Springville’s Dorsett Scopes His Way to Victory at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake Martin
ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (Feb. 26, 2024) – Boater Kyle Dorsett of Springville, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Martin . Hosted by the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce, the tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Bama Division. Dorsett earned $4,009 for his victory.
“My day started off kind of slow,” Dorsett said. “I found an area that had some fish in it Thursday in practice, so I ran 20 minutes down the lake and hunkered down and fished.
“Lake Martin can be a weird lake to fish,” Dorsett added. “They can be here today, gone tomorrow. But they hung around and I kept catching them. The wind blew 30 miles an hour, and when you get weather like that on Martin, the fish tend to bite.”
Dorsett said he relied on a Garmin LiveScope to target fish and presented both a jerkbait and a Damiki rig to larger bass staying close to balls of baitfish. Dorsett said he knows Martin “fairly well” and has spent a good amount of time fishing there in January and February for the past three or four years.
“I’ve spent quite a bit of time on Martin this time of year,” said Dorsett. “It took 16 pounds to win a local tournament there the weekend before the BFL. So, when I had 14 pounds at 12 o’clock, I thought I had a shot at winning.
“I was pretty excited to win this,” Dorsett said. “I’ve won some big events on the Coosa lakes, but never one this big on Martin. I’ve never even done that well there, to be honest.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
2nd: Stihl Smith, Alexander, Ala., five bass, 14-4, $2,555
3rd: James Willoughby, Gulfport, Miss., five bass, 13-5, $1,336
4th: Donald Griffith, Robertsdale, Ala., five bass, 12-7, $935
5th: Marty Giddens, Eclectic, Ala., five bass, 11-13, $802
6th: Blake Tomlin, Greenville, Ga., five bass, 11-4, $701
6th: Carson Maddux, Hoover, Ala., five bass, 11-4, $701
8th: Connor Jacob, Peoria, Ill., five bass, 11-1, $568
8th: Blake Davenport, Jemison, Ala., five bass, 11-1, $568
10th: Tim Ferguson, Pelham, Ala., five bass, 11-0, $468
Stihl Smith of Alexander, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $550.
Jeff Huddleston of Anniston, Alabama, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,005 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:
2nd: Jeffery McCoy, Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 9-12, $1,277
3rd: Gary Marlowe, Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 9-6, $768
4th: Colt Hinson, Andalusia, Ala., five bass, 9-2, $468
5th: Derek Wood, Albertville, Ala., five bass, 8-15, $401
6th: Zac Smith, Demopolis, Ala., five bass, 8-11, $368
7th: Randall Norton, Ashland, Ala., five bass, 8-10, $334
8th: Caleb Gwaltney, Athens, Ala., five bass, 8-7, $284
8th: Thomas Eyler, Ashford, Ala., five bass, 8-7, $284
10th: Mason Bryan, Carrollton, Ga., five bass, 8-6, $234
The next event for BFL Bama Division anglers will be held April 20, at Lake Mitchell in Clanton, Alabama. 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 Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina. 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, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota 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.
