Author: jcarrigan

SANDUSKY, Ohio (June 26, 2023) – Boater Ty Fain of Springfield, Ohio, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Erie Presented by Rabid Baits. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Buckeye Presented by Rabid Baits Division. Fain earned $4,610 for his victory.

“I started out fishing in 12 feet of water on a drop-shot rig and swimbaits,” said the 19-year-old angler. “Then I moved in a little shallower as the sun came out.”

Fain said he targeted large rocks, both isolated rocks and piles, in Canadian waters near Pelee Island, and his efforts resulted in “10 to 15” bites during the day – all keepers. Fain relied on Keitech swimbaits and Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Berkley Flatnose Minnows to land his smallmouth.

Fain said his familiarity with Lake Erie helped boost his confidence during the tournament, even though he didn’t feel comfortable with his final weight.

“I just fished a bunch of old history,” Fain said. “I figured it would take close to 24 pounds to the win tournament. I figured somebody would have that.

“This is pretty cool because I’m up there (Erie) all the time,” Fain added. “I really like the trophy.”

Ty’s father, Justen, won the co-angler side of Saturday’s BFL event and heaped praise on his son for his accomplishment.

“He’s a very good stick, and what he did was pretty awesome,” the elder Fain said. “I don’t know of many guys who could go out there and look at them and catch them the way he caught them today. It’s pretty awesome.

“I knew he’d be top five on the boater side,” Fain went on to say. “It feels pretty awesome to see him do it. I’m not surprised. I’m very proud of him. I think this win is the first one of many.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

                1st:        Ty Fain, Springfield, Ohio, five bass, 23-12, $4,610
                2nd:       Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 21-4, $3,275
                3rd:       Jared Rhode, Port Clinton, Ohio, five bass, 20-12, $1,536
                4th:        Steve Clapper, Port Clinton, Ohio, five bass, 20-5, $1,076
                5th:        Seth Fricke, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 20-4, $1,592
                6th:        Wilson Burton, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 20-2, $1,306 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
                6th:        Corey Lindsey, Marion, Ohio, five bass, 20-2, $806
                8th:        Joshua Barr, Louisville, Ohio, five bass, 19-14, $691
                9th:        Jeremy Reese, Powell, Ohio, five bass, 19-12, $576
                9th:        Matt Elkins, Spencerville, Ohio, five bass, 19-12, $576

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Seth Fricke of Oxford, Ohio, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $670.

Justen Fain of Springfield, Ohio, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,305 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 20 pounds, 14 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

                1st:        Justen Fain, Springfield, Ohio, five bass, 20-14, $2,305
                2nd:       Brett Warrick, Westerville, Ohio, five bass, 19-6, $1,487
                3rd:       Brian Blinn, Troy, Ohio, five bass, 19-3, $768
                4th:        Nick Ireland, Davison, Mich., five bass, 18-8, $538
                5th:        Tyler Land, Coatsville, Ind., five bass, 17-15, $461
                6th:        Terry Bucciarelli, Ypsilanti, Mich., five bass, 17-9, $773
                7th:        Dennis Blakely, Norwalk, Ohio, five bass, 17-4, $384
                8th:        Brian Zelinskas, Beavercreek, Ohio, five bass, 17-3, $346
                9th:        Steve Sorrell, Beavercreek, Ohio, five bass, 16-14, $307
                10th:     Matthew Strickland, Portsmouth, Ohio, five bass, 16-12, $269

Brett Warrick of Westerville, Ohio, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $335, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Chris Martinkovic of Hamilton, Ohio, leads the BFL Buckeye Presented by Rabid Baits Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 489 points, while Steve Sorrell of Beavercreek, Ohio, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 492 points.

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. 5-7 BFL Regional tournament on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 outboard.

The 2023 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 2023 All-American event will take place May 31-June 2, on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. The event is hosted by Visit Oconee SC.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, General Tire, Grundéns, Gill, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

GADSDEN, Ala. (June 26, 2023) – Boater Mark McCaig of Oxford, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 3 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Neely Henry Lake Presented by Southern Petroleum Services. The tournament, hosted by the City of Gadsden, was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Bama Presented by Mystik Lubricants Division. McCaig earned $12,155, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

“I fish Neely Henry 10 to 12 times a year in different tournaments,” said the 52-year-old McCaig. “I know the lake pretty well and only fished in practice one morning to see what things looked like.

