Bowling Green’s Hayles Tops Co-Angler Division

BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (March 24, 2025) – Boater Branden Grubb of Lily, Kentucky, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Dale Hollow Lake. The tournament, hosted by Star Point Marina & Resort, was the second event of the season for the BFL Mountain Division. Grubb earned $3,296 for his victory.

“I’m on cloud nine right now,” Grubb said after getting his trophy. “It’s my first win, so I’m just happy. You beat these guys in the Mountain Division, you’ve really done something.”

Grubb has spent enough time on Dale Hollow this year to stay on the fish throughout their spring transitions. Building on his recent history, he found the lake’s largemouth bass in prespawn staging areas.

“I just have been really fortunate to be around them this spring,” he added. “I caught all of ’em on forward-facing sonar with a jighead minnow. These fish at Dale Hollow are notorious for following the bait, and they migrate with the wind. You kind of find spawning hollows or spawning areas that have wind blowing into them, and if the bait shows up there the fish are right with them. You just have to find where the quality is at that time.”

Grubb located a handful of areas in practice where he felt he could catch the right quality. However, his first spot was a bust. Turbid water, which he felt was possibly caused by algae, pollen or both, made it tough to see fish on the sonar. Grubb admits he got a little spun out at first, but he settled back in once he got to his second area.

“It ended up going down really quick,” he said. “Blastoff was at 7, and I had a limit by 8:15. I ended up culling and getting pretty close to what I weighed in by 9:30.”

As pumped as Grubb was about getting the win, he wanted to make sure he shared the credit with a friend in the fishing industry – Dewayne Wilson of Dixie Custom Rods.

“He makes an awesome forward-facing rod,” Grubb said. “It’s the 3B Outdoors Tightline Special. That’s what I caught all my fish on today. He’s just a really good guy that’s got a lifetime warranty on his rods.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Branden Grubb, Lily, Ky., five bass, 21-2, $3,296
2nd:      Lucas Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 20-15, $1,648
3rd:       Lee Stephens, Columbia, Ky., five bass, 20-12, $1,099
4th:        Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 20-10, $769
5th:        Tanner Rich, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 20-6, $659
6th:        Gavin Cloutier, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 20-4, $1,104 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
7th:        Blake Smith, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 19-15, $549
8th:        Wyatt Pearman, Hodgenville, Ky., five bass, 19-10, $494
9th:        Logan Cherry, Alvaton, Ky., five bass, 19-9, $412
9th:        Garret Moon, Albany, Ky., five bass, 19-9, $412

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Jason Smith of Union, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $405.

Drew Hayles of Bowling Green, Kentucky, won the co-angler division and $1,648 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 6 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Drew Hayles, Bowling Green, Ky., three bass, 11-6, $1,648
2nd:      Mark Redman, Scottsville, Ky., three bass, 9-14, $824
3rd:       Kade Oliver, Muncie, Ind., three bass, 9-11, $549
4th:        Caleb Edgerton, Dayton, Ohio, three bass, 9-4, $485
5th:        Dylan Reed, London, Ky., three bass, 8-15, $330
6th:        Connor Doyle, Yukon, Okla., three bass, 8-14, $302
7th:        Joseph Bezold, California, Ky., three bass, 8-8, $275
8th:        Nate Raleigh, Ft Thomas, Ky., three bass, 8-6, $247
9th:        Hans Schreyer, Sarasota, Fla., three bass, 7-15, $206
9th:        Allen Neal, Whitley City, Ky., three bass, 7-15, $206

Devereaux Adams of Powder Springs, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $202, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 11 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Lucas Reagan of Byrdstown, Tennessee, now leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 496 points, while Caleb Edgerton of Dayton, Ohio, leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 489 points.

The next event for BFL Mountain Division anglers will be held May 17, at Cherokee Lake in Jefferson City, Tennessee. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

The top 60 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. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Douglas Lake in Dandridge, Tennessee. 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. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

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 Sports 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 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 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.