South Carolina’s Clark Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

TRENTON, Mich. (Aug. 12, 2024) – Boater Drake van Dike of Livonia, Michigan, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Detroit River. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Michigan Division. Van Dike earned $3,505 for his victory.

Winning against a stacked Michigan Division field is always a challenge. What makes it even more impressive for van Dike is that this is his first BFL season, and the Detroit River tournament was only his third BFL event.

“I got into them through a friend,” van Dike said. “I fished through MLF in college, so I just decided to jump in them this year, and it’s gone pretty well for me so far.

“It feels great (to win). I put in a lot of work, and all the stuff I’ve been through with boats lately and everything, it feels amazing to win.”

Van Dike is off to a hot start overall. He’s made two top-10 finishes already and currently sits fourth in the Fishing Clash Michigan Division Angler of the Year race.

According to van Dike, the biggest key to the win was braving wind and nasty weather to get in a good practice on Lake St. Clair, which is where he spent the tournament. The trials continued during the tournament, when the waves were big enough that van Dike reported taking a few over the transom while he was on the front deck using the trolling motor.

“The weather changed some things,” he added. “The fish weren’t up suspended like they normally have been. I just shortened my drop-shot quite a bit. I found that they would eat it better if it wasn’t way above their head.”

The drop-shot did most of the damage for van Dike. He rigged it with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flatnose Minnow. He also weighed one keeper caught on a River Rock Custom Baits Tube.

“I was on the bait pattern,” van Dike said. “I was following the balls of bait wherever I could find them where they stacked up in an area, and the big ones were hanging out right around the bait. I just put my trolling motor on 10 and followed the bait until I could find a ball. And not far from a ball of bait was a big fish.”

In practice, van Dike used his big motor and his electronics to locate areas with higher concentrations of bait. Then he got up on the trolling motor and used forward-facing sonar to find the bait balls.

“They (the bait balls) are about 20 feet long, and they go almost all the way from the surface down to the bottom,” he added. “They look like tornadoes on your LiveScope.”

To help make his lures stand out from the natural bait, van Dike mixed in some brighter colors, including chartreuse with brown back.

“Once you’re around the bait, you’re picking off the fish that are chasing those bait balls. It doesn’t have to be a specific fish (that you target with forward-facing sonar), but if you get your cast into the bait ball, usually those fish will go find that bait that looks different than the rest.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Drake van Dike, Livonia, Mich., five bass, 22-2, $3,505
2nd:       Pat Upthagrove, Monroe, Mich., five bass, 21-0, $2,053
3rd:       Mark Flick, Delton, Mich., five bass, 20-15, $1,169
4th:        Wilson Burton, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 20-8, $1,318 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Continency Bonus)
5th:        Scott Dobson, Clarkston, Mich., five bass, 20-3, $701
6th:        Nolan Mandel, Harrison Township, Mich., five bass, 20-2, $643
7th:        Michael Sitko, Pinckney, Mich., five bass, 19-1, $584
8th:        Aaron Limber, Northwood, Ohio, five bass, 18-14, $496
8th:        Noah Stauffer, Gowen, Mich., five bass, 18-14, $496
10th:     Mike Trombly, Belleville, Mich., five bass, 18-10, $849

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Mike Trombly of Belleville, Michigan, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $440.

Lane Clark of Anderson, South Carolina, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,753 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 18 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Lane Clark, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 18-10, $1,753
2nd:       Steve Ward, Trenton, Mich., five bass, 16-11, $730
2nd:       Brian Townley, Wyoming, Mich., five bass, 16-11, $950
4th:        Todd Layne, Poca, W.Va., five bass, 16-8, $559
5th:        Ryan Crider, Kettering, Ohio, five bass, 16-5, $351
6th:        Jason Klingaman, Howe, Ind., five bass, 15-15, $321
7th:        Scott Davis, Morenci, Mich., five bass, 15-14, $292
8th:        JD Marcum, Catlettsburg, Ky., five bass, 15-5, $363
9th:        David Roche, Centerline, Mich., five bass, 14-10, $234
10th:     Cullan Parker, Lorain, Ohio, five bass, 14-9, $204

Brian Townley of Wyoming, Michigan, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $220, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Nolan Mandel of Harrison Township, Michigan, leads the Fishing Clash Michigan Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 743 points, while Scott Davis of Morenci, Michigan, leads the Fishing Clash Michigan Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 735 points.

The next event for BFL Michigan Division anglers will be held Aug. 24, at the Detroit River in Trenton, Michigan. 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 Pools 13-17 of the Mississippi River in Quad Cities, Illinois. 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, PowerStop Brakes, 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.