Inman’s Huntley Wins Co-Angler Division

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Sept. 21, 2026) – Boater Joe Anders of Easley, South Carolina, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 43 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Murray . The tournament, hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL South Carolina Division. Anders earned $10,180, including a $7,000 Phoenix bonus, for his victory.

“I fished in another local tournament last Friday and I caught 22 pounds in that,” Anders said. “I got fifth place in that one, so that kind of served as my practice day. That dialed me in to what I was going to do in the BFL.

“The first day of this tournament set up perfectly for me,” Anders continued. “I only caught about 10 keepers the first day, but three of them were over 5 pounds. The second day they set up totally different.”

Anders said he fished fast and up-tempo during the early hours using his forward-facing sonar to move around and hit as many schools as possible. He used his electronics period to build his limit each day, but he said the ultimate factor to winning the tournament was figuring out how to get fish to bite in the afternoon. For that, he targeted hydrilla flats in 5 to 10 feet of water on the lower end of the lake, near the dam.

“I turned my structure scan on and found where the edge of the grass line was,” Anders said. “Then I’d throw a (Z-Man Original) ChatterBait down the grass line. You could see the grass line and see where it dropped off, and you could see holes in the hydrilla. That’s where the fish would sit. I caught a keeper over 4 pounds each day that way, on a Spro frog.”

On the first day of the tournament, Anders found bass schooling around him, but he couldn’t get them to bite. He said he would land a “hole-in-one shot” in the fish’s mouths when they came up in a school and still couldn’t catch them. So he switched to a “Japanese tactic” to catch bass he couldn’t with his tried-and-true methods. A 4-pounder pushed his weight over 20 pounds, and he thought he had a shot at a win.

“Man, it feels great to get my fifth MLF win,” Anders said. “I know how hard BFLs are to win, so I don’t ever take it for granted. “It was my 120th career event with MLF and I surpassed $100,000 career winnings, so that was cool, as well.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Joe Anders, Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 43-1, $10,180 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
2nd:      Joey Phegley, Graniteville, S.C., 10 bass, 37-10, $1,640
3rd:       Britt Myers, Clover, S.C., 10 bass, 36-1, $920
4th:       Lane Clark, Anderson, S.C., nine bass, 35-12, $770
5th:       Chandler Ray, Bainbridge, Ga., nine bass, 30-2, $680
6th:       Chad Sims, Lancaster, S.C., 10 bass, 30-1, $650
7th:       Dustin Henson, Landrum, S.C., nine bass, 26-12, $630
8th:       Kegan Storms, Blairsville, Ga., seven bass, 19-11, $600
9th:       Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., five bass, 17-5, $580
10th:     Wayne Wilson, Columbia, S.C., four bass, 16-8, $960

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

T.J. Souther of Brevard, N.C, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 2-ounce bass worth $300.

Todd Huntley of Inman, South Carolina, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,540 Sunday after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 19 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Todd Huntley, Inman, S.C., six bass, 19-10, $1,540
2nd:      James Turner, Conway, S.C., four bass, 18-11, $820
3rd:       Jason Ries, Columbia, S.C., five bass, 17-1, $460
4th:       Connor Carleton, Salisbury, Md., three bass, 16-8, $585
5th:       Alston Wingate, Lexington, S.C., four bass, 13-10, $340
6th:       Thomas Pennell III, Boiling Springs, S.C., five bass, 13-6, $325
7th:       Dan Marin, Appling, Ga., three bass, 9-13, $320
8th:       Frank Shatterly, Hillsboro, Ga., four bass, 6-8, $300
9th:       Rob Burris, Lexington, S.C., two bass, 5-13, $290
10th:     David McCarter, Gresham, S.C., one bass, 4-12, $280

Connor Carleton of Salisbury, Maryland, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 6-pound, 6-ounce bass worth $150.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Joey Phegley of Graniteville, South Carolina, won the 7 Brew South Carolina Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,331 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Todd Huntley of Inman, South Carolina, won the South Carolina Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,348 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. 8-10 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama. 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 the 2027 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.