Virginia’s Williams Tops Co-Angler Division

HENDERSON, N.C. (March 30, 2026) – Boater Austin Woody of Burlington, North Carolina, caught a total of five bass weighing 20 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Kerr Lake. The tournament, hosted by Vance County Tourism Development Authority, was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Shenandoah Division. Woody earned $2,880 for his victory.

“I took off to my starting hole and wanted to throw a crankbait and focus on some prespawn areas,” Woody said. “I caught three on the crankbait but lost two first thing.

“The wind picked up more and more throughout the day,” Woody added. “Any spot on the main lake that was a prespawn area that I wanted to hit was getting absolutely crushed by 4-foot waves.”

Woody said he abandoned that approach and looked for creeks with warmer water to focus on additional prespawn areas out of the wind. He continued to throw a Berkley Frittside crankbait and a Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer and caught his first big fish, a 5½-pounder, at 11 o’clock.

“That keyed me in and I knew if I fished those same type of areas, I would get five good bites during the day,” Woody said. “I caught my last two – a 3-6 and a 3-3 – in the last 10 minutes of the tournament on back-to-back casts.”

Those two fish culled out a 1-7 and a 2-pounder and gave Woody a shot at a win.

“I caught those two and thought, ‘Alright. Now I’ve given myself a chance,’” Woody said. “I knew I was around 20 pounds, and I figured it would take somewhere around 20 to win.

“This win is a relief, because I knew I had to fish to win,” Woody said. “I didn’t give up. I just kept going and going. And it felt good, especially after getting only three bites from 11 to 3 o’clock. When it’s your time, it’s your time.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Austin Woody, Burlington, N.C., five bass, 20-4, $2,880
2nd:      Travis Garrett, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 17-7, $1,520
3rd:       Chris Baldwin, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 16-11, $890
4th:        Adam Haithcock, Butner, N.C., five bass, 15-6, $665
4th:        Louis Martinez, Warrenton, Va., five bass, 15-6, $665
6th:        Billy Bledsoe, Fayetteville, N.C., five bass, 15-2, $460
7th:        Rodney Swope, Harrisonville, Pa., five bass, 15-0, $450
8th:        Aaron Falwell, Rustburg, Va., five bass, 14-15, $430
9th:        Mark Blankenship, Christiansburg, Va., five bass, 14-14, $410
10th:     Eric Johnson, Partlow, Va., five bass, 14-10, $400

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Woody and second-place finisher Travis Garrett of Charlottesville, Virginia, split the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $200 after each landed a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass.

Richard Williams of Sutherland, Virginia, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,440 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Richard Williams, Sutherland, Va., three bass, 9-5, $1,440
2nd:      David Deciucis, Chester, Va., three bass, 8-8, $710
3rd:       Johnnie Hopkins, Greensboro, N.C., three bass, 8-4, $335
3rd:       Michael Garrett, Buena Vista, Va., three bass, 8-4, $335
5th:        Keith Allen, Midland, Va., three bass, 8-1, $265
6th:        Phillip Ragland Jr., Rustburg, Va., three bass, 8-0, $330
7th:        Mark Leatherman, New Market, Va., three bass, 7-13, $222
7th:        Joey Deluke, Glen Allen, Va., three bass, 7-13, $222
9th:        Chris Moore, Mechanicsville, Va., three bass, 7-11, $210
10th:     Shaquille Freeman, Farmville, Va., three bass, 7-5, $200

Kevin Garrett of Charlottesville, Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 3-pound, 15-ounce bass worth $100.

The top 45 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. 15-17 BFL Regional tournament on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, 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 prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500.

The 2026 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 co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2026 BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, Mystik Lubricants, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular BFL 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, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.