ennessee’s Roberson-Barber Takes Co-Angler Division

DANDRIDGE, Tenn. (Oct. 13, 2025) – Boater Hunter Bouldin of McMinnville, Tennessee, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 30 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine Regional on Douglas Lake Presented by Mando Deodorant . The tournament, which was hosted by Visit Jefferson County TN, concluded Saturday. For his win, Bouldin earned a prize package valued at $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200hp Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The Douglas Lake event served as the Regional championship for the BFL Mountain and Music City divisions. The field included the top 60 boaters and co-anglers based on point standings, plus each division’s tournament winners. The top three boaters and co-anglers have also now qualified for the 2026 BFL All-American.

“I started off fishing shallow, specifically throwing topwater,” Bouldin said. “I caught one close to 3 pounds right out of the gate. I kept fishing around and had a bit of bad luck when I broke two off back-to-back. While I was throwing the topwater I was looking for brush, because I didn’t see any evidence of a good floating-bait bite.”

A jig thrown to brush produced a 3-pounder for Bouldin, so he changed his tactics and the day picked up for him. However, on the second day he didn’t stick to the jig early in the day.

“I fished some schools and some topwater to start out with, and something wasn’t feeling right,” Bouldin said. “Then I went to a brush pile and lost three good ones out of it. I felt like I had blown my opportunity right there. Four fish out of one brush pile, and I only landed one of them.”

Bouldin said he then ran the lake looking for schooling fish but ended up returning to the brush pile. The brush pile didn’t produce for him, but a nearby rock outcropping held a 4-pounder that ended up being the largest bass Bouldin weighed.

“So, I just stayed in that one holler and fished that brush, and for whatever reason that one little holler was just loaded with good, healthy fish,” Bouldin said.

The top three boaters who qualified for the 2026 Phoenix BFL All-American finished:

1st:        Hunter Bouldin, McMinnville, Tenn., 10 bass, 30-12, $50,000
2nd:       Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-4, $6,884
3rd:       Cody Mackie, McMinnville, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-0, $3,115

Rounding out the top 10 boaters were:

4th:        Wyatt Pearman, Hodgenville, Ky., 10 bass, 27-11, $2,607 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
5th:        Drew Boggs, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 26-14, $1,453
6th:        Rex Reagan, Livingston, Tenn., 10 bass, 26-7, $1,342
7th:        Levi Kohl, Edinburg, Ill., 10 bass, 25-4, $1,232
8th:        Steven Miracle, White Pine, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-2, $1,120
9th:        Grant Meisenhelter, Decatur, Ill., 10 bass, 24-5, $1,003
10th:     Timothy Wacker, Clinton, Tenn., 10 bass, 24-0, $944

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Tim Smiley of White Pine, Tennessee, won the Berkley Big Bass Boater award and $1,000 for landing a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces – the biggest of the tournament.

Aiden Roberson-Barber of Livingston, Tennessee, won the co-angler division Saturday after bringing a two-day total of six bass weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces, to the scale. Roberson-Barber earned the top co-angler award of $11,237 for his victory.

The top three co-anglers who qualified for the 2026 Phoenix BFL All-American finished:

1st:        Aiden Roberson-Barber, Livingston, Tenn., six bass, 16-4, $11,237
2nd:       Dustin Forrest, Knob Lick, Ky., six bass, 14-12, $3,430
3rd:       Mike Swetland, Tamaroa, Ill., six bass, 14-7, $1,545

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:

4th:        Blake Whittaker, Cookeville, Tenn., six bass, 13-11, $991
5th:        Brad Barton, Middlesboro, Ky., six bass, 13-2, $714
6th:        Tracy Helton, London, Ky., six bass, 12-14, $659
7th:        Wayne Crouch, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 12-14, $753
8th:        Chesney Cameron, Rutledge, Tenn., five bass, 12-12, $548
9th:        Gregory Goodwin, Louisville, Ky., six bass, 12-6, $491
10th:     Trevor Medley, Sparta, Tenn., five bass, 12-6, $462

Dustin Forrest of Knob Lick, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award worth $500.

The 2025 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine was 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, now 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 43rd annual BFL All-American. The BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, 2026, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by the Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew Coffee, 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, PirahnO2, 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 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 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.