Cleveland’s Winkler Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (March 11, 2024) – Boater Freeman Edwards of Buford, Georgia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Lanier . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Edwards earned $7,037, including the lucrative $3,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

For Edwards, the tournament was an exercise in using Garmin LiveScope technology to junk-fish his way around the lower end of the lake, mostly checking spots where he’s caught fish during springtime in the past.

“Starting out we had a little east wind,” he said. “A lot of the places that I wanted to fish set up more for a west wind, but I still pulled up on some prespawn-type places early, trying to catch them up shallow.”

Edwards used the LiveScope to spot fish on shallow transition areas. He rigged a Keitech 3.8 Swing Impact FAT on a 1/4-ounce ball-head jig, cast it up shallow and rolled it through the fish.

As the wind died down, Edwards went on the hunt. He checked points, brush, deep humps, deep timber – all prespawn staging areas. He caught his biggest bass of the day on standing timber in 45 feet of water using a Neko-rigged Daiwa Yamamoto Neko Worm.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now,” Edwards added. “You can pretty much do whatever you want. I caught another 5-pounder kind of on an edge, and it was just sitting right under the surface on some herring. I picked up my Sebile (Magic Swimmer, now made by Berkley), tossed it out there about 60 feet, and I saw him come up and he just crushed it.

“I caught a lot of fish. I probably caught 30, 35 fish. I probably culled out another 18 (pound) sack. It was just a good day – one of those days where the fish just bit.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Freeman Edwards, Buford, Ga., five bass, 23-2, $7,037 (includes $3,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Spencer Sato, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 22-14, $2,319
3rd:       Ty Overmyer, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 22-11, $1,345
4th:        Cole Cloud, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 22-2, $942
5th:        Maddux Walters, Canton, Ga., five bass, 21-5, $1,352
6th:        Buddy Benson, Dahlonega, Ga., five bass, 21-0, $740
7th:        Brooks Anderson, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 20-15, $673
8th:        Brad Wiley, Alto, Ga., five bass, 20-14, $606
9th:        Carter Cunningham, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 18-14, $538
10th:     Joe Eubanks, Marieta, Ga., five bass, 18-12, $471

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Maddux Walthers of Canton, Georgia, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $545.

Benjie Winkler of Cleveland, Georgia, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,005 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 17 pounds.

The top 11 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Benjie Winkler, Cleveland, Ga., five bass, 17-0, $2,005
2nd:       Harold Grizzle, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 16-7, $1,002
3rd:       Daniel Truitt, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 14-15, $568
3rd:       Cameron Sampson, Jackson, Ga., five bass, 14-15, $568
5th:        Jared Kutil, Beaufort, S.C., five bass, 14-10, $551
6th:        Elijah Moon, Talmo, Ga., five bass, 14-9, $368
7th:        Gerald Bennett, Dallas, Ga., four bass, 14-8, $334
8th:        Ariska Savior, Atlanta, Ga., four bass, 13-11, $301
9th:        Jamie Thompson, Lakemont, Ga., five bass, 13-2, $237
9th:        Nick Kight, Gray, Ga., five bass, 13-2, $237
9th:        Jaquas Dobbs, Conyers, Ga., five bass, 13-2, $237

John Kennedy of Statham, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $2,675, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Brooks Anderson of Marietta, Georgia, leads the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 494 points, while Joshua Green of Cartersville, Georgia, leads the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Strike King Co-Angler of the Year race with 484 points.

The next event for BFL Bulldog Division anglers will be held April 6, at Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama. 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. 10-12 BFL Regional tournament on Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina. 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, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota 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.