Tennessee’s Suratt Wins Co-Angler Division

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (March 9, 2026) – Boater Luke Lamb of Nicholasville, Kentucky, caught a total of five bass weighing 26 pounds, 8 ounces, Sunday, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Guntersville. The tournament, hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports, was a rescheduled event from earlier this season and the second of back-to-back events at Lake Guntersville on the weekend – the third event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Lamb earned $6,510 for his victory.

Lamb said he had devised a winning strategy for the tournament and wasted no time in executing his plan.

“I went to some fish first thing I had found in practice, and they just weren’t there,” Lamb said. “So, I scrambled around for a little bit. But in the back of my mind I knew they were going to be there at some point. With the Daylight Savings Time change and it being cloudy, we were out on the water a lot earlier and it was darker out, and I think the fish were still just scattered.

“I had to give it a little bit of time,” Lamb added. “I knew if I was going to win the tournament those would be the fish I would have to catch.”

Lamb said he fished around for a while and returned to his starting spot mid-morning, and the fish were there.

“I did quite a bit of damage pretty quick,” Lamb said. “It slowed down just a little bit with a couple times of flurried action, but overall, it was pretty steady. I leaned on that area the rest of the day. I caught a lot of fish.”

Lamb said his mid-lake area produced 40 to 50 keepers for him during the tournament, most of them more than four pounds. His bass mainly came on an Alabama rig as well as a minnow. He targeted big female prespawn fish getting ready to make the transition.

“This lake has so many fish in it I knew I was going to have to find the big prespawn fish to be able to hang,” Lamb said. “I thought I had the potential to win, but it’s Guntersville, and anyone can have a really big bag, especially with that many boats on the water. But I never thought that I was safe (to win).

“This win feels great,” Lamb went on to say. “I’ve had a lot of close calls in tournaments in the past, so I never get my hopes up until weigh-in is over. Especially here. Someone can catch two giants during the day and beat you at any time.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Luke Lamb, Nicholasville, Ky., five bass, 26-8, $6,510
2nd:        Evan Horne, Tuscumbia, Ala., five bass, 26-5, $3,150
3rd:         Matthew Bennett, Eclectic, Ala., five bass, 25-15, $1,470
4th:         David Cagle, Athens, Ala., five bass, 24-8, $1,330
5th:         Dawson Lenz, Senoia, Ga., five bass, 24-6, $885
5th:         Cal Lane, Grant, Ala., five bass, 24-6, $1,385 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
7th:         Connor Morris, Boaz, Ala., five bass, 24-1, $760
8th:         Anthony Goggins, Chelsea, Ala., five bass, 24-0, $710
9th:         Wayne Christopher, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 23-12, $670
10th:       Jimmy Neece Jr., Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 23-9, $630

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

David Cagle of Athens, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 1-ounce bass worth $200.

Kade Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $3,355 Sunday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 16 pounds, 3 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:         Kade Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 16-3, $3,355
2nd:        Randy Wiggins, Birmingham, Ala., three bass, 15-6, $1,625
3rd:         Nick Clowdus, Hayden, Ala., three bass, 14-5, $735
4th:         Roderick Green, Columbia, Tenn., three bass, 13-12, $565
5th:         Craig Childers, Taft, Tenn., three bass, 13-11, $485
6th:         Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 12-12, $400
7th:         Tommy Pritchard, Bargersville, Ind., three bass, 12-9, $380
8th:         Jeffrey Eshelman, Owens Cross Roads, Ala., three bass, 12-8, $355
9th:         Tim Campbell, Ardmore, Ala, three bass, 12-6, $340
10th:       Billy Crider Jr., Kettering, Ohio, three bass, 12-1, $315

Kade Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 7-pound, 7-ounce bass worth $100.

After three events, Hunter Davidson of Reform, Alabama, now leads the 7 Brew Choo Choo Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 714 points, while Payton Reed of Elora, Tennessee, leads the Choo Choo Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 685 points.

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. 8-10 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, 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 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, CBS Sports Network, 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.