Georgia’s Chilcott Takes Co-Angler Title

PRATTVILLE, Ala. (Aug. 18, 2025) – Boater Keith Poche of Pike Road, Alabama, caught 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 14 ounces, over two days to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Super Tournament (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Alabama River . The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event of the season for the BFL Bama Division. Poche earned $5,315 for his victory.

“I’ve been fishing for 20 years, and the Alabama River is one of my favorite places to fish,” said Poche. “I’ve got a lot of places I catch fish; I just go fishing. If it ain’t here, I go there. If it ain’t there, I go somewhere else.”

Poche said he had three fish for 2½ pounds at noon the first day of the tournament, so he kept moving in search of larger bass. He caught a 5-pounder in a spot that he had visited earlier in the morning, but conditions were different – there was current, water was dropping and fish were moving.

“You just have to keep moving, and that’s what I do,” Poche said.

Poche said he hit some of his small, shallow spots and managed to end up with 15-12 after the first day’s weigh-in.

Poche started out Day 2 on a spot he didn’t hit the first day and continued the trend of fishing new water throughout the day. After catching a few spotted bass, he focused on largemouth and relocated to a creek where he managed to land a 4-pounder that sealed the deal for him.

“I caught all my fish on the first day flipping a black and blue 3-inch Berkley Powerbait Pit Boss with a 3/8-ounce weight,” Poche said. “I also caught a few spots today on a green pumpkin 5-inch Berkley (PowerBait) MaxScent The General on a shaky-head rig.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 10 bass, 28-14, $5,315
2nd:       Hunter Davidson, Reform, Ala., 10 bass, 27-7, $2,334
3rd:        James Willoughby, Gulfport, Miss., 10 bass, 25-9, $1,557
4th:         Logan Sims, Bessemer, Ala., 10 bass, 25-5, $1,589 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
5th:         Zeke Gossett, Pell City, Ala., 10 bass, 24-5, $934
6th:         Michael Smith, Andalusia, Ala., 10 bass, 24-2, $856
7th:         Jim Beavers, Manchester, Ga., 10 bass, 22-11, $778
8th:         Blake Tomlin, Greenville, Ga., 10 bass, 21-15, $700
9th:         Kris Colley, Ragland, Ala., 10 bass, 21-3, $622
10th:      Ronnie McDonough, Birmingham, Ala., 10 bass, 20-13, $545

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Poche caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $547.

Joseph Chilcott of Williamson, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $2,608, after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:         Joseph Chilcott, Williamson, Ga., six bass, 14-13, $2,608
2nd:       Timothy Shockley, Booneville, Miss., five bass, 13-5, $1,167
3rd:        Mason Carden, Shelby, Ala., six bass, 11-15, $779
4th:         Jeffery McCoy, Montgomery, Ala., six bass, 11-8, $595
5th:         Jeffrey Ford, Trion, Ga., six bass, 11-4, $467
6th:         Paul Nelson, Acworth, Ga., five bass, 9-11, $428
7th:         Colton Jennings, Moody, Ala., six bass, 9-6, $389
8th:         Rodney Graham, Childersburg, Ala., six bass, 9-5, $350
9th:         Stuart Vitollo, Vance, Ala., six bass, 9-1, $311
10th:      Roger Veracoechea, Birmingham, Ala., four bass, 8-6, $272

Chilcott earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $274, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 4 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Kris Colley of Ragland, Alabama, won the Fishing Clash Bama Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,331 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Larry Chastain of Laurel, Mississippi, won the Fishing Clash Bama Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,307 points and earned the $500 payout.

The top 60 boaters and co-anglers in the division based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, now qualify for the Oct. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Logan Martin Lake in Lincoln, Alabama. 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.

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, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, 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.