Alabama’s Wiggins Claims Co-Angler Division

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Sept. 21, 2026) – Boater Shawn Morgan of Henagar, Alabama, caught 10 bass weighing 45 pounds, 14 ounces, over two days to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Guntersville. The tournament was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Morgan earned $6,000 for his victory.

“I just went fishing,” Morgan said. “I’m a local and been fishing Guntersville my whole life. I knew fishing has been tough, but I knew where the fish were. They’d been in the same place for a month. There were 4- and 5-pounders all in there.”

Morgan said he stayed in the same upriver spot above the B.B. Comer bridge for most of the tournament. He targeted bait and the fish that chased the bait and caught his bass in 10 to 17 feet of water.

“I’d see bait on the top and catch fish underneath them,” Morgan said. “The smaller fish would come up schooling, but the big ones would stay underneath. I’d just throw a (Z-Man) ChatterBait and flutter it around. I used my (Garmin) LiveScope just to see where they were sitting. They were just moving around feeding.

“That deal produced all day long,” Morgan went on to say. “On Day 2 my co-angler culled twice around 1:30.”

Morgan said on Day 1 he had 20 pounds in the boat by 8:30 a.m. He thought he was onto a winning pattern, and his confidence soared.

“On Day 2 I went back to my spot and pulled up, and we had it to ourselves,” Morgan said. “There was nobody around. I had gotten chills running up the river. I just had a feeling, you know?

“I started casting around and bam, a keeper,” Morgan went on to say. “I cast around and bam, another keeper. I knew I had left them biting the day before. I was pretty sure they would still be there, and I was right.”

The 40-year-old Morgan said he had fished a lot in his 20s but it took a back seat to raising two daughters. Now he is enjoying a time in life he can fish competitively.

“I told myself I am going to make a run at it and see what I could do,” Morgan said.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Shawn Morgan, Henegar, Ala., 10 bass, 45-14, $6,000
2nd:        Zeke Gossett, Pell City, Ala., 10 bass, 41-9, $3,300
3rd:         Phillip Dutra, Arab, Ala., 10 bass, 41-2, $1,500
4th:         Seth Davis, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 38-6, $1,200
5th:         Logan Dyer, Cleveland, Ala., 10 bass, 37-9, $1,500 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
6th:         Scott Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 10 bass, 36-13, $1,050
7th:         Sam Morgan, Coalmont, Tenn., 10 bass, 35-11, $900
8th:         Brian Carroll, Glencoe, Ala, nine bass, 35-6, $850
9th:         Mark Chevrier, Grant, Ala., 10 bass, 35-3, $800
10th:       Nick Cupps, Owens Cross Roads, Ala., 10 bass, 35-3, $750

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Zeke Gossett of Pell City, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing an 8-pound, 5-ounce bass worth $300.

Randy Wiggins of Birmingham, Alabama, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $3,000 Sunday after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 24 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:         Randy Wiggins, Birmingham, Ala., six bass, 24-7, $3,000
2nd:        Nick Inzio, Murfreesboro, Tenn., six bass, 19-11, $1,500
3rd:         Dalynn Teeftaller, Waynesboro, Tenn., six bass, 19-2, $750
4th:         Benton Peoples, Bardstown, Ky., six bass, 18-4, $600
5th:         Jeff Fiely, Scottsboro, Ala., six bass, 18-4, $500
6th:         Gary Meredith II, Decatur, Ala., six bass, 17-12, $475
7th:         Shane Overly, Brentwood, Tenn., five bass, 16-12, $450
8th:         Kenneth Palmer, Lenoir City, Tenn., six bass, 16-9, $425
9th:         Jonathan Majors, Chelsea, Ala., five bass, 16-5, $400
10th:       Willie Collins, Soddy Daisy, Tenn., five bass, 15-11, $375

Larry McNeil of Meridianville, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 9-ounce bass worth $150.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Logan Dyer of Cleveland, Alabama, won the 7 Brew Choo Choo Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,290 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Shane Browder of Cedar Bluff, Alabama, won the Choo Choo Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,241 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.