Maryland’s Badra Tops Co-Angler Division

HUDDLESTON, Va. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Broderick Luckey of Lynchburg, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 10 ounces, Sunday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Smith Mountain Lake. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Luckey earned $3,792 for his victory.

It was another day, another win for Luckey. In addition to winning Sunday’s Piedmont Division event at Smith Mountain, the aptly named angler also won a Shenandoah Division event on Smith Mountain held on Saturday. This weekend’s two wins actually make it three in a row for Luckey, who also won the March 2024 Piedmont Division tournament on Smith Mountain.

On Saturday, Luckey caught his fish by intercepting prespawn bass around docks and wood as they were making their way back into the creeks. You can read more about Saturday’s tournament here.

“Today (Sunday), was a totally different day,” he said. “I kept my mind open, and I had all my fish by 8:45 this morning.”

The “open mind” part came into play when Luckey chose his starting spot.

“So yesterday I saw some fish in (Sunday’s winning area) later in the day, but there weren’t many,” he added. “So I thought they might show up better there the next day. I thought I would start there because there might be more fish there today. I kept my mind open instead of just running what I ran yesterday. I made a decision to start in a different place to see if they showed up better, and they did.”

And it didn’t take long to validate the decision. Luckey pulled in, dropped his trolling motor and within 30 seconds spotted a big fish on his live sonar, which he promptly caught. That bass weighed 5 1/4 pounds. He followed up with two 4-pound-class fish and a massive 8-pound, 1-ounce kicker that won Luckey the Berkley Big Bass award – worth $415 – for the second day in a row on the boater side. It was also Luckey’s biggest bass ever on Smith Mountain. His final keeper on that spot weighed about 2 3/4 pounds.

Luckey caught his morning flurry using a jighead minnow and forward-facing sonar to target bass cruising in 30 to 40 feet of water. His fish were much farther off the bank Sunday compared to the ones he caught Saturday.

Once he had a solid limit in the boat, Luckey wanted to put some real numbers on the board, so he went looking to upgrade. That included mixing in something the fish don’t see all winter long, knowing it gave him a good chance to put a giant in the boat – a frog. The frog produced a nice kicker in practice and nearly got it done for him on tournament day, too, but ultimately he never upgraded.

“I thought I had all day to get it done,” Luckey said. “They just went lockjaw. I lost a 6-pounder on a frog about two hours later. It got me wrapped up in a tree, and it was just sitting in a pollen mat. Here, the pollen holds heat. I was really hoping to get rid of (the 2 3/4-pound fish), and if I’d have had that one I lost on a frog, I’d have been pushing 28 pounds today.”

Catching 28 pounds would’ve been impressive, but 24-10 and two wins in one weekend is about as awesome as it gets in stiff BFL competition.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said about going back to back. “It’s kind of surreal. After practice, if you’d have told me I was gonna win, I would’ve called you crazy. Fish moved and good things happened. The Lord blessed me for sure.”

The top 11 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Broderick Luckey, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 24-10, $3,792
2nd:       Kaden Buchmann, Troutman, N.C., five bass, 20-11, $1,689
3rd:       Chris Brummett, Lynch Station, Va., five bass, 19-10, $1,128
4th:        Thomas Milton, Chester, Va., five bass, 18-0, $788
5th:        Billy Kohls, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 16-12, $925
6th:        Chad Green, Moneta, Va., five bass, 16-11, $619
7th:        Adam Lester, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 15-5, $535
7th:        Matt McCluskey, Ashburn, Va., five bass, 15-5, $535
9th:        Boogie Atkins, Greenville, Va., five bass, 14-7, $450
10th:     Chris Jackson, Jeffersonton, Va., five bass, 13-14, $374
10th:     Brandon Huff, Draper, Va., five bass, 13-14, $374

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Cornell Badra of Clarksburg, Maryland, won the co-angler division and $1,709 Sunday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Cornell Badra, Clarksburg, Md., three bass, 8-7, $1,709
2nd:       Ricky Grant, Callands, Va., three bass, 7-6, $855
3rd:       Derek Stanley, Fuquay Varina, N.C., three bass, 7-5, $570
4th:        John Robinson, Montpelier, Va., two bass, 7-4, $399
5th:        Todd Hurst, Copper Hill, Va., two bass, 7-3, $342
6th:        Eric Nelson, Gainesville, Va., three bass, 7-1, $313
7th:        Andrew Hostler, Tyrone, Pa., three bass, 6-12, $385
8th:        Scott Bolling, Bedford, Va., two bass, 6-9, $256
9th:        Nathan Sullivan, Fredericksburg, Va., one bass, 6-8, $438
10th:     Mekye Barnes, Knightdale, N.C., three bass, 6-7, $199

Nathan Sullivan of Fredericksburg, North Carolina, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $210, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Thomas Milton of Chester, Virginia, now leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 495 points, while Derek Stanley of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 497 points.

The next event for BFL Piedmont Division anglers will be held May 10, at High Rock Lake out of Lexington, North Carolina. 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. 3-4 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. 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.