“I started the tournament out in the grass and caught one that I weighed in,” McCaig added. “I realized the fish weren’t off the river anymore, so I started flipping a jig on the riverbanks and caught a 4½-pounder. So, I started running that.”

For the rest of his limit that he weighed, McCaig said he caught two on a square-bill crankbait and one on a jig aimed at a piece of brush. He caught five 3-pounders or better during the tournament. McCaig said his fish came spread out during the event, with his first coming at 8:30 and his last two on his last two stops.

“I saved a place down by the dam where I had caught some before, and I told my co-angler I was going to save some time to fish one little place that was a bit of a run toward the dam,” McCaig said. “I felt like there could be something there. One spot was a dock, and one was a laydown tree. I caught a 3½-pounder out of the tree, idled across to where there was a dock with a brushpile in front of it, threw a big crankbait up there and caught a 4-pounder. I ran back up to the ramp and got there with 10 or 15 minutes to go.”

Even though he had a good idea of the weight he had to weigh in, McCaig said he wasn’t confident in his chance for a win.

“It took 20 pounds in a local tournament last weekend to win here,” McCaig said. “But that’s a buddy trail, and the lake is just getting tougher and tougher this time of year. I knew that everything I had was between 3½ to 4 pounds.”

McCaig has racked up numerous tournament wins over the years, including four BFLs and one Toyota Series victory.

“My wife and I kind of have a thing,” McCaig said. “Years ago, when I started fishing, I couldn’t afford Red Lobster. We hadn’t been married long, but any time I won a tournament we ate at Red Lobster. So that’s kind of become a tradition.”

McCaig said the victory celebration dinner tradition has been going on for 33 years of marriage.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

                1st:        Mark McCaig, Oxford, Ala., five bass, 17-3, $12,155 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
                2nd:       Andrew Johnson, Glencoe, Ala., five bass, 16-2, $2,078
                3rd:       Wes Logan, Springville, Ala., five bass, 15-0, $1,383
                4th:        Hunter Hayes, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 13-6, $900
                4th:        Gabe Aldridge, Demopolis, Ala., five bass, 13-6, $900
                6th:        Jack White, Vance, Ala., five bass, 12-10, $762
                7th:        Roger Shilling, Athens, Ala., five bass, 12-6, $693
                8th:        Jared Kawalec, Waterloo, Ala., five bass, 12-5, $623
                9th:        Matthew Knight, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 12-1, $519
                9th:        Daniel Buswell, Jr., Fayetteville, Ga., five bass, 12-1, $519

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Roger Peebles of Atmore, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $570.

Chad Macks of Robertsdale, Alabama, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,041 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

                1st:        Chad Macks, Robertsdale, Ala., five bass, 14-2, $2,041
                2nd:       Michael McLaurin, Chickamauga, Ga., five bass, 12-1, $1,021
                3rd:       Gunter Williams, Linden, Ala., five bass, 11-5, $683
                4th:        Todd Mowery, Madison, Ala., five bass, 10-6, $676
                5th:        Larry Franks, Jr., Wilsonville, Ala., five bass, 9-11, $408
                6th:        Josh McCrimmon, Nashville, Ga., five bass, 9-10, $574
                7th:        Chad Bailey, Trinity, Ala., three bass, 9-2, $620
                8th:        Jonathon Cone, Riverside, Ala., four bass, 8-10, $306
                9th:        Daniel Birmingham, Reform, Ala., five bass, 8-6, $241
                9th:        James Lehman, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., five bass, 8-6, $241
                9th:        Blake Dodson, Montevallo, Ala., five bass, 8-6, $241

Chad Bailey of Trinity, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $280, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Michael Smith of Andalusia, Alabama, leads the BFL Bama Presented by Mystik Lubricants Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 938 points, while Chad Macks of Robertsdale, Alabama, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 955 points.

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. 12-14 BFL Regional tournament on Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 outboard.

