Texan Barnett Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

DEMOPOLIS, Ala. (May 6, 2024) – Boater Dusty Robinson of Eclectic, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Demopolis . Hosted by the City of Demopolis and the Demopolis Sportsplex, the tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Bama Division. Robinson earned $3,164 for his victory.

With the water level down and many backwaters inaccessible, Robinson went to a small connected lake and camped there the entire day.

“I found a couple of areas that had a mixture of spawning and postspawn fish,” he said. “I kind of lingered around those areas in practice and found the most productive areas as far as the bigger spawning fish. I kind of just stuck to that all day where I found the most amount of spawning fish.

“I was really blind-fishing for them because the water’s pretty stained,” he added. “It was a slow, methodical style of fishing.”

Robinson kept his boat in 2 to 4 feet of water and specifically targeted shady areas midday.

“I used a swim jig,” he said. “The swim jig was kind of a tattle-tail. I’d get them to kind of react to the swim jig and watch the water. I’d either see them boil on it or there’d be some movement, and I would follow it up with a jig or Texas-rigged worm.”

Reflecting on the win, Robinson said that not running and gunning, but instead sticking to one area he knew had quality fish, was critical to his success in what turned out to be a low-weight tournament.

“I knew that place was fishing tough, and I wasn’t really getting a lot of quality bites anywhere else. So it just made sense to ride it out there.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Dusty Robinson, Eclectic, Ala., five bass, 13-11, $3,164
2nd:       Morgan Brown, Spanish Fort, Ala., five bass, 13-2, $2,262
3rd:       Allan Glasgow, Ashville, Ala., five bass, 10-11, $1,554 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th:        Clay Madison, Northport, Ala., five bass, 10-6, $738
5th:        Donald Griffith, Robertsdale, Ala., five bass, 10-2, $633
6th:        Daniel Buswell Jr., Fayetteville, Ga., five bass, 9-11, $580
7th:        Triton Graham, Citronelle, Ala., four bass, 9-8, $527
8th:        Ronnie McDonough, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 9-4, $475
9th:        Robbie Robinson, Mobile, Ala., five bass, 9-1, $395
9th:        Chris Payne, Vance, Ala., five bass, 9-1, $395

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Morgan Brown of Spanish Fort, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $380.

Steve Barnett of Conroe, Texas, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,772 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Steve Barnett, Conroe, Texas, five bass, 8-10, $1,772
2nd:       Nick Glenn, Hamilton, Ala., five bass, 8-9, $791
3rd:       Austin Finley, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 8-0, $526
4th:        Brad Mahan, Clanton, Ala., five bass, 7-6, $369
5th:        Scott Cagle, Jasper, Ala., five bass, 7-5, $316
6th:        Daniel Arnberg, Auburn, Ala., five bass, 6-15, $290
7th:        Justin Girdner, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 6-12, $264
8th:        William Yoerg, Springville, Ala., five bass, 6-7, $224
8th:        Michael Petras, Biloxi, Miss., five bass, 6-7, $474
10th:     Phillip Easterling, Clanton, Ala., four bass, 6-3, $185

Barnett also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $190, catching a bass that weighed in at 3 pounds, 13 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Morgan Brown of Spanish Fort, Alabama leads the Fishing Clash Bama Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 733 points, while Nick Glenn of Hamilton, Alabama, leads the Fishing Clash Bama Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 728 points.

The next event for BFL Bama Division anglers will be held July 20, at Neely Henry Lake in Gadsden, 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, 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.