Kentucky’s Back Tops Co-Angler Division

BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (June 9, 2025) – Boater Hunter Sales of Blaine, Tennessee, caught a three-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Dale Hollow Lake. The tournament, hosted by Star Point Marina & Resort, was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Mountain Division. Sales earned $2,703 for his victory.

With BFL anglers restricted to three keepers on Dale Hollow, separating yourself from the pack was almost certainly going to take a big kicker fish. And Sales got one. Among the three largemouth in his bag was one that weighed around 5 pounds.

“Most of the fish that I was catching were singles, not really in groups,” he said. “I caught those a couple different ways. I caught some dragging a jig on the end of some long points and also scoping a minnow.

“I put my trolling motor down this morning at probably 6:20 or so, and I never picked my trolling motor up until it was time to come back to weigh-in,” Sales added.

Sales spent the entire day in one area where he located some 3 1/2-pound-class fish in the four or so hours that he got to practice on Friday. Staying in that area and casting to as many fish as he could, from the points to the river channel, allowed him to be most efficient and effective.

His winning fish came on a Z-Man football jig and Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ on a 3/8-ounce Queen Tackle jighead tied to 15-pound-test Seaguar Smackdown braid with an 8-pound-test Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader.

The top 11 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Hunter Sales, Blaine, Tenn., three bass, 11-15, $2,703
2nd:      Chris Halfacre, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 11-12, $1,452
3rd:       Lee Sinclair, Albany, Ky., three bass, 11-11, $901
4th:        Tristan Abbott, Somerset, Ky., three bass, 11-10, $631
5th:        Whit Terry, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 11-7, $541
6th:        Clint Brodsky, Burlington, Ky., three bass, 11-6, $996 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
7th:        Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., three bass, 11-5, $576
8th:        Blake Smith, Byrdstown, Tenn., three bass, 11-2, $405
9th:        Ryan Laper, Bowling Green, Ky., three bass, 11-1, $660
10th:     Branden Grubb, Lily, Ky., three bass, 10-12, $299
10th:     Christian Nash, Allons, Tenn., three bass, 10-12, $299

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Ryan Laper of Bowling Green, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $300.

Doug Back of Jackson, Kentucky, won the co-angler division and $1,352 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 9 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Doug Back, Jackson, Ky., three bass, 8-9, $1,352
2nd:      Stephen Waldon, Ellenwood, Ga., three bass, 8-2, $676
3rd:       Chris Rushing, Gamaliel, Ky., three bass, 7-6, $450
4th:        Tim Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., three bass, 7-3, $315
5th:        Brad Thacher, Murray, Ky., three bass, 7-1, $270
6th:        Tyler Thompson, Radcliff, Ky., three bass, 6-15, $248
7th:        Grant Aumiller, Danville, Ky., three bass, 6-12, $225
8th:        Jayden Hearn, Brush Creek, Tenn., two bass, 6-9, $203
9th:        Isaac Mueller, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 6-5, $180
10th:     Cajun Rob Welsh, Berea, Ky., three bass, 5-10, $158

Tracy Helton of London, Kentucky, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $150, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Lee Sinclair of Albany, Kentucky, now leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 963 points, while Allen Neal of Whitley City, Kentucky, leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 956 points.

The fifth and final regular-season event for BFL Mountain Division anglers will be held Sept. 13-14, at Lake Cumberland in Monticello, Kentucky. 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 Douglas Lake in Dandridge, 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 Sport 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.