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Alabama’s Fisher Anaya Catches 24-8 on Final Day to Win MLF Toyota Series at Kentucky-Barkley Lakes

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (April 10, 2025) – Going into the final day of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on Kentucky Lake, Camden, Tennessee, pro Sam Lashlee held a pretty solid lead over  Fisher Anaya of Eva, Alabama, and the rest of the field. And, running far south yet again, Lashlee didn’t give it way – he rustled up 20 pounds, 3 ounces, more than enough to protect his lead from most charges.

But Anaya’s surge wasn’t typical. Blasting 24 pounds, 8 ounces – the biggest bag of the tournament – the 19-year-old pro slid up one place to earn the trophy. With a 62-14 total, Anaya expertly rolled with a dynamic fishery to pocket $39,545 for his efforts.

After a few close calls, the win is Anaya’s first with MLF. Back-to-back Toyota Series events have now been won by teenagers, as Dylan Quilatan prevailed recently at the Harris Chain. Finishing second, Lashlee totaled an even 62 pounds. Between them, Anaya and Lashlee far outstripped the field, as Blake Schroeder finished third with 51-14.

If you’re going to have an unbelievable day of fishing, there’s hardly a better day for it than the last day of a major tournament. According to Anaya, a mid-afternoon discovery on Day 2 led to an incredible morning on Day 3.

“It was the most insane thing I've ever seen in my life,” said Anaya. “I found them midway through the second day. I was fishing for spawning fish in the back (of a marina), and I just came out and got on a random sand flat out in the mouth. And I found a little sinkhole, and I saw a bunch of blobs sitting there. I was like, ‘There's no way that's all bass.’

“I made three casts on it yesterday and caught three 4 1/2-pounders and left them alone,” he detailed. “And then I went back today and sat the boat down. And for like an hour and a half, I caught 4 1/2-pounder after 4 1/2-pounder.

“I've never seen nothing like it in my life,” he said. “They looked like a school of largemouth on Guntersville stacked up there, but they were in 4 foot of water.”

After blasting them all morning, Anaya earned an emotional win, with tears and rain both falling on stage.

“I don't even know how to explain it,” said the young angler. “I've been a nervous wreck since 8 o’clock this morning, since I had them. I mean, I've been back and forth pacing on the boat. Eating a sandwich, drinking water. I was trying to do anything to keep my mind off what was going to happen.

“To finally have it go my way, it feels great,” he added. “I lost a 7-pounder the first day, and I really thought that was going to be the one that came back to haunt me. That was going to be the reason I didn't win and finished second. I'm just lost for words.”

Recently, Anaya has fished quite a few tournaments on Kentucky Lake, so he went into this one theoretically well prepared for standard spring conditions. Fortunately for him, the high, dirty water boxed him in.

“I had some spawning fish found in [the Paris Landing Marina],” he said. “It's the only clean water I found on the lake, really. So, I just told myself I was going to run there, and if I got five to bite, I'd have a decent bag. And I really thought the weights were going to be really bad.

“I pulled in that first day and caught a 5-pound smallmouth and some keepers, but I could never get nothing else rolling,” he said. “I decided to go crank the muddy water late that afternoon, and I ended up catching a 3 1/2-pounder, which got me to whatever I had the first day. And I jumped off a great big largemouth – it was a 6- or 7-pounder. Huge. And that's been in the back of my mind since it jumped off.”

Though he whipped around a firetiger Rapala DT6, the trusty minnow got the bulk of the work done, both for spawning fish and on his winning hole. In that case, he went with a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader on a 1/8-ounce head with a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium-light 13 Fishing Myth spinning stick and 12-pound Suffix Revolve with a 12-pound Suffix Advance leader.

“The second day, I ran and did the same stuff, but I actually ended up catching 19 pounds of spawners in the back of Paris instead,” said Anaya. “I was actually trolling over there to crank the bridge, and I trolled over the top of them, and they all shot up off the bottom. And I was like, ‘Maybe that was bass.’ I spun around. It was meant to be, I guess.”

The final day, Anaya ran straight to the juice, and he had the tournament won in short order.

“I think it took me 47 minutes to get there,” he said. “And when I clicked my camera at 58 minutes, I had 22 pounds. I've never seen nothing like it.”

The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series at Kentucky Lake finished:

1st:        Fisher Anaya, Eva, Ala., 15 bass, 62-14, $39,545 (includes $1,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2nd:       Sam Lashlee, Camden, Tenn., 15 bass, 62-0, $14,936
3rd:       Blake Schroeder, Whitehouse, Texas, 15 bass, 51-14, $11,563
4th:        Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 15 bass, 51-14, $9,636
5th:        Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 51-10, $8,673
6th:        Brad Jelinek, Lincoln, Mo., 13 bass, 51-3, $7,709
7th:        Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 15 bass, 50-4, $6,745
8th:        Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 49-13, $5,782
9th:        Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., 15 bass, 48-13, $4,818
10th:     Brock Bila, Republic, Mo., 15 bass, 47-10, $3,854

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Joe Lucarelli of Benton, Kentucky, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass Award on Day 1 Tuesday with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, while pro Justin Berger of Murray, Kentucky, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass on Day 2 Wednesday with a 7-pound, 1-ounce fish to earn the $500 prize.

Dan Bowman of Osage Beach, Missouri, won the co-angler division Thursday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 42 pounds, 12 ounce. Bowman earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series at Kentucky Lake finished:

1st:        Dan Bowman, Osage Beach, Mo., 14 bass, 42-12, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd:       Noah Dickneite, Westphalia, Mo., 13 bass, 36-3, $4,836
3rd:       Jeremy Duke, Gautier, Miss., 12 bass, 36-2, $3,868
4th:        Alan Bernicky, Dardanelle, Ark., 12 bass, 32-5, $3,485
5th:        Chase Johnson, Quincy, Ill., 12 bass, 31-4, $2,901
6th:        Douglas Guidorzi, Genton, Mo., 11 bass, 30-8, $2,418
7th:        Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., 11 bass, 28-0, $1,934
8th:        Dustin Selck, Hixson, Tenn., nine bass, 25-12, $1,692
9th:        Josiah Ennes, Billings, Mo., eight bass, 24-11, $1,451
10th:     Dennis Young, Olathe, Kan., nine bass, 24-11, $1,209