The 2023 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 2023 All-American event will take place May 31-June 2, on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. The event is hosted by Visit Oconee SC.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, General Tire, Grundéns, Gill, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

SPRING CITY, Tenn. (June 26, 2023) – Boater Kibbee McCoy of Knoxville, Tennessee, caught a three-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Watts Bar Lake . The tournament, hosted by Fish Dayton/Rhea Economic & Tourism, was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Volunteer Division. Kibbee earned $7,563, including the lucrative $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

“I’ve been down here every Thursday and Sunday for about two and a half months, so I had kind of developed a one-two punch,” said McCoy. “I was fishing offshore, deep ledges during practice. And, also, since the mid-1980s, I’ve fished the face of that dam. So, I decided to run to the dam and fish it first thing. No luck, though, because they weren’t pulling any current.”

McCoy changed tactics and focused his efforts on deep water, but the change produced no results. He returned to the dam again and fished it this time with a Buckeye Lures Spot Remover 1/8-ounce jig head and a green-pumpkin Zoom Finesse Worm with a chartreuse-dyed tail.

“In practice, I would catch one or two that way and then leave,” McCoy said. “I knew how they positioned themselves based on how much current they were pulling. But I’ve never really caught any big fish off the dam, just some 2½- to 3-pounders.”

McCoy said he would catch a couple of bass on the face of the dam, leave to fish other spots, then return to the dam and repeat the jumping back and forth. McCoy said he caught a total of 20 fish during the course of the day, including one from a brushpile that fell for a Zoom Ol’ Monster worm.

“The last time I went back to the dam, I told my co-angler, ‘This will be our last cast, and then we’re going to have to run to weigh-in,’” McCoy said. “I flipped a Ned rig up there with a 1/10^th-ounce Z-Man (Finesse) Shroomz jig (head) and a (Z-Man) Finesse TRD  and caught a 6-pound, 11-ouncer on the last cast. It replaced a 1.92 fish on my scales. Needless to say, that was a big upgrade.

“I knew that it would probably take 11 to 12 pounds to win,” McCoy added. “When I first caught that big fish, I thought it was a drum because they stay deep, and usually largemouth came up to the surface. I wasn’t going to give up on it, though. When it came up for a second time and I saw the side of it, I said, ‘That’s her right there.’ She went down again, and I said, ‘When she comes up again, put her in the net.’ I kept the pressure on and was using 10-pound braid and 8-pound Trilene fluorocarbon. She came up, the net was in the right position, and it was history.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

                1st:        Kibbee McCoy, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 12-2, $7,563 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
                2nd:       Brandon Young, Kingston, Tenn., three bass, 12-1, $2,214
                3rd:       Gavin Daniels, Kingston, Tenn., three bass, 10-11, $1,478
                4th:        Derick Robinson, Friendsville, Tenn., three bass, 9-2, $1,033
                5th:        Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 8-9, $849
                5th:        Jacob Woods, Loudon, Tenn., three bass, 8-9, $849
                7th:        Chase Henley, Kingston, Tenn., three bass, 8-6, $1,188
                8th:        Joseph Tallent, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 8-3, $664
                9th:        Rob Linkous, Rogersville, Tenn., three bass, 8-2, $590
                10th:     Tommy Brown, Louisville, Tenn., three bass, 7-14, $517

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

McCoy’s big bass that weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces, also earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $635.

Peyton Kent of McDonald, Tennessee, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,531 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds even.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

                1st:        Peyton Kent, McDonald, Tenn., three bass, 9-0, $2,531
                2nd:       Roger Phillips, Clinton, Tenn., three bass, 8-13, $1,107
                3rd:       Joey von Hoene, Erlanger, Ky., three bass, 7-6, $738
                4th:        Wesley Carroll, Wartburg, Tenn., three bass, 7-4, $917
                5th:        Evan Green, Jacksboro, Tenn., three bass, 6-15, $443
                6th:        Luke Shrader, Monticello, Ky., three bass, 6-11, $556
                7th:        Josh Massengale, Oliver Springs, Tenn., three bass, 6-9, $369
                8th:        Shaun Godsey, Decatur, Tenn., three bass, 6-8, $332
                9th:        Darren Kelly, Wartburg, Tenn., three bass, 6-7, $276
                9th:        Billy Joe Wheat, Evensville, Tenn., three bass, 6-7, $276

Kent also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $317, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 13 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Dillon Falardeau of Hixson, Tennessee, leads the BFL Volunteer Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 915 points, while Luke Shrader of Monticello, Kentucky, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 958 points.

