Valley City’s Saunders Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

LAKEVIEW, Ohio. (Sept. 16, 2024) – Boater Michael Nesbitt of St. Paris, Ohio, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine Super Tournament at Indian Lake . The tournament, which concluded Sunday, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Buckeye Division. Nesbitt earned $5,137 for his victory.

It was a tale of two days for Nesbitt.

“On day one, I think I had 45 spots on the main lake, and when I’m talking spots I’m talking just pulling up and making three or four casts to a ladder or a corner of a seawall,” he said. “I ran all that, and I caught fish. I just couldn’t get the big ones. And I lost a couple that were key fish in the 3-pound range in the (lily) pad areas.”

The main-lake bite was good enough for 9 pounds, 9 ounces and sixth place on day one. Nesbitt caught them using a mix of lures, including a ChatterBait, crankbait and Ned rig. However, those big pad bites that he missed, along with the need to make up a little ground on the second day, motivated Nesbitt to vacate the main lake on day two and instead spend his entire final tournament day fishing lily pads with a homemade creature bait and a frog.

“I’m a pad flipper. I knew I needed a big bag today (Sunday), so I just said forget the main lake and went and flipped pads. I lost a 2 1/2-pounder first thing in the morning I thought was really going to hurt me, and I was a little down. Turned out, I didn’t even need that fish.”

On day two, the pad bite started off quick, with Nesbitt putting a couple nice keepers in the box one right after the other. He managed another couple keepers after that but still didn’t have the big bag he was looking for.

“I had four fish at this point, and I made a move just because of wind direction,” he said. “I knew an area that the wind would be pushing in there. It had some duckweed pushed up there and a bunch of shad.”

It was the perfect mix, and Nesbitt capitalized quickly with a pair of quality keepers. Those fish jumped him from sixth place to first with a final-day limit of 13-8, earning him his second BFL win on Indian Lake in three seasons.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Michael Nesbitt, St. Paris, Ohio, 10 bass, 23-1, $5,137
2nd:        Nick Leonard, Amelia, Ohio, 10 bass, 20-14, $2,569
3rd:         Chuck Willis, Dayton, Ohio, 10 bass, 20-3, $2,357
4th:         Clyde McNaron, Trenton, Ohio, 10 bass, 20-0, $1,199
5th:         Hunter Colwell, Sidney, Ohio, 10 bass, 19-12, $1,527 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
6th:         Rusty Kisor, Millfield, Ohio, 10 bass, 19-3, $1,367
7th:         Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 18-5, $856
8th:         Cody Seeger, Lewistown, Ohio, 10 bass, 17-14, $771
9th:         Josh Smith, Liberty, Ind., 10 bass, 17-10, $685
10th:       Kevin Spears, New Boston, Ohio, 10 bass, 17-10, $599

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Chuck Willis of Dayton, Ohio, caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 12 ounces, to earn the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $645.

Mark Saunders of Valley City, Ohio, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,569 Sunday, after bringing a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale that totaled 16 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:         Mark Saunders, Valley City, Ohio, 10 bass, 16-2, $2,569
2nd:        Dakota Johnston, Uniontown, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-10, $1,284
3rd:         Austin Herbst, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-6, $858
4th:         Dylan Phillips, Albany, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-4, $599
5th:         Matt Fisher, Glouster, Ohio, 10 bass, 14-9, $764
6th:         Kenneth Ritchie, Trenton, Ohio, eight bass, 14-1, $471
7th:         David Prater, Franklin, Ohio, eight bass, 13-8, $750
8th:         Bryan Hofstetter, Lewistown, Ohio, 10 bass, 12-14, $385
9th:         Jeff Moorman, Liberty Township, Ohio, 10 bass, 12-13, $342
10th:       Jason Riley, Cleveland, Ohio, 10 bass, 11-7, $300

David Prater of Franklin, Ohio, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $322, catching a bass that weighed in at 3 pounds, 7 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Sean Wieda of Alexandria, Kentucky, was crowned the Fishing Clash Buckeye Division Angler of the Year (AOY) with 1,328 points to take home the $1,000 payout, while Brent Jones of Okeana, Ohio, won the Fishing Clash Buckeye Division Co-angler of the Year race with 1,274 points and earned $500.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, have qualified 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. 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 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.