Co-angler Kristin Hamilton of Mount Washington, Kentucky, earned Tuesday’s Berkley Big Bass co-angler award with a 6-pound, 4-ounce bass to win the $150 prize, while Wednesday’s Day 2 $150 co-angler award went to Clayton Hale of Grove, Oklahoma, who weighed in a 6-pound, 7-ounce largemouth.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Chickamauga was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. It was the second of three regular-season tournament for the Toyota Series Plains Division. The third and final event for the Toyota Series Plains Division regular season will be Sept. 25-27 – The Toyota Series at Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2025 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern and the Southwestern – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the five divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2026. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2025 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 6-8 on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma, and is hosted by the City of Grove Convention & Tourism Bureau.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Toyota Series 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, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, 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 information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 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.

by AnglersChannel

Kingwood’s Parker Smashes 30 Pounds to Win Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Sam Rayburn

California’s Kojima Tops Co-Angler Division

BROOKELAND, Texas. (April 7, 2025) – Boater Zane Parker of Kingwood, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 30 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Sam Rayburn Reservoir Presented by Strike King . The tournament, hosted by the Jasper County Development District, was the third event of the season for the BFL Cowboy Division. Parker earned $3,426 for his victory.

The weather was pretty nasty at Sam Rayburn on Saturday. But for the 19-year-old Parker, catching 30 pounds easily overshadows any hardships brought on by the wind and rain. He leaned on forward-facing sonar to overcome conditions, using his electronics to relocate spawning bass that he found in practice using both his eyes and his sonar. Parker spent most of the tournament in about 5 feet of water and relied on reaction baits primarily. He said the fish wouldn’t touch soft plastics.

“I had some bed fish marked and just kind of stayed in one area where a lot of big fish were,” he said. “I just threw a little bit of everything. I threw some big baits at them. I threw a Provoke 106DD (jerkbait) by 6th Sense. I threw a glide bait around a little bit. That’s kind of what I did my damage on. They were just on beds, and you’d throw over there and they’d come out eating it.”

Parker ran from bed to bed, assembling a limit worth about 20 pounds by 10 a.m. Then he gradually culled up.

“I caught a 7-pounder, then like 15 minutes later I found another one and caught another one,” he said. “And that was the end of the day. Honestly, after I had 30-something, I just kind of stopped fishing. My smallest was basically a 5-pounder. I was like, man, if I’ve got to throw back a 5-pounder that’s just sick. If someone beats me, hats off to them.”

Second-place finisher Kaden Mueck took at shot, but even with 28 pounds, 2 ounces, Mueck still came up more than 2 1/2 pounds shy of Parker’s impressive winning weight.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Zane Parker, Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 30-12, $3,426
2nd:      Kaden Mueck, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 28-2, $2,143
3rd:       Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, five bass, 22-3, $1,141
4th:        Cody Ross, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 19-15, $899
5th:        Phil Hennigan, Center, Texas, five bass, 19-8, $685
6th:        Clayton Boulware, Zavalla, Texas, five bass, 19-6, $628
7th:        Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., five bass, 18-14, $1,071 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
8th:        John Maddox, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 15-10, $514
9th:        Melvin Dunn, Orange, Texas, five bass, 15-4, $457
10th:     Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., five bass, 15-0, $400

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Kaden Mueck of Livingston, Texas, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $430.

Takaaki Kojima of Temecula, California, won the co-angler division and $1,713 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Takaaki Kojima, Temecula, Calif., three bass, 11-4, $1,713
2nd:      Brad Poole, Roanoke, Texas, three bass, 11-0, $1,071
3rd:       Neill Beckham, Jacksonville, Texas, three bass, 10-9, $571
4th:        Darrell Denton, Georgetown, Texas, three bass, 10-8, $450
5th:        Ben Faucheaux, Natchitoches, La., three bass, 9-13, $343
6th:        Jay Childs, Houston, Texas, three bass, 9-0, $299
6th:        Velin (Lin) Sims, Spring, Texas, three bass, 9-0, $299
8th:        Brandon Begnaud, Dickinson, Texas, three bass, 8-10, $257
9th:        James Grizzle, Many, La., three bass, 8-8, $228
10th:     Leavitt Hamilton, Gonzales, La., three bass, 8-3, $200

Brad Poole of Roanoke, Texas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $215, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Cole Moore of Anacoco, Louisiana, now leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 741 points, while Logan Slaughter of Lewisville, Texas, leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 719 points.

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. 24-25 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Oklahoma. 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.

by AnglersChannel

Hometown Favorite Chris Lane Takes Lead at Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 Presented by MillerTech Energy at Lake Guntersville

Guntersville, Alabama pro lands two-day total of 44 scorable bass weighing 127 pounds to advance straight to Sunday’s Championship Round, Knockout Round field set for Saturday

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (April 4, 2025) – The race for the top spot in the Qualifying Round at Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by MillerTech – and the automatic Championship Round berth that comes with it – started out wide open on the second day of competition on Lake Guntersville. Five different anglers topped SCORETRACKER® at various points during Friday’s opening period.

By the second period, it turned into a two-man race between a pair of Alabamians in Chris Lane of Guntersville and Jacob Walker of Springville. Eventually, Lane used his Guntersville knowledge and aptitude catching shallow spawners to pull away. He added 24 scorable bass for 72 pounds, 9 ounces (the best day any competitor has put together so far) to bring his two-day total to 127 pounds even, 17-7 clear of Walker.

That will earn Lane a day off as he prepares to chase his first REDCREST trophy and the $300,000 paycheck that comes with it on Championship Sunday. The rest of the Top 20 will take to the water Saturday for the Knockout Round.

Lane has found his comfort zone on Guntersville, and not just because he’s lived on the shores of the lake for the past 15 years.

Prior to REDCREST, Lane took the forward-facing sonar transducers off his Nitro. He figured he could find plenty of fish flocking to shallow water – his area of expertise – so he planned to go all-in on targeting them. He didn’t even want to be tempted by the technology.

“I took that thing off my boat, and the reason I did is because it was a distraction to me and what I do and the way that I do it,” Lane said. “Taking it off coming into REDCREST before the first day of the tournament allowed me to focus on what I do, and that was reassuring and beneficial to have success without it.”

