Valachovic and Hunter Tie for Win in Strike King Co-Angler Division

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (Feb. 10, 2025) – Fishing in his first career tournament in MLF competition, 19-year-old boater Tanner Seabolt of Okeechobee, Florida, caught a five-bass limit weighing 31 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Okeechobee . The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Gator Division. Seabolt earned $4,507 for his victory.

Seabolt, who works at Fast Break Bait & Tackle up on Okeechobee’s north end, is able to stay pretty dialed in on what’s happening at his home lake.

“I found a spot up there on the north end – cattails with some bedded fish around them,” he said. “I was just throwing a worm at them. It was pretty consistent all day. I had my bag by around 12:30ish and then just kept on throwing a bigger worm for a big one.

“I found these fish two weeks ago. I didn’t really catch anything great off it, but I caught some solid fish. I guess they pulled in there either last night or today.”

After 12:30, Seabolt made one nice cull, tossing back a 4-pounder for a 5 1/2. His biggest fish weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces.

What’s wild about the spot where Seabolt caught his fish is that, according to Seabolt, another local tournament was also won there on Saturday, and it took 30-plus to win that one, too.

Seabolt spent the tournament working down one key stretch, pitching a Gambler Ace in black and blue on a 7-foot, 2-inch Scenko Stix custom rod. Seabolt wasn’t sight-fishing, but he was fishing his Texas rig slowly, knowing that the fish were setting up on beds. Most of his bass came in little clusters.

For Seabolt, this is win No. 1 with Major League Fishing.

“I went into this tournament thinking that if they were there I could catch them really good,” he said. “So I just went into the tournament praying. Honestly, it (winning this event) means everything to me.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Tanner Seabolt, Okeechobee, Fla., five bass, 31-9, $4,507
2nd:       Dylan Quilatan, Windermere, Fla., five bass, 24-15, $2,253
3rd:       Roger Gonzalez, Coco, Fla., five bass, 24-5, $1,502
4th:        Finn Taylor, Lake Placid, Fla., five bass, 23-15, $1,052
5th:        Casey Warren, Myrtle Beach, S.C., five bass, 23-11, $901
6th:        Fred Chivington Jr., San Mateo, Fla., five bass, 21-2, $826
7th:        Richard Newberry, Pinellas Park, Fla., five bass, 20-14, $1,251
8th:        Brandon St. Pierre, Lehigh Acres, Fla., five bass, 19-10, $638
8th:        Ben Harris, Haines City, Fla., five bass, 19-10, $1,293
10th:     Eric Morgan, Royal Palm Beach, Fla., five bass, 18-5, $526

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Ben Harris of Haines City, Florida, caught a bass that weighed 10 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $655.

Anthony Valachovic of Coral Springs, Florida, and Evrett Hunter of Nokomis, Florida, tied for the win in the Strike King co-angler division Saturday, after each bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 16 pounds, 2 ounces. Valachovic earned $2,017, including the $327 Berkley Big Bass co-angler award, which he received for catching the biggest fish of the day in the co-angler division – a 10-pound, 5-ounce bass. Hunter earned $1,690 for his share of the victory money.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Anthony Valachovic, Coral Springs, Fla., three bass, 16-2, $2,017
1st:        Evrett Hunter, Nokomis, Fla., three bass, 16-2, $1,690
3rd:       Chuck Crow, Windermere, Fla., three bass, 14-5, $638
3rd:       Shannon Pike, Sarasota, Fla., three bass, 14-5, $638
5th:        David Lane, Orlando, Fla., three bass, 13-14, $451
6th:        Dean Bligh, Heddon Heights, N.J., three bass, 12-14, $413
7th:        Michael Ryan, Mount Dora, Fla., three bass, 11-7, $376
8th:        Tyler Nekolny, Coral Springs, Fla., three bass, 10-10, $319
8th:        Jeremy Bouldin, Kings Mountan, N.C., three bass, 10-10, $319
10th:     Scott Hopping, Port Saint Lucie, Fla., three bass, 10-8, $263

In addition to earning the win, Tanner Seabolt of Okeechobee, Florida, has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Gator Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Anthony Valachovic of Coral Springs, Florida, and Evrett Hunter of Nokomis, Florida, are tied for the lead in the Fishing Clash Gator Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points apiece.

The next event for BFL Gator Division anglers will be held March 8, at Lake Toho out of Kissimmee, Florida. 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. 17-18 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 Strike King 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, Vosker, 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.