NORTH EAST, Md. (Sept. 21, 2026) – Boater Josh Kauffman of Marysville, Pennsylvania, caught a total of 10 bass weighing 33 pounds, 13 ounces, over two days to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Chesapeake Bay. The tournament was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Northeast Division Presented by 3rd Deck Brewing Company. Kauffman earned $3,180 for his victory.

“I started off this tournament by dropping my truck keys in the water and my boat drifting away because my Power Poles were not anchored to the bottom like I thought they were,” Kauffman said. “So, I had to go swimming to get the boat. Day 1 was wild, but I had to keep cool and keep calm, and I went out and caught about 16 pounds pretty quickly in about two hours.

“The Chesapeake Bay is fishing extremely tough, and it’s hard to get a bite out there,” Kauffman continued. “So, that was a great morning, way better than I thought it was going to be.”

Kauffman left his morning spot and ran to a secondary grass pattern he had and managed another seven or eight keepers, culling up to 17 pounds by noon. He spent the rest of the first day looking for bass for his Day 2 on Sunday.

Kauffman said his baits were classic “junk” fishing – a swim jig, bladed jig and Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm in grass, a crankbait on points in the morning and a spinnerbait on Day 2 when conditions got overcast and windy.

Kauffman started Day 2 on rocky points, but caught only one 2½-pounder and lost a couple of fish. He relocated to his grassy area but didn’t feel confident.

“The grass held true and I ended up catching six keepers out there, including a 5½-pounder late in the day,” Kauffman said. “When I caught that one I thought, ‘That was probably the one that got me over the hump.’

“A lot of hard work went into practicing there,” Kauffman said. “I wasn’t sure how it would go, but it sort of just developed throughout the two days. I never felt that I found anything special, but it’s been fishing so tough there and the grass just turned out to be pretty magical. My co-angler and I had three 5½-pounders out of this one spot. For the Chesapeake and this time of year, that’s pretty nuts.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Josh Kauffman, Marysville, Penn., 10 bass, 33-10, $3,180
2nd:        Richard Leadbeater, North East, Md., 10 bass, 28-11, $1,640
3rd:         Michael Piccolo, Croydon, Penn., 10 bass, 28-6, $920
4th:         Andrew Heivly, Spring City, Penn., 10 bass, 27-9, $770
5th:         Michael Sentore, Gloucester City, N.J., 10 bass, 26-6, $680
6th:         Frank Ruggieri, Gibbstown, N.J., seven bass, 22-12, $650
7th:         Stephan Sirochman, Earleville, Md., eight bass, 22-12, $630
8th:         John Rinkers, Swarthmore, Penn., eight bass, 22-7, $600
9th:         John Duarte, Middle River, Md., seven bass, 19-7, $1,230 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
10th:       Jackson Staib, Wilmington, Del., seven bass, 18-14, $560

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Jared Wolf of East Berlin, Pennsylvania, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass worth $300.

Michael Duarte of Baltimore, Maryland, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,540 Sunday after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 17 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:         Michael Duarte, Baltimore, Md., six bass, 17-7, $1,540
2nd:        Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Penn., four bass, 16-4, $970
3rd:        Greg Darling, Magnolia, Del., six bass, 14-12, $460
4th:         Chris Hutchinson, Sewell, N.J., five bass, 13-10, $385
5th:         Lamar Spade, Saylorsburg, Penn., five bass, 13-2, $340
6th:         Kirk Mann, Hampstead, Md., five bass, 12-13, $325
7th:         Luke Dixon, Ridgely, Md., four bass, 9-14, $320
8th:         Eric Reynolds, Bloomingburg, N.Y., three bass, 8-8, $300
9th:         James Boyce, Massena, N.Y., three bass, 6-10, $290
10th:       Jared Burrows, Butler, Penn., two bass, 4-12, $280

Michael Bahnweg of Union Dale, Pennsylvania, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass worth $150.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Joseph Thompson of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, won the 7 Brew Northeast Division Presented by 3rd Deck Brewing Company Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,307 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Lamar Spade of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, won the Northeast Division Presented by 3rd Deck Brewing Company Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,270 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 the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. 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.