Lane’s instinct that he’d be able to find success targeting shallow spawners proved correct. He noted that the lake level has risen about a foot since the start of practice. While that might not seem like a lot, when combined with the time of year and steadily climbing water temperatures, it triggered a wave of fish to move into their spawning grounds. He found even more fish on Day 2 than Day 1 – an hour into Period 2, he had nearly surpassed his opening-day total with 47-15.

“I think it’s just the water coming up a half a foot,” Lane explained. “It may not even be that much, but it’s come up over a foot since practice started. And the water is warming, so that’s why the fish got bigger and more plentiful.”

Lane targeted his fish with a Texas-rigged Bass Pro Shops XPS Log Father. That produced both quantity and quality. He landed four bass over 4 pounds on the day, including a 5-15 and a 7-5, the latter of which earned Berkley Big Bass honors.

While Lane is at his best pitching for bedding bass, he doesn’t expect to replicate that pattern on Sunday. Thunderstorms are in the forecast with the potential to dump 1-2 inches of rain. Knowing that made Lane more eager to fish for the Qualifying Round win, since he doesn’t think the conditions will allow him to catch the same fish he targeted Friday.

“I think it’ll be different; I think you’re going to have to fish different,” Lane said. “I’ll play that by ear come Sunday, to see how much sun there is – if there’s any – and if they drop the water. Because they could pull that water in 2 seconds, and they probably will. So, I’m going to have to pay attention to all of that.”

Lane knows he’ll need to adjust if he’s going to contend for the championship trophy. His knowledge of the fishery gives him confidence he’ll be able to figure out the right moves based on the conditions.

“I think that’s probably the reassuring thing is knowing, okay, I’ve got 978 other spots where they like to get this time of year,” he said. “I think it’ll be a big adjustment for everybody, so it’ll be nice having the day off to get re-geared and re-focused, pay attention to the weather, not be tired, not get in a hurry and go from there.”

Lane has won both a Bass Pro Tour event (2023 on the Kissimmee Chain) and a tour-level championship (the 2012 Bassmaster Classic). But he said a victory at REDCREST on Guntersville would be extra sweet because of all the family, friends and sponsors who will be on hand Sunday.

“It would mean the world to me to win, not only for another victory and a check for $300,000, but for your support system, for your sponsors,” Lane said. “For the whole support team and for my family, it would just be awesome. And for the hometown. Geez, that doesn’t usually work out like that at big tournaments.”

The top 20 pros that made the cut and will advance in competition at REDCREST 2025 on Lake Guntersville are:

1st:        Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 44 bass, 127-0
2nd:       Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 38 bass, 109-9
3rd:       David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 33 bass, 102-14
4th:        Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 39 bass, 99-13
5th:        Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 34 bass, 99-1
6th:        Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 34 bass, 92-3
7th:        Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 32 bass, 91-1
8th:        Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 34 bass, 90-8
9th:        Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 28 bass, 89-6
10th:     Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 30 bass, 87-7
11th:     Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 29 bass, 87-1
12th:     Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 31 bass, 85-5
13th:     Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 33 bass, 83-4
14th:     Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., 27 bass, 80-8
15th:     Paul Marks Jr., Cumming, Ga., 29 bass, 80-6
16th:     Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 26 bass, 79-4
17th:     Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 26 bass, 78-9
18th:     Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 24 bass, 76-13
19th:     Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 28 bass, 76-13
20th:     Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 28 bass, 73-13

Finishing in 21st through 50th place are:

21st:      Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 27 bass, 72-13
22nd:    Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 24 bass, 69-1
23rd:     Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 24 bass, 68-4
24th:     Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 24 bass, 66-11
25th:     Tyler Stewart, Dubach, La., 25 bass, 66-7
26th:     Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 22 bass, 65-5
27th:     Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 24 bass, 64-15
28th:     John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 24 bass, 64-8
29th:     Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 23 bass, 63-11
30th:     Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 21 bass, 61-7
31st:      Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., 24 bass, 60-6
32nd:    Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 23 bass, 58-1
33rd:     Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 18 bass, 55-14
34th:     Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 19 bass, 55-13
35th:     Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., 19 bass, 55-7
36th:     Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 19 bass, 53-6
37th:     Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 21 bass, 51-11
38th:     Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 17 bass, 50-15
39th:     Braylon Eggerding, Grand Rapids, Mich., 17 bass, 50-3
40th:     James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 16 bass, 48-2
41st:      Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 16 bass, 44-9
42nd:    Hayden Marbut, Birmingham, Ala., 14 bass, 42-6
43rd:     Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 16 bass, 41-14
44th:     Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 16 bass, 41-2
45th:     Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 13 bass, 40-10
46th:     Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 14 bass, 40-1
47th:     Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 13 bass, 37-2
48th:     Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., 12 bass,32-15
49th:     Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., eight bass, 23-0
50th:     Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., eight bass, 17-8

Overall, there were 607 scorable bass weighing 1,706 pounds, 3 ounces caught by the 50 pros Friday.

For the second consecutive year, Chris Lane also earned the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award on Day 2 of REDCREST with a 7-pound, 5-ounce largemouth bass that he in Period 2. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

The full field of anglers competed in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. Now, with the two-day Qualifying Round complete, Lane advances directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. The anglers that finished in 2nd through 20th advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining anglers compete to finish in the top nine to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins professional bass fishing’s top prize of $300,000.

Anglers will launch each morning from Civitan Park, located at 1130 Sunset Drive, in Guntersville, Alabama, at 7:15 a.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The free, family-friendly MLF Outdoor Sports Expo will also take place throughout the weekend at the Von Braun Center, located at 700 Monroe St. SW, in Huntsville. Fishing and outdoor enthusiasts are invited to explore an array of booths and vendors, featuring the newest innovations and gear in fishing, boating, and outdoors. Meet some of the biggest names in the industry, including professional anglers from the Bass Pro Tour and legendary Bass Fishing Hall of Famers like Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin and Kevin VanDam.

The four-day event, hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, and the Madison County Commission , showcases the top 50 MLF anglers from 2024 – including the top 40 anglers from the Bass Pro Tour – competing for the prestigious REDCREST Championship and a total prize pool for more than ¾ of a million dollars.

