A Total of $8,200 Raised for Keep America Fishing™ Foundation
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (July 16, 2024) – The CPF Lures team, represented by Chuck Pippin and Jason George, brought a three-bass limit totaling 15 pounds, 7 ounces to the stage Tuesday to win the 2024 ICAST Cup at Lake Toho Presented by Major League Fishing (MLF). The four-hour bass-fishing tournament, hosted by the Kissimmee Sports Commission, was the kick-off event to ICAST 2024 and raised a total of $8,200 to benefit the industry’s angler advocacy program, Keep America Fishing™.
The field totaled 41 boats, including a handful of MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals and Toyota Series anglers, as well as outdoor media and industry representatives from popular tackle brands and non-profits. In its ten-year history, the charity tournament has raised more than $89,200 for Keep America Fishing™.
George and Pippin are partners in CPF Lures and said they leaned exclusively on one of their own baits for the winning bag.
“We caught every single one of our bass on a 10-inch ribbon tail worm from CPF Lures,” said Pippin. “We’re really known for our 8-inch trick worm, but sometimes this time of year when the weather’s hot and the water’s dirty, they want a little more action, so we slipped over to the ribbon-tail. You can never go wrong with a june-bug-colored bait on this lake.”
Pippin said they caught their limit early, in an area about the size of a bass boat.
“We caught them all by 8 a.m. this morning and just got really fortunate,” said Pippin. “A lot of guys were here from all across the country, and I think they were speeding up because we only have four hours, but we just drug that worm real slow and it paid off.”
George echoed Pippin’s sentiments.
“It was a good day,” said George. “Chuck put us on some really good fish, and we just ran the ribbon tail worm – just old-school-style fishing all morning. The bites were pretty consistent, so when they would stop, we would just go to the next spot and get a few bites and continued that pattern all morning.”
Pippin said the bite slowed later in the morning and the duo felt incredibly fortunate to have gotten the winning bass in the boat within the first few hours of the competition.
“Even though we only fished four hours, we probably would have weighed-in about the same if we’d fished eight hours, because they just kind of shut down on us,” Pippin said. “But this win feels pretty good! I’ve fished the ICAST Cup a couple times, but I didn’t watch the weigh-in because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. However, now that we’ve won it, we’re already making plans to win it again next year!”
The top 10 teams finished the tournament in:
1st: CPF Lures – Jason George and Chuck Pippin, three bass, 15-7
2nd: American Baitworks – Robert Greenberg, JT Kenney and Justin Harant, three bass, 12-8
3rd: 10 CAN INC – Robert Isom, Michael Wilson and Stevie Brave, three bass, 12-6
4th: Gary Ford Well and Pump – Thad Ford and Nick Hawkins, three bass, 11-12
5th: Bull Bay Tackle – Jake Stines and Danny Hamm, three bass, 11-4
5th: T.A. Mahoney Co. – Mike Hardy and Tom Mahoney, three bass, 11-4
7th: Glacier Outdoor – Christine Hayton, Daniel Valois and Horaciso Clare, three bass, 10-11
8th: USA Bass – Nicole Abrams and Julie Leavitt, three bass, 10-8
9th: Bob’s Machine – Steven Pelini, Bryan Honnerlaw and Betty Bauman, three bass, 10-8
10th: Amera Trail, Steve “Boogie” Brown, Terry Segraves and Cindy Joint, three bass, 10-4
Complete results and photos from the tournament will be posted at ICASTCup.com.
USA Bass partnered with MLF and Keep America Fishing™ to award the top-finishing women’s pair at the ICAST Cup a spot on the 2025 USA Pan American Bass fishing team. The highest-finishing team of female anglers was Nicole Abrams and Julie Leavitt, who brought three bass to the stage totaling 10 pounds, 8 ounces to earn their spot on Team USA Bass at the 2025 Pan American Bass Fishing Championship, alongside other top pros.
Keep America Fishing™ is leading the fight to preserve our right to sustainably fish on our nation’s waterways. As the voice of the American angler, Keep America Fishing works to keep our public resources – our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams – open, clean and abundant with fish. For more information, please visit KeepAmericaFishing.org.
For more ICAST 2024 coverage, details and tournament information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 17 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
