Tennessee’s Walsh Tops Co-Angler Division

IUKA, Miss. (March 3, 2025) – Boater Carter Nutt of Nashville, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 29 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Pickwick Lake. The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Mississippi Division. Nutt earned $3,792 for his victory.

Nutt’s win at Pickwick is a great example of adapting when an initial plan doesn’t work out. His strategy going into the event was to try to catch a couple quality bass from connected Bay Springs in the morning, then run back to Pickwick Lake to target bigger bites. Nutt said Pickwick was tough in practice, and while he caught some quality fish there, he didn’t catch many. Bay Springs was supposed to get him started strong, but things didn’t go to plan first thing Saturday morning. Thankfully, it not only worked out, but Nutt also caught an 8-plus-pounder on the way to a massive limit.

“It was tough on me to start off with,” Nutt said. “I made a long run over to Bay Springs, and I didn’t catch jack over there. I caught two like 2 3/4 (pounders). I ran back to Pickwick at 10:30 and hit a couple little magical places and caught 29 pounds’ worth. It was a slow grind, but I made it happen.”

It was three spots that produced Nutt’s winning fish – all current breaks. He said there’s a ton of current in the system, and the fish are setting up on main-lake breaks to get out of the flow. Once he found the fish on forward-facing sonar, Nutt caught most of his keepers using a Damiki rig or an Alabama rig.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Carter Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 29-7, $3,792
2nd:      Chandler Howell, Guntown, Miss., five bass, 27-2, $1,689
3rd:       Matteo Turano, Puryear, Tenn., five bass, 25-8, $1,128
4th:        Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 25-7, $788
5th:        Sam Ausbrooks, Loogootee, Ind., five bass, 25-2, $675
6th:        Trent Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., five bass, 24-12, $1,119 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
7th:        Corban Knight, Somerville, Tenn., five bass, 24-3, $563
8th:        Harbor Lovin, New Concord, Ky., five bass, 23-10, $507
9th:        Nate Latham, Town Creek, Ala., five bass, 23-8, $450
10th:     Blake Bullock, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 23-7, $394

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Nutt also caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $415.

William Walsh of Bon Aqua, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and $1,689 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 9 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        William Walsh, Bon Aqua, Tenn., three bass, 13-9, $1,689
2nd:      Matthew Cooper, Brooksville, Miss, three bass, 13-1, $844
3rd:       Tim Rampaul, Dickson, Tenn., two bass, 11-7, $871
4th:        Nathan Whitehead, Muscle Shoals, Ala., three bass, 11-5, $394
5th:        Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 10-8, $338
6th:        Chris Coates, Bethpage, Tenn., three bass, 10-0, $310
7th:        Cy Matlock, Crump, Tenn., two bass, 9-3, $281
8th:        Richard Baker, Jackson, Tenn., two bass, 8-8, $253
9th:        Kris McCarter, Pheba, Miss, two bass, 8-6, $211
9th:        Caleb Bass, Columbia, Miss., two bass, 8-6, $211

Tim Rampaul of Dickson, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $207, catching a bass that weighed in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

In addition to earning the win, Carter Nutt of Nashville, Tennessee, has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Mississippi Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while William Walsh of Bon Aqua, Tennessee, leads the Fishing Clash Mississippi Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Mississippi Division anglers will be held April 12, at Pickwick Lake in Iuka, Mississippi. 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. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes out of Paris, 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 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, 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.