The 2024 Bass Pro Tour featured a field of 78 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 Presented by MillerTech Energy.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on each day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

Television coverage of MLF’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 Presented by MillerTech Energy at Lake Guntersville will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 5 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, July 19. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel and Vice TV.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour and REDCREST 2025 include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sports Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech Energy, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine and Toyota.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X,  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.

by AnglersChannel

Lynchburg’s Luckey Goes Back-to-Back, Wins Sunday’s Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Smith Mountain Lake

Maryland’s Badra Tops Co-Angler Division

HUDDLESTON, Va. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Broderick Luckey of Lynchburg, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 10 ounces, Sunday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Smith Mountain Lake. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Luckey earned $3,792 for his victory.

It was another day, another win for Luckey. In addition to winning Sunday’s Piedmont Division event at Smith Mountain, the aptly named angler also won a Shenandoah Division event on Smith Mountain held on Saturday. This weekend’s two wins actually make it three in a row for Luckey, who also won the March 2024 Piedmont Division tournament on Smith Mountain.

On Saturday, Luckey caught his fish by intercepting prespawn bass around docks and wood as they were making their way back into the creeks. You can read more about Saturday’s tournament here.

“Today (Sunday), was a totally different day,” he said. “I kept my mind open, and I had all my fish by 8:45 this morning.”

The “open mind” part came into play when Luckey chose his starting spot.

“So yesterday I saw some fish in (Sunday’s winning area) later in the day, but there weren’t many,” he added. “So I thought they might show up better there the next day. I thought I would start there because there might be more fish there today. I kept my mind open instead of just running what I ran yesterday. I made a decision to start in a different place to see if they showed up better, and they did.”

And it didn’t take long to validate the decision. Luckey pulled in, dropped his trolling motor and within 30 seconds spotted a big fish on his live sonar, which he promptly caught. That bass weighed 5 1/4 pounds. He followed up with two 4-pound-class fish and a massive 8-pound, 1-ounce kicker that won Luckey the Berkley Big Bass award – worth $415 – for the second day in a row on the boater side. It was also Luckey’s biggest bass ever on Smith Mountain. His final keeper on that spot weighed about 2 3/4 pounds.

Luckey caught his morning flurry using a jighead minnow and forward-facing sonar to target bass cruising in 30 to 40 feet of water. His fish were much farther off the bank Sunday compared to the ones he caught Saturday.

Once he had a solid limit in the boat, Luckey wanted to put some real numbers on the board, so he went looking to upgrade. That included mixing in something the fish don’t see all winter long, knowing it gave him a good chance to put a giant in the boat – a frog. The frog produced a nice kicker in practice and nearly got it done for him on tournament day, too, but ultimately he never upgraded.

“I thought I had all day to get it done,” Luckey said. “They just went lockjaw. I lost a 6-pounder on a frog about two hours later. It got me wrapped up in a tree, and it was just sitting in a pollen mat. Here, the pollen holds heat. I was really hoping to get rid of (the 2 3/4-pound fish), and if I’d have had that one I lost on a frog, I’d have been pushing 28 pounds today.”

Catching 28 pounds would’ve been impressive, but 24-10 and two wins in one weekend is about as awesome as it gets in stiff BFL competition.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said about going back to back. “It’s kind of surreal. After practice, if you’d have told me I was gonna win, I would’ve called you crazy. Fish moved and good things happened. The Lord blessed me for sure.”

The top 11 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Broderick Luckey, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 24-10, $3,792
2nd:       Kaden Buchmann, Troutman, N.C., five bass, 20-11, $1,689
3rd:       Chris Brummett, Lynch Station, Va., five bass, 19-10, $1,128
4th:        Thomas Milton, Chester, Va., five bass, 18-0, $788
5th:        Billy Kohls, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 16-12, $925
6th:        Chad Green, Moneta, Va., five bass, 16-11, $619
7th:        Adam Lester, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 15-5, $535
7th:        Matt McCluskey, Ashburn, Va., five bass, 15-5, $535
9th:        Boogie Atkins, Greenville, Va., five bass, 14-7, $450
10th:     Chris Jackson, Jeffersonton, Va., five bass, 13-14, $374
10th:     Brandon Huff, Draper, Va., five bass, 13-14, $374

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Cornell Badra of Clarksburg, Maryland, won the co-angler division and $1,709 Sunday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Cornell Badra, Clarksburg, Md., three bass, 8-7, $1,709
2nd:       Ricky Grant, Callands, Va., three bass, 7-6, $855
3rd:       Derek Stanley, Fuquay Varina, N.C., three bass, 7-5, $570
4th:        John Robinson, Montpelier, Va., two bass, 7-4, $399
5th:        Todd Hurst, Copper Hill, Va., two bass, 7-3, $342
6th:        Eric Nelson, Gainesville, Va., three bass, 7-1, $313
7th:        Andrew Hostler, Tyrone, Pa., three bass, 6-12, $385
8th:        Scott Bolling, Bedford, Va., two bass, 6-9, $256
9th:        Nathan Sullivan, Fredericksburg, Va., one bass, 6-8, $438
10th:     Mekye Barnes, Knightdale, N.C., three bass, 6-7, $199

Nathan Sullivan of Fredericksburg, North Carolina, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $210, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Thomas Milton of Chester, Virginia, now leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 495 points, while Derek Stanley of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 497 points.

The next event for BFL Piedmont Division anglers will be held May 10, at High Rock Lake out of Lexington, North Carolina. 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. 3-4 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. 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.

by AnglersChannel

Eldon’s Rallo Cracks 22-1 to Win Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake of the Ozarks Presented by Suzuki Marine

Bonne Terre’s Spell Tops Co-Angler Division

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Thomas Rallo of Eldon, Missouri, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake of the Ozarks Presented by Suzuki Marine . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Rallo earned $7,041, including the lucrative $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Rallo kicked off the morning in a shallow pocket to get away from fishing pressure. Things went fast. He had a limit by 8 a.m., which allowed him to spend the rest of the day hunting bigger bites. Also, Rallo abandoned what he’d found in practice because the fish had already transitioned in shallower.

“I had noticed a warming trend,” Rallo said. “The fish were getting from their winter patterns into their spawning patterns, and I want to say something happened overnight because the fish that I caught today (Saturday) were not there in practice. In practice, I was seeing them out a little deeper using my LiveScope, and today I didn’t see a single one using LiveScope. They were all in less than 8 feet.”

