Tuscaloosa’s Appleby Tops Co-Angler Division

COLUMBIANA, Ala. (March 3, 2025) – Boater Brent Reaves of Alexander City, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lay Lake. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Bama Division. Reaves earned $3,756 for his victory.

“We had a local tournament a couple weeks ago, back when it was warmer, and me and my partner fished that,” Reaves said. “We saw some good fish; some 3-pounders and maybe a couple 4s, back in a pocket called Dry Branch. It’s right north of Beeswax (Landing), where we launched from.”

In that local tournament, Reaves said the fish were just cruising, but seeing them gave him a starting point. They were also in a pocket that was protected from the brisk north wind, which he believes is one of the key reasons why he was able to find some bedding bass in the area during the BFL event.

“It’s got a bunch of grass in the back, some hydrilla, some milfoil grass, and we found some fish back there that ended up being on bed,” Reaves added. “There were a couple 3-pounders I caught on bed with a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Lizard with a 1/8-ounce head on it.”

By about 11 o’clock, Reaves had a limit of spawners for about 12 1/2 pounds. Then he switched things up and ran a pattern that had worked in practice the day before. He swam a white jig with a white Strike King Rage Craw trailer. The color and the flapping action of the trailer helped the jig stand out in dirty water.

“With about 45 minutes left in the tournament, I got on a little stretch of grass where I caught a 3. That put me at 14 1/2,” Reaves said. “I told my co-angler, if I could just catch a 5-pounder I’d be in the hunt. Right when I said that, I set the hook on a 5 1/2-pounder at the edge of the grass on the white swim jig. I got it in the boat, and five casts later I caught a 4-pounder about 20 feet from where I caught that 5 1/2.”

Those three final keepers were the only bass that Reaves managed to catch from 11:30 until check-in time, but it was enough to get the job done.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Brent Reaves, Alexander City, Ala., five bass, 20-10, $3,756
2nd:       Blake Davenport, Jemison, Ala., five bass, 20-3, $2,368
3rd:       Bobby McCaa, Selma, Ala., five bass, 19-12, $1,753 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th:        Adam Bain, Pell City, Ala., five bass, 19-10, $876
5th:        Ronnie McDonough, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 18-12, $751
6th:        Allan Glasgow, Foley, Ala., five bass, 18-3, $689
7th:        Kris Colley, Ragland, Ala., five bass, 17-10, $626
8th:        Evan Robbins, Florala, Ala., five bass, 17-9, $563
9th:        Joe Minor, Clanton, Ala., five bass, 16-5, $501
10th:     James Willoughby, Gulfport, Miss., five bass, 16-4, $438

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Blake Davenport of Jemison, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $490.

Edward Appleby of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, won the co-angler division and $1,878 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Edward Appleby, Tuscaloosa, Ala., three bass, 11-1, $1,878
2nd:       Roger Veracoechea, Birmingham, Ala., three bass, 10-6, $939
3rd:       James Wampol, Wetumpka, Ala., three bass, 9-10, $627
4th:        Marty Colley, Ashville, Ala., two bass, 9-4, $438
5th:        Tom Nelson, Tuscaloosa, Ala., three bass, 9-0, $376
6th:        Elijah Clark, Alabaster, Ala., three bass, 8-4, $344
7th:        Larry Chastain, Laurel, Miss., three bass, 8-1, $313
8th:        Danny Pinho Jr., Bay Minette, Ala., two bass, 7-9, $282
9th:        Randy Wiggins, Birmingham, Ala., two bass, 7-6, $250
10th:     William Chadick, Auburn, Ala., two bass, 7-1, $219

Samuel Rowlin of Montgomery, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $245, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 10 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Kris Colley of Ragland, Alabama, now leads the Fishing Clash Bama Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 486 points, while Randy Wiggins of Birmingham, Alabama, leads the Fishing Clash Bama Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 482 points.

The next event for BFL Bama Division anglers will be held May 3, at Lake Demopolis out of Demopolis, Alabama. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

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. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Logan Martin Lake in Lincoln, 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 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. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

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 Sports 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 Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network 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.