Sutherland’s Williams Earns Victory in Co-Angler Division

MARBURY, Md. (Sept. 14, 2026) – Boater Kermit Crowder of Matoaca, Virginia, caught a total of 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 15 ounces, over two days to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Super Tournament Presented by T-H Marine on the Potomac River . The tournament, hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Shenandoah Division. Crowder earned $4,400 for his victory.

Crowder knows the definition of the word dedication – both in his marriage and on the water.

“My wife and I went practicing Friday and I found fish,” Crowder said. “Matter of fact, it was my wife who found them. She said, ‘Let’s fish over here,’ so we went over there, and they were there.

“So, I went out the first day and fished there and caught fish on a swim jig,” Crowder went on to say. “I had the majority of my fish by 9:30.”

Crowder stayed simple with his bait choice – he caught all of his fish during the tournament on a green-pumpkin-colored swim jig and a green-pumpkin soft-plastic trailer. He said he targeted the outside edges of grass in about four feet of water.

Crowder returned to the same area on the second day of competition, but his area produced only two “little ones.” He relocated to another area, checked it and decided to move on. At 1 o’clock Crowder had only two fish in the livewell.

“I pulled back into where we took off at and caught a 5-pounder and two more to fill out the limit,” Crowder said. “I got pretty lucky. I had probably 20 minutes left to fish. I had been sweating it all day.”

Despite only having 2 fish at 1 o’clock, Crowder never changed his approach. He stayed dedicated to the same jig and trailer combination all day.

“I stayed with the same pattern that got me there; I just tried it in a couple of different places,” Crowder said. “It seemed to me in practice the bigger fish wanted the swim jig. There’s no sense in throwing anything else when you’re pretty sure that’s what they want.

“I never really thought I had a shot at winning, because I only had 12 or 13 pounds, and the day before it took 14 to 15 to lead,” Crowder went on to say. “I thought I had blown it. So, it surprised me. When it’s your day, it’s your day. You can throw the bait over your head backwards and they’ll bite it when it’s your day.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Kermit Crowder, Matoaca, Va., 10 bass, 28-15, $4,400
2nd:      Jesse Colie, Bel Alton, Md., 10 bass, 23-6, $2,510 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
3rd:       Joshua McGeary, Mount Pleasant, Penn., 10 bass, 22-15, $1,060
4th:        Robert Grike, Dumfries, Va., nine bass, 22-13, $970
5th:        Louis Martinez, Warrenton, Va., 10 bass, 21-13, $750
6th:        Ed Melton, Houston, Texas, 10 bass, 20-10, $720
7th:        Steve Allender, Fallston, Md., eight bass, 20-3, $680
8th:        Michael Eskridge, Delmar, Md., seven bass, 18-1, $650
9th:        Aaron Dixon, Bel Alton, Md., six bass, 17-2, $620
10th:     Brad Melton, Manassas, Va., seven bass, 17-0, $590

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Wesley Harris of Rustburg, Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 6-pound, 5-ounce bass worth $300.

Richard Williams of Sutherland, Virginia, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $2,000 Sunday after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Richard Williams, Sutherland, Va., six bass, 14-5, $2,000
2nd:      Chris Moore, Mechanicsville, Va., six bass, 13-14, $1,005
3rd:       Fred Mojica, Taneytown, Md., six bass, 13-4, $530
4th:        David Gober, Milford, Del., five bass, 12-9, $435
5th:        Ryan Spivey, Fairfax, Va., six bass, 12-3, $375
6th:        Dewey Mathis, Orange, N.H., five bass, 12-0, $360
7th:        Taylor Schmitt, North Chesterfield, Va., four bass, 9-12, $340
8th:        Fan Zhang, Lancaster, Penn., three bass, 9-2, $325
9th:        Ben Orebaugh, Broadway, Va., four bass, 8-4, $310
10th:     Matthew Ross, Barton, Md., four bass, 8-3, $295

Kirk Mann of Hampstead, Maryland, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 7-pound, 1-ounce bass worth $150.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Brian Laclair of Denton, Maryland, won the 7 Brew Shenandoah Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,315 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Richard Williams of Sutherland, Virginia, won the Shenandoah Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,316 points and earned the $500 payout.

The top 45 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. 15-17 BFL Regional tournament on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Georgia. 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 prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500.

The 2026 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2027 BFL All-American will take place June 5-7, at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee, Florida, and is hosted by Experience Kissimmee.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches, Mercury, MillerTech, Mystik Lubricants, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PiranhO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular BFL 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, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.