Once he had a limit, Rallo ran spawning pockets and flats, keying on pea gravel banks, to pick up a few more quality fish. The best spots were located right at the transition areas where the banks bent to go into the pockets – near the mouths, rather than in the backs.

Rallo caught most of his weight on an Alabama rig with Bojangle Baits Jangle Shad swimbaits, slow-rolling the rig down the bank. He also caught some fish on a homemade 3/8-ounce jig with a Bojangle Z-Daddy trailer.

The top 11 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Thomas Rallo, Eldon, Mo., five bass, 22-1 $7,041 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Ronnie Kane, Spring Hill, Kan., five bass, 20-8, $2,270
3rd:       Eric Olliverson, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 17-6, $1,514
4th:        Jonathan Pimentel, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 16-5, $1,060
5th:        Ricky Crawford, Shell Knob, Mo., four bass, 16-2, $908
6th:        Chase Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., five bass, 15-14, $833
7th:        Brian Hansen, Fenton, Mo., five bass, 15-10, $757
8th:        Greg Proffitt, Kansas City, Mo., five bass, 15-5, $643
8th:        Jason Weast, Macks Creek, Mo., five bass, 15-5, $643
10th:     Chad Allison, Carl Junction, Mo., five bass, 14-14, $503
10th:     Lawson Hibdon, Versailles, Mo., five bass, 14-14, $503

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Justin Luetkemeyer of Osage Beach, Missouri, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $660.

Dennis Spell of Bonne Terre, Missouri, won the co-angler division and $2,270 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Dennis Spell, Bonne Terre, Mo., three bass, 13-15, $2,270
2nd:      Morgan McLain Lenexa, Kan., three bass, 12-15, $1,135
3rd:       Wes Proctor, Manhattan, Kan., three bass, 12-14, $757
4th:        William Koerber, Phillipsburg, Mo., three bass, 12-5, $530
5th:        Christopher Becker, Kansas City, Mo., three bass, 11-5, $454
6th:        David Honey, Hollister, Mo., two bass, 9-4, $416
7th:        Jamie McCain, Lake Lotawana, Mo., three bass, 9-2, $378
8th:        Brian Davis, Bethalto, Ill., three bass, 9-1, $341
9th:        Steve Treiber, Eureka, Mo., two bass, 8-13, $633
10th:     Paul Davis, Hollister, Mo., three bass, 8-11, $265

Steve Treiber of Eureka, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $330, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Eric Olliverson of Shell Knob, Missouri, now leads the Fishing Clash Ozark Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 493 points, while Paul Davis of Hollister, Missouri, leads the Fishing Clash Ozark Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 477 points.

The next event for BFL Ozark Division anglers will be held April 26, at Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Missouri. 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 Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. 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.

by AnglersChannel

Virginia’s Francis Wins Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at South Holston Reservoir

Drummonds, Williams Tie for Win in Co-Angler Division

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Zachary Francis of Abingdon, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on South Holston Reservoir. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Volunteer Division. Francis earned $3,247 for his victory.

Francis weighed in a mixed bag comprised of three smallmouth bass and two largemouth bass. Regardless of species, he caught all his fish the same way.

“I was just out scoping,” he said. “I was catching some prespawn females. I started out this morning kind of in a community hole with several boats around. The fish were just real pressured. I had a small limit at 12 o’clock. Then I made a run and switched gears and went up the lake, and I just ran into some better quality fish there within the last hour and a half or so.”

South Holston is Francis’ home lake, so he knows where the fish spent the winter. He simply started in the backs of some nearby creeks and worked his way out toward the main lake until he ran into the lake’s bigger prespawn females. He caught his fish using a jighead that he pours and a soft plastic lure poured by a buddy.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Zachary Francis, Abingdon, Va., five bass, 21-6, $3,247
2nd:      Kevin Stevenson, Butler, Tenn., five bass, 21-3, $1,623
3rd:       Gavin Cloutier, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 20-11, $1,582 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th:        Landon Lawson, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 20-7, $758
5th:        Jeremy Gordon, Rutledge, Tenn., five bass, 20-2, $649
6th:        Seth Austin, Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 19-6, $958
6th:        Corey Neece, Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 19-6, $568
8th:        Donavan Carson, Bluff City, Tenn., five bass, 19-4, $487
9th:        Hunter McClaskey, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 18-14, $433
10th:     Conner Dimauro, Dayton, Tenn., five bass, 18-12, $379

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Corey Neece of Bristol, Tennesee, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $390.

Jack Williams of Kingsport, Tennessee, and Dewayne Drummonds of Gray, Kentucky, tied for the win in the co-angler division Saturday after each bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 1 ounce. They each took home $1,217 for their share of the winning prize.

The top 11 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Jack Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., three bass, 10-1, $1,217
1st:        Dewayne Drummonds, Gray, Ky., three bass, 10-1, $1,217
3rd:       Ricky Crider, Dwale, Ky., three bass, 8-15, $541
4th:        Brad Barton, Middlesboro, Ky., three bass, 8-9, $379
5th:        Justin McGaha, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 8-8, $325
6th:        Stephen Vick, Dandridge, Tenn., three bass, 8-6, $298
7th:        Kasey Hunley, Sharps Chapel, Tenn., three bass, 8-3, $271
8th:        TJ Blakely, Kingsport, Tenn., three bass, 7-10, $244
9th:        Colton Salyer, Gate City, Va., three bass, 7-9, $216
10th:     Derek Ray, Swords Creek, Va., three bass, 7-8, $179
10th:     Justin Goodman, Lancing, Tenn., three bass, 7-8, $179

Bud McKelvey of Knoxville, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $195, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 1 ounce – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Corey Neece of Bristol, Tennessee, now leads the Fishing Clash Volunteer Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 743 points, while Stephen Vick of Dandridge, Tennessee, leads the Fishing Clash Volunteer Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 724 points.

The next event for BFL Volunteer Division anglers will be held May 18, at Cherokee Lake in Jefferson City, Tennessee. 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. 24-25 BFL Regional tournament on Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, Tennessee. 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.

by AnglersChannel

Last-Minute Bite Earns Lynchburg’s Luckey the Win Saturday at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Smith Mountain Lake

Maryland’s Dixon Tops Co-Angler Division

HUDDLESTON, Va. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Broderick Luckey of Lynchburg, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Smith Mountain Lake. The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Shenandoah Division. Luckey earned $5,683 for his victory.