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. 12-14 BFL Regional tournament on Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 outboard.

The 2023 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 2023 All-American event will take place May 31-June 2, on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. The event is hosted by Visit Oconee SC.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, General Tire, Grundéns, Gill, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

LEXINGTON, N.C. (June 26, 2023) – Boater Chad Poteat of Mount Airy, North Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on High Rock Lake . The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL North Carolina Division. Poteat earned $12,986, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

“The water had come up tremendously over the last few days because of the rain we’ve had,” said Poteat, who owns a lake house on High Rock Lake. “It had come down just enough to let me fish Abbott’s Creek. I removed my motor hood and windshield and a couple of graphs and was able to squeeze up under the bridge and get back in the creek where the water was stable and cleaner.”

Poteat, who said he excels in shallow water, targeted bream beds he had located a week before the tournament with a Texas-rigged Queen Tackle tungsten jig and coaxed eight keeper bites from High Rock for the day.

“I fished High Rock the week before in the Piedmont Division BFL event and finished seventh, so I knew where the fish were,” Poteat said. “I just swam a jig and pitched my worm around, and I was fortunate to get the ‘W’. God blessed me.”

After Poteat caught his third 5-pounder he thought he had a good shot at placing high in the standings.

“I had a limit in the box, then I caught my fourth 5-pounder and I said, ‘Man, I’ve got a shot at this thing,’” Poteat said. “I’ve fished a bunch of BFLs over the year, and to close the deal out on my home lake was a blessing. Plus, I got my fifth career BFL win. It is so hard to win one of these things. There are so many good fishermen nowadays.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Chad Poteat, Mount Airy, N.C., five bass, 23-5, $12,986 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:        David Farrington, Greensboro, N.C., five bass, 21-0, $2,383
3rd:        Ron Wolfarth, Oakboro, N.C., five bass, 15-15, $1,256
4th:         Ladd Whicker, Winston-Salem, N.C., five bass, 15-9, $879
5th:         Greg Robertson, King, N.C., five bass, 13-13, $753
6th:         Todd Harris, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 13-5, $690
7th:         Adam Flora, Red House, W.V., four bass, 13-4, $628
8th:         Robert Walser, Lexington, N.C., four bass, 13-0, $565
9th:         John Farmer, Sherrills Ford, N.C., three bass, 12-9, $502
10th:      Chris Dover, Blacksburg, S.C., five bass, 11-15, $439
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

David Farrington of Greensboro, North Carolina, caught a bass that weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, to earn the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $500.

Wes House of Knightdale, North Carolina, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $1,883 Saturday, after bringing four bass to the scale that totaled 15 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:          Wes House, Knightdale, N.C., four bass, 15-5, $1,883
2nd:        Lee Williams, Durham, N.C., five bass, 12-6, $942
3rd:        Hunter Alexander, China Grove, N.C., five bass, 10-15, $627
4th:         Chase Tedder, Walnut Cove, N.C., two bass, 8-2, $889
5th:         Andy Kearns, High Point, N.C.., two bass, 7-0, $361
5th:         Andrew Weaver, Clemmons, N.C., three bass, 7-0, $361
7th:         Greg Fox, Hudson, N.C., two bass, 6-15, $314
8th:         April Barrow, Salisbury, N.C., two bass, 6-9, $282
9th:         Samuel Jones, Fuquay Varina, N.C., three bass, 6-8, $251
10th:      Gregory Haverlock, Indian Trail, N.C., two bass, 6-0, $220
Chase Tedder of Walnut Cove, North Carolina, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $250, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Jason Barnes of Concord, North Carolina, leads the BFL North Carolina Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 945 points, while Wes House of Knightdale, North Carolina, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 969 points.

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. 5-7 BFL Regional tournament on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 outboard.

The 2023 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 2023 All-American event will take place May 31-June 2, on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. The event is hosted by Visit Oconee SC.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, General Tire, Grundéns, Gill, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

HENRICO, Va. (June 26, 2023) – Boater Jacopo Gallelli of Florence, Italy, caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the James River . The tournament, hosted by Richmond Region Tourism, was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Shenandoah Division. Gallelli earned $12,463, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

“I practiced for this for 1½ days, and the weather was horrible,” said Gallelli, a Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Pro with five career top-10 finishes. “I made the most of it. I felt I could probably put together a decent limit.

