Maryland’s Rye Wins Co-Angler Division

NORTH EAST, Md. (May 4, 2026) – Boater Joseph Thompson of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, caught a total of five bass weighing 18 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Chesapeake Bay . The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Northeast Division. Thompson earned $11,770, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF contingency bonus, for his victory.

Thompson said his brief practice period was the key to his third career BFL win.

“I really didn’t have a lot of time to practice, but a week or so before the tournament I found a little ditch,” Thompson said. “In three casts I caught a 4-pounder. I marked it and got out of there as quick as I could because I didn’t want anyone to see me. I didn’t want it to get a lot of pressure.”

The ditch Thompson keyed in on was located in an area known as The Flats, and was 100 yards long and 50 yards wide and only one foot deeper than the surrounding water. Thompson said bass were using it as a staging area, and he used a Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer to methodically cover the area.

“I just kept that bait on the bottom,” Thompson said. “There really wasn’t much grass at all.

“In the morning I had four fish that bit, and I missed every one of them,” Thompson went on to say. “I was using a black and blue ChatterBait with a black and blue trailer. So, I changed the color of the trailer, and I never missed another fish the rest of the day. They just ate it better.”

Even though Thompson said he caught more than 30 keepers during the tournament, he didn’t think he had a chance at securing the win.

“This is definitely an unbelievable fishery, and it generally takes more than 20 pounds to win, but it was a very tough day, and 18½ pounds was enough to do it,” said Thompson, who won Northeast Division Angler of the Year titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024. “To start the year off with a win is really nice.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Joseph Thompson, Lincoln University, Pa., five bass, 18-6, $11,770 (includes $7,000 Phoenix bonus)
2nd:      Douglas Reed, Bridgeton, N.J., five bass, 17-12, $1,720
2nd:      Mark Hogan, Greenwood, Del., five bass, 17-12, $1,720
4th:        Keith Cowan, Mt. Ephraim, N.J., five bass, 17-11, $890
5th:        Ernie Freeman, Broad Run, Va., five bass, 17-10, $770
6th:        Michael Sentore, Gloucester City, N.J., five bass, 17-1, $660
7th:        Ethan Stant, Lincoln, Del., five bass, 17-0, $630
8th:        Rick McFaul, Phoenix, Md., five bass, 16-11, $600
9th:        Terry Roberson, North East, Md., five bass, 16-5, $555
9th:        Duke Nave, Oxford, Pa., five bass, 16-5, $755

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Duke Nave of Oxford, Pennsylvania, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 5-pound, 14-ounce bass worth $200.

Robert Rye of Ellicott City, Maryland, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $2,435 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Robert Rye, Ellicott City, Md., three bass, 12-2, $2,435
2nd:      Jesse Ketchum, Columbia, Md., three bass, 12-0, $1,155
3rd:       John Nichols, Milford, Del., three bass, 11-11, $565
4th:        Christopher Trovinger, Sabillasville, Md., three bass, 11-6, $445
5th:        Doug Jenkins, Saint Leonard, Md., three bass, 11-2, $407
5th:        Kirk Mann, Hampstead, Md., three bass, 11-2, $357
7th:        Zach Ulbig, Essex, Md., three bass, 11-0, $320
8th:        Ronald Tracy, Marlton, N.J., three bass, 10-15, $300
9th:        Matthew Howard, Monkton, Md, three bass, 10-14, $290
10th:     Chris Hurley, Carlisle, Pa., three bass, 10-9, $270

Rye also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 6-pound, 13-ounce bass worth $100.

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 the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. 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, 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.