Saturday’s tournament was the start of a huge weekend for Luckey. On Sunday, he went back-to-back, getting the win in a Piedmont Division tournament that was also held on Smith Mountain Lake. Here’s what’s even wilder: In March 2024, Luckey fished a Piedmont Division derby on Smith Mountain, and he won that one too. He’s three-for-three in his last three Smith Mountain Lake BFL events.

You can read about Luckey’s Sunday victory here. On Saturday, his Shenandoah Division win was all about timing the prespawn transition.

“In practice, I kind of saw that fish were moving,” said Luckey. “Fish were transitioning. So I knew that I needed to try to fish ahead of them instead of trying to find where they were currently and trying to catch them where they were currently. So I found areas where they were, and I tried to take my best guess as to where they were going. That ended up working out really well.”

Luckey started off going to the backs of pockets and working his way back out toward the main lake, hoping to intercept the fish along the way. Eventually, he was able to find fish on docks, wood and other areas. The key was covering a lot of water.

“The fish are really spread out,” he said. “There’s not a lot of fish in one place. I covered miles and miles today both scoping and fishing shallow, just trying to get a read on what the fish are doing. The majority of my better fish came shallow, but my good limit fillers came scoping.”

Luckey caught his winning fish on a minnow bait, a big swimbait and a Yamamoto Senko. A key moment for him happened right at the end of the day, when he landed the 7-pound, 14-ounce bass that won him the Berkley Big Bass award of $745 on the boater side. With 17 pounds in the livewell, Luckey skipped his swimbait up under a dock and that big girl followed it out. He spotted her coming and gave his swimbait a couple twitches, which triggered her to bite.

“She crushed it right about 2 feet from the boat, and I led her around to the net with about 15 minutes to go,” Luckey said. “It was the best fish catch that I have ever had as far as excitement and an unbelievable event.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Broderick Luckey, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 21-14, $5,683
2nd:       Billy Kohls, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 20-6, $2,719
3rd:       Chad Green, Moneta, Va., five bass, 20-2, $1,646
4th:        Matt McCluskey, Ashburn, Va., five bass, 18-0, $1,152
5th:        Greg Stallings, Dry Fork, Va., five bass, 17-14, $988
6th:        Ron Rousseau, Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 17-10, $864
6th:        Stefan Ward, Wirtz, Va., five bass, 17-10, $864
8th:        Eric Johnson, Partlow, Va., five bass, 16-14, $741
9th:        Ben Reynolds, Callands, Va., five bass, 16-13, $658
10th:     Marvin Reese, Randallstown, Md., five bass, 16-12, $576

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Joe Dixon of Bel Alton, Maryland, won the co-angler division and $2,453 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Joe Dixon, Bel Alton, Md., three bass, 12-1, $2,453
2nd:      Johnnie Hopkins, Greensboro, N.C., three bass, 10-10, $1,226
3rd:       Robert Wedding, Welcome, Md., three bass, 10-8, $816
4th:        David Deciucis, Chester, Va., three bass, 9-14, $572
5th:        James Dehart, Roanoke, Va., two bass, 9-12, $861
6th:        Brandon Miskell, Vienna, Va., three bass, 8-11, $450
7th:        Jason Hinger, Timberlake, N.C., three bass, 7-12, $509
8th:        Mike Coleman, S. Chesterfield, Va., three bass, 7-6, $368
9th:        Phillip Ragland Jr., Rustburg, Va., three bass, 7-5, $327
10th:     Dan Garner, Littleton, N.C., three bass, 7-2, $286

James Dehart of Roanoke, Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $370, catching a bass that weighed in at 8 pounds – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

In addition to winning the event, Broderick Luckey of Lynchburg, Virginia, has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Shenandoah Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Joe Dixon of Bel Alton, Maryland, leads the Fishing Clash Shenandoah Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Shenandoah Division anglers will be held April 19, at Kerr Lake in Henderson, North Carolina. 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. 3-4 BFL Regional tournament on the James River in Richmond, Virginia. 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.

by AnglersChannel

Macon’s Wilder Gets Win No. 2 at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake Oconee

BUCKHEAD, Ga. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Christopher Wilder of Macon, Georgia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Oconee . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Wilder earned $6,641, including the lucrative Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Wilder found his winning fish on Oconee’s docks during practice, but it took some situational awareness to figure out when and how to catch them in the tournament.

“In practice I was actually catching them mostly on a wacky rig on the walkways of the docks,” he said. “But while I was doing that I was scanning out and looking at the main part of the dock. I could see some big fish out there, but I couldn’t get them to bite anything. I moved out and started throwing an Alabama rig on the ends of the docks. I was able to catch some fish, but they were all small.”

Sunny, bluebird conditions in practice transitioned to overcast and breezy for the tournament. Knowing that the forecast called for a change, Wilder figured those bigger fish might slide out from underneath the shade of the docks and give him a shot to catch them.

“I think that’s what it did because this morning it was cloudy and I was catching them pretty good,” he added. “Then it got sunny in the middle of the day and I went a few hours with only catching a fish here or there, and they were small again like I was catching in practice. It started getting cloudy again later and I started catching them on the edges of docks again.”

Wilder relied on the Alabama rig for most of his weight. His strategy was to target as many docks as he could, keying on docks in pockets.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Christopher Wilder, Macon, Ga., five bass, 18-11, $6,641 (includes $3,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:        Matt O’Connell, Brooks, Ga., five bass, 16-11, $1,820
3rd:         John Kitchens, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 16-5, $1,507
3rd:         David Lowery, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 16-5, $1,032
5th:         Brad Stalnaker, Eatonton, Ga., five bass, 16-0, $728
6th:         Matt Henry, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 15-8, $668
7th:         Kenneth Cash, Covington, Ga., five bass, 15-6, $607
8th:         Jon Lawson, Alpharetta, Ga., five bass, 15-2, $546
9th:         Josh George, Monroe, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $455
9th:         Weston Parker, Mansfield, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $455

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

John Kitchens of Cumming, Georgia, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $475.

