Oliver Springs’ Paul Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

DAYTON, Tenn. (Feb. 10, 2025) – Boater Corey Neece of Bristol, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 32 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Chickamauga . The tournament, hosted by Fish Dayton, was the first event of the season for the BFL Volunteer Division. Neece earned $11,037 for his victory, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus.

“I just caught ’em scoping an Alabama rig all day,” said Neece, who used 4-inch swimbaits on his A-rig. “I didn’t catch many though. I only caught eight or nine fish all day.”

According to Neece, fishing was slow in the morning. He didn’t start catching them until 10:30 or 11. He attributed the low number of overall bites to the fishing pressure. He said the fish are grouped up in the middle of creek channels with bait – areas where anglers are able to find and target them with live sonar.

“They’re moving into early stages of prespawn, probably,” Neece said about the fish. “They’re starting to move back into the creeks. I had two pretty small stretches of creek channel that they were in. I just bounced back and forth between the two throughout the day.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Corey Neece, Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 32-7, $11,037 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Josh Lee, Powell, Tenn., five bass, 29-14, $2,564
3rd:       Jacob Foutz, Philadelphia, Tenn., five bass, 26-3, $1,345
4th:        Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., five bass, 25-1, $942
5th:        Blake Smith, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 22-13, $807
6th:        Kevin Drake, Cleveland, Tenn., five bass, 22-11, $740
7th:        Jeremy Gordon, Rutledge, Tenn., five bass, 22-5, $673
8th:        Derrick Stafford, Kingston, Tenn., five bass, 22-4, $606
9th:        Robert Wroblewski, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 21-11, $538
10th:     Bryce McDonald, Paintsville, Ky., five bass, 20-14, $471

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Josh Lee of Powell, Tennessee, caught a bass that weighed 9 pounds, 14 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $545.

Joshua Paul of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,019 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Joshua Paul, Oliver Springs, Tenn., three bass, 12-1, $2,019
2nd:       Christopher Davis, Huntsville, Ala., three bass, 11-7, $1,009
3rd:       Justin McGaha, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 10-8, $675
4th:        Hunter Wilson, Greenback, Tenn., three bass, 10-2, $471
5th:        Kasey Hunley, Sharps Chapel, Tenn., three bass, 9-14, $404
6th:        Tony Thompson, Friendsville, Tenn., three bass, 9-10, $370
7th:        Ransom Boone, Marshall, N.C., three bass, 9-5, $336
8th:        Ricky Sexton, Oliver Springs, Tenn., three bass, 8-11, $303
9th:        Randall Kramer, Signal Mountain, Tenn., three bass, 8-7, $269
10th:     Don Carmack, Middlesboro, Ky., three bass, 8-2, $235

Tim Martin of Jonesborough, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $272, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After one event, Corey Neece of Bristol, Tennessee, leads the Fishing Clash Volunteer Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Joshua Paul of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, leads the Fishing Clash Volunteer Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Volunteer Division anglers will be held March 8, at South Holston Reservoir out of Bristol, Tennessee. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

The top 60 boaters and co-anglers in the division based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 24-25 BFL Regional tournament Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard worth $50,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $20,000.

The 2025 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 134 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 60 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of 12 BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top three, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Deep Dive App, E3 Sports Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Li Time Batteries, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Vosker, WIX Filters and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, 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 20 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.