“I basically had two situations going on,” said Gallelli, a Tackle Warehouse Invitationals pro with five career top-10 finishes. “One was fishing in the morning with a tiny swimbait and the other was fishing the same stuff – lily pads – but light punching them. In the morning you could catch them on the outside in holes between the pads with the swimbait. Then, when the sun got up, I could flip in there, but I was finesse flipping.”

Gallelli’s finesse approach consisted of lighter line, weights, hooks and small soft-plastic baits, in shad and bluegill colors. His efforts resulted in 20 keepers during the course of the tournament.

“In the mornings, fishing with the smaller hook, I lost a couple of fish,” Gallelli said. “That’s part of it when you fish with a smaller hook and a smaller bait. I lost a 3½-pound and a 4-pound fish. Losing those two big fish I thought I was done. I had a legitimate shot at 20½ pounds. So, going into the weigh-in I thought I would finish in the top 10.

“This win is very good for me,” Gallelli added. “I was starting to worry, ‘Maybe I’m not good enough.’ I came here from Italy pretending to be good enough to make a living doing this. There are days when you second-guess yourself and think you don’t belong here, so this win is so important to me. It is a real confidence injection.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, five bass, 16-5, $12,463 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:        Jeff Hamilton, Henrico, Va., five bass, 16-2, $2,232
3rd:        Brian Morgan, Maiden, N.C., five bass, 16-0, $1,489
4th:         Wayne Vaughan, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-14, $1,041
5th:         Bryan Elrod, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 15-5, $893
6th:         Bryce Henley, Williamsburg, Va., five bass, 15-2, $818
7th:         Brian Bersik, Chesterfield, Va., five bass, 14-12, $994
8th:         Zachary Stoupa, Prince George, Va., five bass, 14-10, $669
9th:         Bo Boltz, New Kent, Va., five bass, 13-15, $595
10th:      Scott Banton, Midlothian, Va., five bass, 13-14, $521
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Jeremy Radford of Huntly, Virginia, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces to earn the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $640.

Roland Gittings of Perryville, Maryland, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,952 Saturday, after bringing four bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 11 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:          Roland Gittings, Perryville, Md., four bass, 14-11, $2,952
2nd:        David Torres, Fallston, Md., five bass, 13-7, $1,116
3rd:        Kevin Gregory, Midlothian, Va., five bass, 12-10, $743
4th:         Joey Deluke, Glen Allen, Va., five bass, 12-6, $521
5th:         Brandon Miskell, Vienna, Va., five bass, 11-12, $446
6th:         Jonathan Ceaser, Maidens, Va., five bass, 11-11, $409
7th:         Keith Allen, Midland, Va., five bass, 10-12, $372
8th:         Ryan Sweeney, Secane, Pa., five bass, 10-6, $335
9th:         Carl Whipple, Manassas, Va., five bass, 10-4, $298
10th:      Philip Hornsby, Hughesville, Md., five bass, 10-0, $260
Gittings also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $320, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Zachary Stoupa of Prince George, Virginia, leads the BFL Shenandoah Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 970 points, while David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 963 points.

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. 19-21 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 outboard.

The 2023 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 2023 All-American event will take place May 31-June 2, on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. The event is hosted by Visit Oconee SC.

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (June 25, 2023) – Local pro Brett Carnright of Plattsburgh, New York, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday totaling 19 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Toyota Series at Lake Champlain Presented by Rabid Baits. Carnright’s three-day total of 59 pounds, 11 ounces earned him his first career victory by 1½ pounds over his cousin, Ryan Latinville, also of Plattsburgh. Carnright earned $90,500 for his victory, which was the season-opening event in the Toyota Series Northern Division Presented by Rabid Baits.

When it comes to Champlain, especially during the spawn, it’s hard to talk about tournament fishing without bringing up Latinville and Carnright. Between them, they’ve raised the bar on what wins in June, and this tournament certainly fell into their wheelhouse. So, to see the cousins finish 1-2 is no surprise.  Though winning with 59-11 is a little shy of some recent Champlain events, considering the time of year and the size of the field, the Carnright’s winning weight is nothing to sneeze at.

