Tennessee’s Suratt Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. (June 24, 2024) – Boater Cole Logsdon of Brownsville, Kentucky, caught a three-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Barren River. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Mountain Division. Logsdon earned $3,418 for his victory.

In the Barren River Lake event, anglers were limited to weighing three fish. Add in a field of more than 80 boaters on a small reservoir, and it was almost a guarantee that weights would be tight in this tournament. Logsdon overcame those challenges by relying on a ton of experience on the lake.

“I live 20 minutes down the road,” he said. “I’ve spent a lot of time out on Barren River over the years. Especially, I’ve had a lot of help over the years from some people who mentored me. That kind of came into play with the late boat draw I had. Some of the history stuff I had was the deal. I got lucky because I was the second-to-last boat out and I couldn’t get on a lot of my stuff.”

Logsdon spent most of his practice scanning the lake for offshore schools. He didn’t even take rods with him for practice. In the tournament, he started the morning by running to one of his better areas only to find another boat there. When he shifted to his second spot – a shallow drop – Logsdon found the type of school he’d been hunting for all through practice.

“I eased up the lake, set the trolling motor down and there they were,” he said. “I knew it was about to go down right then. I got right in a hurry.

“It’s a place that we’ve fished for a long time, and when they get there, they get there. It’s a place I knew, but it’s a place I wasn’t expecting the fish to be there. I sat there for probably 45 minutes.”

After he left that area, Logsdon started running and gunning. He figures he deployed the trolling motor 40 to 50 times throughout the day and wound up making some key culls that bumped up his three-fish limit to more than a pound better than second place.

“I knew with 80 boats it was going to be a packed house, and these guys are so good I knew they were going to find a lot,” Logsdon said. “I just got lucky and got on a spot I knew and they were there, and it worked out in my favor.”

Logsdon’s key lures were a homemade football-head jig, a Strike King 6XD crankbait and a Stealth Lures umbrella rig with 6th Sense 3.2-inch Divine Swimbaits.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Cole Logsdon, Brownsville, Ky., three bass, 12-4, $3,418
2nd:       Dathan Jones, Harrodsburg, Ky., three bass, 11-0, $1,709
3rd:       Michael Morrison, Stamping Ground, Ky., three bass, 10-15, $1,263
4th:        Trent Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 10-14, $798
5th:        Josh Boone, Richmond, Ky., three bass, 10-13, $655
5th:        Christopher O’Bryan, Harned, Ky., three bass, 10-13, $1,075
7th:        Lee Sinclair, Albany, Ky., three bass, 10-7, $570
8th:        Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., three bass, 10-4, $513
9th:        Grant Adams, Campbellsville, Ky., three bass, 9-12, $456
10th:     Clint Brodsky, Burlington, Ky., three bass, 9-7, $1,199 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Christopher O’Bryan of Harned, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $420.

Johnny Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,709 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 14 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 8-14, $1,709
2nd:       Robert Pepiot III, Lexington, Ky., three bass, 8-12, $712
2nd:       Devin Brown, Richmond, Ky., three bass, 8-12, $712
4th:        Chevy King, Russell Springs, Ky., three bass, 8-10, $609
5th:        Josh Smith, Williamsburg, Ky., three bass, 7-6, $342
6th:        Jerry Wittmer, Shepherdsville, Ky., three bass, 7-3, $313
7th:        Dan Basham, Taylorsville, Ky., three bass, 6-15, $285
8th:        Jeff Johnston, Nashville, Tenn., three bass, 6-11, $256
9th:        Ben Carter, Lancaster, Ky., three bass, 6-5, $228
10th:     Pete Balishin, Sharps Chapel, Tenn., three bass, 6-1, $349

Chevy King of Russell Springs, Kentucky, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $210, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Michael Morrison of Stamping Ground, Kentucky, leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 969 points, while Johnny Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 949 points.

The next event for BFL Mountain Division anglers will be held Sept. 14-15, 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 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 3-5 BFL Regional tournament on Pickwick Lake in Counce, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The 2024 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, PowerStop Brakes, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, 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 17 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.