Hometown favorite capitalizes on deep-water smallmouth pattern and live sonar expertise to earn a career-defining win, a $73,689 payday, and a berth in the 2026 Toyota Series Championship.
Jesse Spellicy of Gouverneur, New York, fulfilled a longtime career goal by capturing his first MLF Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats victory, weighing a tournament-best 23 pounds, 6 ounces on the final day to secure the Northern Division event on the St. Lawrence River.
Spellicy's three-day total of 64 pounds, 13 ounces earned him the championship trophy, a $73,689 payday-including the $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus and an automatic qualification for the 2026 Toyota Series Championship in November.
Although visibly emotional after the victory, Spellicy admitted he entered the tournament believing he had a legitimate opportunity to win. Rather than sharing those expectations with family and friends, however, he chose to keep his confidence private so he could remain focused throughout the week.
"I kind of downplayed it to everyone," Spellicy said after hoisting the championship trophy. "I thought I could win-I knew that I had a good chance, at least. It's not so much that I thought I'd jinx it, but I didn't want to put that pressure on myself. I had to lock in and focus on the task at hand."
Louis Monetti finished second with 64 pounds, 2 ounces, followed by Clay Reece with 63-4, Nolan Leger with 61-14, and Brayden Stoker with 61-13 to round out the Top 5.
Home-Water Knowledge Provides the Edge
Living approximately 40 minutes from the St. Lawrence River in Gouverneur, New York, Spellicy has spent years learning the fishery. While he doesn't fish the river daily, his tournament record on the system already included six Top-10 finishes in nine MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League and Toyota Series events prior to this victory.
That experience gave him confidence heading into the tournament, particularly on the stretch of river below the Iroquois Dam where he believed modern electronics had unlocked opportunities that were previously difficult to exploit.
"I knew it was going to be in my wheelhouse," Spellicy said. "It's a little bit of an equalizer with LiveScope. I've always known there are big fish there, but it was very hard to fish traditionally. Incorporating LiveScope kind of unlocked that special area."
A Patient Three-Day Strategy
Spellicy opened the tournament with a 20-pound limit while targeting a combination of shallow roadbeds and deeper fish positioned in 25 to 35 feet of water. Despite losing what he estimated was a 5- to 6-pound smallmouth on Day 1, the quality bite confirmed he was around the caliber of fish needed to contend.
His opening catch placed him 14th after the first day as seven anglers exceeded the 21-pound mark.
The second day proved pivotal.
Morning fog delayed the start of competition and overcast conditions altered fishing patterns across the river. Spellicy believed the changing conditions would favor anglers targeting deeper fish while making the shallow-water bite more difficult.
"When I realized that we were actually going to go fishing that day, I thought, 'This is my chance to make up some ground,'" he explained.
His confidence proved well-founded as he weighed 21 pounds, 1 ounce, climbing into fifth place and moving within striking distance of then-leader Jimmy Washam entering Championship Sunday.
Live Sonar and a Classic Presentation
Throughout the tournament, Spellicy relied exclusively on forward-facing sonar to locate individual smallmouth holding on subtle current breaks in 25 to 35 feet of water near likely spawning areas.
Fishing in swift current presented unique challenges.
"The fish are harder to see on 'Scope in that part of the river, and the water moves very fast," Spellicy explained. "I'd throw a different assortment of baits to get fish to show themselves, and then once I saw where they were sitting, I'd hit Spot-Lock and throw something more finessey at them."
His primary presentation turned out to be a classic technique that many local anglers had largely abandoned, a brown-back 3.6-inch Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm rigged on a drop-shot with a No. 2 hook and either a 3/8-ounce or ½-ounce weight.
Spellicy credited the decision to revisit the drop-shot to his 10-year-old daughter, who had experienced consistent success using the presentation in junior fishing events.
"My 10-year-old daughter can catch 16, 17 pounds in a junior cup dragging a Flat Worm around on obvious-looking stuff," Spellicy said. "It made me think maybe they're eating a drop-shot again."
That adjustment ultimately became the winning pattern.
A Career Milestone
For Spellicy, the Toyota Series title represented far more than a tournament victory. He admitted that winning at this level had long been one of his biggest career ambitions and acknowledged that he had even considered skipping the event altogether.
"Once I decided to fish it, I came into this whole week with the attitude of, 'I'm going to take one last go at this darn thing, and it's either going to happen or not,'" he said.
While his fiancée and two youngest daughters were on hand to celebrate the victory, his parents were spending time at the family's Adirondack cabin without cell service and were unable to witness the moment live.
With the victory, Spellicy not only earned the largest paycheck of his Toyota Series career but also secured a coveted berth in the 2026 Toyota Series Championship, capping a breakthrough performance on one of professional bass fishing's premier smallmouth fisheries.
On the co-angler side, Carson Stone of Texas claimed the title with a three-day total of 50 pounds, 1 ounce, highlighted by a tournament-best final-day bag weighing 19 pounds, 10 ounces. His victory earned him a Phoenix Boats 518 Pro powered by a 115-horsepower outboard.