It was made possible by a quirky spring that put a lot of big fish right where Carnright needed them.

“I thought it was going to fish a little lighter, just because of where I checked the first day of practice,” Carnright said. “Then, all of a sudden, we had a huge wave come up. We had some really cold weather two weeks before the tournament, I think it shut down a wave of fish that were coming, I checked some areas where they spawn a week prior and there was no evidence of any fish spawning. We got some warm weather, calm weather, the water got hot, and fish started showing up. About a week before the tournament, we started finding some big ones. Originally, I thought 59 was going to be right there, but by the tournament, Ryan and I both thought it would take well over 60.”

Plenty of other pros tried to bed fish to contend with Carnright, but only Latinville really came close, as the others who leaned hard on sight-fishing dipped out of the picture day by day. Meanwhile, Carnright actually improved his weight on Day 2, and caught the third-biggest bag of the final day. 

“What helped me the most, which I thought would hurt me the most, was there was a massive amount of clear water and dirty water shifting around the north end of the lake,” he said. “Guys were talking about not being able to see 7 feet deep, and then next day you could see 17 feet deep. I was focusing on 8 to 11 feet of water, and I was able to find all my 11-foot beds prior to the weekend. Over the weekend, we had some bad weather that muddied up the water, so all my fish were protected from people being able to see them. People were coming around me into the area of the lake I was fishing, and I kept seeing less and less boats.”

Dirtier water protected many of his fish from the prying eyes of the competition, but it did make them harder to catch. So, in addition to using a flogger, Carnright had to catch some with his ActiveTarget alone.

“Luckily for me, I had good waypoints, and I was able to utilize my electronics,” he said. “I had to catch those fish, if I don’t, I don’t win the tournament. So, I knew my best bet was to sit there with ActiveTarget and catch those fish. I was able to catch all the fish I had marked, and I actually found a few bonus ones.”

Carnright lives for the smallmouth spawn, and has put days and days into the pursuit. In good shape and willing to go up and down with a flogger all day, he’s also lucky to have a really good eye for what might be a bed.

“It’s a lot of strategy, you have to find your fish before the tournament, finding them during the tournament is really difficult,” he said. “You have to be really strategic with which fish you catch. You have to hope they’re not leaving, and during this tournament a lot of fish acted like they wanted to leave. Over the years, we’ve noticed the spawn shifts earlier into June, so when this was announced, I didn’t think it would be a spawning event. But, with the cooler weather this spring, probably the biggest wave of fish the lake had came this week.”

To catch his bed fish, Carnright used a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm on a drop-shot. He also used a swimbait on a 3/16-ounce head to catch postspawn fish, which was a critical piece of his strategy.

“Day 1, I had one postspawn fish and four fish that were on beds,” he said. “Day 2, I had all bed fish. Today, I had all bed fish, and I caught one postspawn fish that was the same size as my smallest fish.

“When practice started, (the postspawn) fish were easy to catch,” he said. “As the week went on, I think more guys found it. It got a lot tougher, I think a lot of guys put pressure on those fish. They would run up, look at it and not eat it. That was something I figured out before the tournament – I knew I needed something other than bed fish. It was either going to be largemouth or catching postspawn smallies. We had a huge heat wave in April, and I think a lot of smallmouth spawned then. I think those fish went postspawn and started feeding up, and I knew that would be my bonus.”

Edging out his cousin Latinville, plus good friend LaBelle, Carnright has been on the cusp a number of times. Just this spring, he led the ABA championship on the Red River before coughing up the lead. In Toyota Series past, he’s finished fourth, second and fifth on Champlain.

This week, things aligned for Carnright, and also Latinville, to do what they do best on Champlain.

“Spawning fishing is really weird, it’s more like hunting fish, rather than fishing for them,” he said. “You’re looking for them nonstop, looking at rocks, looking at the bottom, hoping you can find some cleaner water where you can see. And it always wins. There really aren’t any major tournaments in June where bed fishing isn’t the major player. So, knowing that, we have to put a lot of time into it. After the 2017 Toyota, and the next one in 2018, that’s when we really got dialed in to bed fishing. If you look at the weights from then to now, it’s astronomical. The field is also learning, but we’re able to dial it in each year better and better. We’ve been able to win some pretty big local events with heavy 21-pound bags or 22 sometimes.”