James Griffin of Pelham, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $2,057 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 9 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:         James Griffin, Pelham, Ga., three bass, 14-9, $2,057
2nd:        Robert Holliday, White Plains, Ga., three bass, 11-1, $910
3rd:         Jerry Bryant, Douglas, Ga., three bass, 10-8, $607
4th:         Scott Williams, Canton, Ga., three bass, 10-5, $525
5th:         Luther Jackson, Byron, Ga., three bass, 9-9, $364
6th:         Robert Ash, Buford, Ga., three bass, 9-6, $334
7th:         Clifford Avery, Bonaire, Ga., three bass, 9-2, $303
8th:         David Gibson, Atlanta, Ga., three bass, 8-13, $273
9th:         Justin Guck, Winder, Ga., three bass, 8-9, $243
10th:       Rowen Vandergriff, Covington, Ga., three bass, 8-7, $212

Griffin also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $237, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Michael Wilder of Lizella, Georgia, now leads the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 482 points, while David Gibson of Atlanta, Georgia, leads the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 486 points.

The next event for BFL Bulldog Division anglers will be held May 3, at Lake Eufaula out of Eufaula, 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. 17-18 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, 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 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.

by AnglersChannel

Guntersville’s Hester Posts Third Career Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Wheeler Lake

Rome’s Singleton Tops Co-Angler Division

ROGERSVILLE, Ala. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Alex Hester of Guntersville, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Wheeler Lake . The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Hester earned $3,514 for his victory.

“I didn’t have any practice for this tournament, so I really just went fishing like I would do anytime this time of year, looking for prespawn bass,” Hester said. “I fished some deep banks, some shallow banks and came to the conclusion that I was catching them better on steeper banks. Luckily Wheeler is a lake that patterns really well, so I just stuck to the pattern that developed early and stuck with it the rest of the day.”

Some of those steeper banks were located adjacent to spawning grounds, but Hester said that wasn’t a must-have scenario. He also described his bites as coming in waves – two or three here, one there, etc.

“With enough repetition and strong efforts, it just worked out throughout the course of the day,” he said. “Honestly, it was just one of those days, you know? I just made the right decisions. It just worked out right.”

Hester caught his fish on a spinnerbait, a couple of crankbaits and a football jig using a handful of Dobyns Champion XP and Champion XP Glass rods – the model 704C for the spinnerbait, 705CB Glass and 736CB Glass for his crankbaits, and 735C for the football jig.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Alex Hester, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 23-9, $3,514
2nd:        Sam Morgan, Coalmont, Tenn., five bass, 19-11, $1,757
3rd:         Chad Hall, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 17-15, $1,622
4th:         Jeff Knight, Cleveland, Tenn., five bass, 17-9, $820
5th:         Trent Adkins, East Bernstadt, Ky., five bass, 16-0, $673
5th:         Jennings Earnest, Athens, Ala., five bass, 16-0, $673
7th:         James Johnson, Trinity, Ala., five bass, 15-15, $586
8th:         Cason Sanchez, Fayetteville, Tenn., five bass, 15-10, $527
9th:         Jonathan Poole, Trinity, Ala., five bass, 15-3, $469
10th:       Kenneth Grover, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 15-2, $410

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Chad Hall of Cullman, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $450.

Alex Singleton of Rome, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $1,757 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 6 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:          Alex Singleton, Rome, Ga., three bass, 13-6, $1,757
2nd:        Paul Stidham, Cullman, Ala., three bass, 12-15, $879
3rd:         Danny Lankford, Athens, Tenn., three bass, 11-8, $810
4th:         Belinda Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 11-5, $410
5th:         Tommy Pritchard, Bargersville, Ind., three bass, 11-1, $351
6th:         Brian Haworth, Sparta, Tenn., three bass, 10-14, $322
7th:         David Wiley, Greenbrier, Tenn., three bass, 9-12, $293
8th:         Ross Turner, Kingston, Ga., three bass, 9-8, $364
9th:         Todd McBride, Huntsville, Ala., three bass, 9-5, $234
10th:       Larry Franks Jr., Wilsonville, Ala., three bass, 9-3, $205

Danny Lankford of Athens, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $225, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Mike Lowry of Hixson, Tennessee now leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 722 points, while Paul Stidham of Cullman, Alabama, leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 703 points.

The next event for BFL Choo Choo Division anglers will be held May 17, at Lake Guntersville out of Scottsboro, 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.

by AnglersChannel

17-Year-Old Dylan Quilatan Wins Again at Harris Chain – Dominates Toyota Series at the Harris Chain of Lakes Presented by Suzuki Marine

LEESBURG, Fla. (March 30, 2025) – Dylan Quilatan of Windermere, Florida, didn’t miss a beat this week in the  Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats  Southern Division event at the Harris Chain. At just 17 years old, Quilatan weighed 83 pounds, 8 ounces over three days of fishing, punctuating the event with 33-6 on Day 2, which he sandwiched with bags in the mid-20s. With the win, the high school senior becomes the second youngest angler to win a Toyota Series event as a pro, pocketing $39,055 for his efforts.

From a weight perspective, Quilatan’s total is the heaviest three-day Toyota Series winning weight ever for a Florida event and the fifth heaviest three-day Toyota Series weight overall. Oddly enough, there have been three 80-pound winning totals this year, all weighed by folks named Dylan, as Dylan Nutt has accomplished the feat twice already this year on the Tennessee River. Notably, Quilatan stopped fishing around 11 o’clock Saturday to help his co-angler Benton Peoples  get a limit, which could have cost him a shot at some even higher heights.

Fishing second, pro Bobby Bakewell of Orlando, Florida, hammered out  70-10 – ordinarily a phenomenal week on the Harris Chain. In third, Montgomery, Texas’ Chad Mrazek averaged over 20 pounds a day with a 62-5 total.

Fishing a large flat in Lake Beauclair, Quilatan mined the area for three days, as well as in the two Phoenix Bass Fishing League events he fished over the previous weekend, one of which he won. No two days of fishing were the same, and according to the young angler, putting the odds in his favor was key – every day necessitated slight adjustments.

