Maryland’s Hornsby Tops Co-Angler Division

MARBURY, Md. (Sept. 22, 2025) – Boater Josh Kauffman of Marysville, Pennsylvania, caught a total of 10 bass weighing 29 pounds, 13 ounces, over two days to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Potomac River . The tournament, hosted by the Charles County Recreation, Parks, and Tourism, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Northeast Division. Kauffman earned $7,509, including a $2,500 Phoenix Bonus, for his victory.

“The Potomac is really finicky right now,” Kauffman said. “You could catch a good amount of fish, but getting anything above a pound and a half was difficult. I really just tried to cover as much water as possible. You have to factor in the tide wherever you go, and I just focused on areas where I found better quality fish – even if I got only one bite in a spot in practice, I ran there during the tournament. It really just came down to getting the bigger and better-than-average bite.”

Kauffman, who stayed in the D.C. area for bass, said moving baits such as crankbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and a swim jig were key for him.

“I had to just keep covering water,” Kauffman said. “That was the name of the game. Really, I was just junk fishing a lot of high-percentage areas, just hoping I could get one here and there.”

Kauffman entered the second day of competition in ninth place and had his work cut out for him on Day 2.

“I knew I really had to catch a good bag to even have a shot (at winning),” Kauffman said. “So, I decided to change it up a little bit and I ran some new water I didn’t even fish Saturday. Sunday morning, I found an area where they were really active, and I had 13½ pounds in 15 minutes. It was every other cast for 45 minutes.

“That really calmed me down, which was really important,” Kauffman added. “I just needed a couple more good bites, and I was able to get them with a 4¼- and a 4½-pounder.

Kauffman said toward the end of the day he was just shy of 16 pounds and felt he still needed one more quality bite to finish the tournament strongly.

“I made a long run into an area where I caught a 5-pounder in practice, and started fishing,” Kauffman said. “Sure enough, I made one cast shallow, started reeling it back, and one smoked it. It was a 4¼.

“The key to my win is I fished very cleanly, which hardly ever happens,” Kauffman added. “It’s like when it’s your time, it’s your time.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Josh Kauffman, Marysville, Pa., 10 bass, 29-13, $7,509 (includes $2,500 Phoenix Bonus)
2nd:      Aaron Dixon, Bel Alton, Md., 10 bass, 29-12, $2,466
3rd:       Jason Burger, Bridgeton, N.J., 10 bass, 28-8, $1,577
4th:        Conor Cahill, Audubon, N.J., 10 bass, 27-12, $1,104
5th:        Todd Langford, Great Falls, Va., 10 bass, 26-10, $946
6th:        Brandon Pyles, Middletown, Md., 10 bass, 26-10, $868
7th:        Teimuraz Balachvili, Scarsdale, N.Y., 10 bass, 25-11, $789
8th:        Joshua Lewis, Rockville, Md., 10 bass, 24-4, $710
9th:        Jerry Vitiello, Verona, N.J., 10 bass, 24-4, $631
10th:     Logan Kaplon, Rural Valley, Pa., 10 bass, 23-2, $702

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Kauffman and Fred Aldridge of Brandystation, Virginia, each caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces, to split the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $554.

Philip Hornsby of Hughesville, Maryland, won the co-angler division and $2,366 Sunday, after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 19 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Philip Hornsby, Hughesville, Md., six bass, 19-2, $2,366
2nd:      Robert Wedding, Welcome, Md., six bass, 16-4, $1,460
3rd:       Jarrett Albert, Dillsburg, Pa., six bass, 15-6, $790
4th:        Randall Given, Laurel, Del., six bass, 15-1, $552
5th:        Mike Wotanowski, Lake Hopatcong, N.J., six bass, 14-1, $473
6th:        Jordan Petterson, Harbeson, Del., six bass, 13-5, $434
7th:        Joseph Amberg Jr., Hawley, Pa., six bass, 13-3, $394
8th:        Chuck Nale, Marydel, Md., six bass, 13-1, $405
9th:        Leon Deatrick, Orrtanna, Pa., six bass, 11-13, $315
10th:     Hampton Robinson, Bealeton, Va., six bass, 11-13, $276

Robert Wedding of Welcome, Maryland, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $277 with a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 14 ounces.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Teimuraz Balachvili of Scarsdale, New York, won the Fishing Clash Northeast Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,304 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Joseph Amberg Jr. of Hawley, Pennsylvania, won the Fishing Clash Northeast Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,312 points and earned the $500 payout.

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 the James River in Richmond, Viriginia. 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.

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 Sport 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, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, 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.