to salvage 55 AOY points.
That came right before he took third to Justin Hamner in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors. Huff thought he had potential to win if the weather held.
“That’s what a guy dreams of,” Huff said. “In my mind, if the weather would have stayed how it was, I would have blasted them. We got that cold snap after the first day. That’s just the way things go. It killed my bite and added to Hamner’s bite.”
The $40,000 for third ranks as Huff’s biggest bass payout, but he’s been earning more crooked figures of late. In his 40 B.A.S.S. entries, Huff has posted eight Top 10s, twice being runner-up and twice taking third. In most, he’s fallen victim to someone really on them, most recently finishing 12 pounds shy of Patrick Walters’ winning total at Lake Murray.
“That’s what happens to me every time I get close to winning,” Huff said. “I almost won Pickwick (2022) — Brandon Lester had a 6- or 8-pound lead. At Champlain (2023), Kyoya (Fujita) had a big lead. This year, Patrick had a 10-pound lead.
“Every time I get right where I need to be, somebody is way out ahead of the field.”
So Huff knows everything has to go right to win an Elite. Claiming AOY is even harder, yet it is on his radar. Huff is 65 points back of the leader Trey McKinney, within range if the final four events play out in his favor.
“We’re in good shape,” Huff said. “We just need Trey McKinney to show he’s human some time this year so we can catch up.
“It’s something you always have in the back of your mind. I’m not over-concentrating on it. I wouldn’t do anything different whether I was in first or 50th, when it comes to decision making. This year I’ve concentrated more on trying to fish to win than I ever have. It seems like that’s what you have to do to compete here.”
That’s put Huff in the best shape he’s ever been going into the final stretch. Huff, who fished the 2020 Classic as the college qualifier from Bethel University, rallied to reach the championship after each of his first two Elite seasons.
In 2022, Huff stood 66th in AOY before making four consecutive cuts, including second at Pickwick and 10th at Lake Oahe, punched his ticket at 34th. Last year, he was 69th after a bomb at the Sabine before climbing on the Northern Swing with 20th at St. Clair and third at Champlain to get in prime position.
On the Classic bubble at 42nd, Huff’s hopes took a stressful turn at the St. Lawrence when mechanical issues put him through the wringer.
“That was the hardest mental tournament I’ve ever had,” he said. “First day I ran way, way in the lake when it was so rough — some of the biggest waves I’ve ever had a bass boat in.
“I got there and my trolling motor didn’t work. It had an electrical issue from getting water in it from spearing waves.”
Huff went old school, moving the head of his trolling motor by hand and drifting over his area for a productive hour, catching 22 pounds, before heading back for repairs. Things got more nerve-wracking on Day 2.
“Trolling motor doesn’t work again, and then my shift actuator goes out with zero bass,” Huff said. “I was there with no motors, no service, no anything, out in the middle of Lake Ontario. I sat there for 35 minutes just taking my shifter back and forth into neutral and into forward trying to start it. It finally went into gear.”
Returning to the service yard in Clayton, Huff didn’t head back out until 12:45 p.m. Thankful his Nitro had a 65-gallon tank, he ran straight back the hour and a half into the lake and caught 20 pounds in 30 minutes.
“The Classic depended on me catching them that day,” he said. “If I wouldn’t have caught them, I would have been just outside the cut.”
Fishing his first full day on Semifinal Saturday, Huff caught 26 pounds to jump 29 spots to 14th, which had him finish 30th in points with 550.
“I finally got to catch what lived there,” he said. “I was on the fish that had the potential to win, I just didn’t get to fish for them.”
Last year, the final Classic berth went to David Gaston with 508 points. Huff had 256 points after five events last season, so he’s feeling comfortable being way ahead of the game this season with 413 points. Plus, he likes the final four fisheries, starting with Wheeler Lake June 13-16.
“This is the best shape I’ve ever been in going into the last few,” he said. “It’s going to be really nice to just relax and fish.
“These next few can really shake up the leaderboard. I like the Tennessee River, so I’m excited for that. I’ve always done well on Smith, but it’s a different time of year than I’ve ever been there. Still, I feel like both of these tournaments have the opportunity to be in my wheelhouse if things go right.”
Many Elites are nervous about Smith Lake, June 27-30. It will be in Alabama’s June heat with expected high traffic ahead of the Fourth of July. Huff posted a Top 10 in an FLW event there and took fifth in the St. Croix Smith Lake Open in 2021, so he goes in with a brighter outlook than most.
“I definitely think it’s going to be a lot different,” he said. “In the same breath, it’s a deep lake, there’s going to be a lot of fish offshore. I just got to figure them out.”
If he can, he could make some ground in AOY if McKinney were to falter. Huff also knows not to discount Jordan Lee, who is second in AOY with 448 points and has the luxury of sleeping in his own bed for the Alabama events.
Brothers Chris (third, 423 points) and Cory Johnston (fourth, 415 points) will be threats if they remain in contention for season-ending events in New York. The Elite schedule culminates in August with back-to-back tournaments on Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River, where the Johnstons thrive.
Huff, well-rounded but particularly strong on deep, suspended fish, has done well on northern fisheries, even though the St. Lawrence takeoff this time makes for a longer run into Lake Ontario.
“I’m really looking forward to those last two,” he said. “What I learned last year is you don’t need very long to catch ‘em. This year out of Waddington, it doesn’t scare me that I’ve got to run to the lake.”
Huff knows he could make a run at AOY, and he could benefit from sage advice from friend and Ava neighbor Rick Clunn, the 1988 AOY and four-time Classic champ.
“He’s a wealth of knowledge,” Huff said. “It’s nice to be able to talk to him, somebody who has as much confidence in you as he does. It just makes you believe in yourself a little bit more.”
The two talk every week, after their practices and each night of tournaments. They’ve been friends ever since Huff helped pull Clunn’s son, River, from the lake around 2015.
“It’s just insane to think about — we’ve been friends for so long now that sometimes you forget that it’s Rick Clunn,” Huff said. “He’s very, very special to me. I’m awful thankful to be able to have him as a mentor.”
Clunn would surely be proud if Huff could manage to get through the rest of the season and take the title. Huff said there’s really nothing extra special he can do.
“Winning Angler of the Year is not easy for anybody,” Huff said. “If it’s meant to happen, it’s going to happen. There’s no way to prepare for it.”
Huff just needs to get everything right.