“There were postspawn fish coming out, new fish every day, but there wasn’t that many,” Quilatan detailed. “There were two different things going on, or two different size grades. There was 1- to 3-pounders chasing threadfin, and I could catch those on a Neko rig pretty easily. Just drop it on their head. They’d either be singles or they’d be schooled up on a shell bed or a grass patch or they’d just be a single fish in a bait ball. It was different every day. Today, it was single fish in a bait ball.”

The larger grade of fish were perhaps more interesting.

“There were 4- to 10-pounders that were doing something different every day too,” Quilatan said. “Those fish key in on gizzard shad, and some of them I could get to bite the Neko. Probably 20% of them. And I tried on every fish because I have a 100% hookup ratio on a Neko. And if I couldn’t get them to bite that, then I’d throw a swimbait, and that would really get their attention. But every day was different, whether they were set up on isolated patches of grass, or they were set up on a grass edge. Whether they were just sitting on silt, or if it was sand, if it was 10 feet or if it was 7 feet.”

To put the odds in his favor, Quilatan made a real effort to stay in areas that were rich with baitfish. His reasoning being that the fish there would bite a little better and be in more of a feeding mood.

“I fished around boats the whole time, but I don’t think anybody was as analytical as I was about all the baitfish and how fish were setting up,” he said. “I think they were just putting their trolling motor down and going, which works, but it was better for me to find a little pattern inside the pattern every day. And I caught them in every single corner of that lake and keyed in on something a little different every day.”

For baits, Quilatan used an X Zone Deception Worm with a 1/16-ounce nail weight and a Ryugi Talisman hook. He also used a 7-inch No Live Bait Needed K-Tail with a ¾-ounce head to tempt the bigger fish. He threw everything on rods he built with components from Get Bit Outdoors.

The worm did a lot of Quilatan’s damage, but it wasn’t easy to catch the bigger ones.

“The key with that for the big ones was to leave it sitting there for, like, sometimes, three or four minutes,” he said. “They would swim off and come back. And it was all about presenting the bait without it going straight on their head. All the dumb fish in that lake are relocated to Harris or Eustace in a tournament. So, all the big fish in there are super smart. They’re super educated. So, I’m constantly taking my time.

“Whenever I get an opportunity at a big one, I’ll throw the worm in first, cast a little bit past it, whatever direction it’s going. And if it bites it, that’s great. If it doesn’t, I’ll hit it with the swimbait. And I could kind of just tell from their body posture, if they almost bite it, I’ll cast a few more times. I caught a lot of big ones doing that. I something just triggers them after a while and some of them just swim off and maybe you catch them the next day.”

Though the margin makes it look easy, Quilatan fished his heart out every day, and at times on Day 3, he thought he was tapped out.

“I didn’t get to sleep last night at all,” he said. “I slept, like, 2 hours. I woke up at 2 a.m., and I was like, ‘is this real?’ This morning, I got out there, I started fishing, and, I couldn’t even make a straight cast. I was like ‘Dylan, you’ve got to get it together.’”

Considering he stopped fishing seriously with 25 pounds in the ‘well before noon, Quilatan evidently got it together.

“Coming into today, you know, I knew however it shaped out, I didn’t have anything to prove,” he said. “I already know that I can hang with these guys, and I just wanted to know I could give it my best three days in a row. And I did. And all the glory goes to God.”

The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series at the Harris Chain of Lakes finished:

1st:        Dylan Quilatan, Windermere, Fla., 15 bass, 83-8, $39,055
2nd:       Robert Bakewell, Orlando, Fla., 15 bass, 70-10, $15,634
3rd:       Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 15 bass, 62-5, $12,717 (includes $1,000 Phoenix Bonus)
4th:        Justin Barnes, Ellaville, Ga., 15 bass, 56-6, $9,764
5th:        Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., 15 bass, 54-3, $8,787
6th:        John Kremer, Orange City, Fla., 15 bass, 53-8, $7,811
7th:        Flint Davis, Leesburg, Ga., 15 bass, 53-1, $6,835
8th:        Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 15 bass, 52-5, $5,858
9th:        Parker Knudsen, Minnetonka, Minn., 15 bass, 50-12, $4,882
10th:     Tracen Phillips, Lake Placid, Fla., 15 bass, 50-1, $3,906

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Steve Lopez of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, earned Thursday’s Day 1 $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces, while tournament-runner-up Robert Bakewell earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass on Friday with a 9-pound, 11-ounce bass to earn the $500 prize.

Inyokern, California’s Elijah Soto, won the co-angler division Saturday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 43 pounds, 5 ounces. Soto earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series at the Harris Chain of Lakes finished:

1st:        Elijah Soto, Inyokern, Calif., 14 bass, 43-5, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd:       Benton Peoples, Bardstown, Ky., 15 bass, 41-6, $4,900
3rd:       Jason Wiley, Swainsboro, Ga., 15 bass, 40-9, $3,920
4th:        Myles Tallada, Peru, N.Y., 15 bass, 36-4, $3,430
5th:        John Stahl, Land O’ Lakes, Fla., 12 bass, 35-5, $2,940
6th:        James Cobbs, Vinemont, Ala., 15 bass, 34-10, $2,450
7th:        Jeremy Bouldin, Kings Mountain, N.C., 15 bass, 34-6, $1,960
8th:        Evrett Hunter, Nokomis, Fla., 15 bass, 34-5, $1,715
9th:        Brady Lunsmann, Citrus Springs, Fla., 15 bass, 33-14, $1,470
10th:     Cameron Debity, Boca Raton, Fla., 15 bass, 33-4, $1,225

Co-angler Jack Taft of Winter Garden, Florida, earned Thursday’s Day 1 Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after bringing a 5-pound, 11-ounce bass to the scale to win the $150 prize, while Friday’s $150 co-angler award on Day 2 went to David White of Winter Garden, Florida, who weighed in a 9-pound, 7-ounce largemouth.

The Toyota Series at the Harris Chain of Lakes Presented by Suzuki Marine was hosted by Discover Lake County, Florida. It was the second of three regular-season tournament for the Toyota Series Southern Division. The third and final event for the Toyota Series Southern Division regular season will be April 24-26 – The Toyota Series at Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2025 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern and the Southwestern – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the five divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2026. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2025 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 6-8 on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma, and is hosted by the City of Grove Convention & Tourism Bureau.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Toyota Series 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, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, 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 information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 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.

by AnglersChannel