Still, despite the previous success, Carnright didn’t go into the final day thinking he’d win. With LaBelle ahead of him, he knew things would have to break right.

“Bryan Labelle has been telling me I’m gonna win this tournament since the schedule came out,” he said. “What a way to do it, there’s not a more skilled angler to beat on the final day than Bryan. I’ve been saying for years he’s the best angler to ever fish this lake, I thought the mountain was unclimbable.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Champlain finished:

1^st:          Brett Carnright, Plattsburgh, New York, 15 bass, 59-11, $90,500 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
2^nd:         Ryan Latinville, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 15 bass, 59-0, $22,000
3^rd:         Bryan Labelle, Hinesburg, Vt., 15 bass, 58-3, $15,250
4^th:         Garrett Rocamora, Lake Wales, Fla., 15 bass, 57-6, $13,250
5^th:         Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 57-1, $12,250
6^th:         Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., 15 bass, 56-11, $9,625
7^th:         Brayden Federer, Adrian, Mich., 15 bass, 56-10, $8,300
8^th:         Tyler Woolcott, Port Orange, Fla., 15 bass, 56-6, $7,600
9^th:         Brian Green, North Augusta, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 55-15, $6,300
10^th:       Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 15 bass, 55-13, $4,700

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Chris Adams of Shrewsbury, Vermont, took home the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a largemouth weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces. On Friday, pro Nick Radtke of Greenwood Lake, New York, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize after bringing a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass to the scale.

Carnright earned an extra $35,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Nicholas Veselka of Fishers, Indiana, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 49 pounds, 15 ounces. Veselka took home the top prize package worth $35,400, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Champlain finished:

1^st:          Nicholas Veselka, Fishers, Ind., 15 bass, 49-15, $35,400 incl. Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2^nd:         Randy Nelson, Granger, Ind., 15 bass, 47-7, $6,625
3^rd:         Jacob Swanson, Framingham, Mass., 15 bass, 46-13, $5,300
4^th:         Richard Bleser, Burlington, Wis., 15 bass, 46-11, $4,150
5^th:         Jeremy Vandenbosch, Lowell, Mich., 15 bass, 46-5, $3,650
6^th:         Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 45-7, $3,150
7^th:         William Lisenby, Centreville, Va., 15 bass, 44-15, $2,650
8^th:         Shawn Gokey, Georgia, Vt., 15 bass, 44-14, $2,075
9^th:         Jim Jarvis, Timberville, Va., 15 bass, 43-11, $1,630
10^th:       Cory Hartfield, Centerburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 43-4, $1,390

Garrett Seppala of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, was the Berkley Big Bass $150 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, Thursday, weighing in a 4-pound, 14-ouncer. Friday’s Day 2 $150 award went to Brenden Massa of Battle Creek, Michigan, with a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass.

With one regular-season event in the Toyota Series Northern Division now complete, Carnright leads the Northern Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 260 points, while Veska leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 260 points.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Champlain Presented by Rabid Baits, hosted by the City of Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, was the first of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Northern Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series at the St. Lawrence River, Aug. 10-12, in Massena, New York. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2024. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Toyota Series include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Gill, Grundéns, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Next Gen Lithium, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (June 24, 2023) – Berkley pro Jordan Lee of Cullman, Alabama weighed in 12 scorable smallmouth bass, with his best five totaling 22 pounds, 8 ounces to grab the early lead for Group A after Day 1 of the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour General Tire Stage Six at Lake St. Clair Presented by John Deere Utility Vehicles. Pro Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas sits 1 ounce behind Lee in second place for Group A with five scorable bass totaling 22-7. 

The six-day event, hosted by the Detroit Sports Commission, Macomb County and Lake St. Clair Metroparks, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters All-Star event and REDCREST 2024, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition Sunday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition. Group A will resume competition on Monday.

Lee started the day off with a bang, catching a 5-pound, 14-ounce smallmouth – the biggest fish of the day – in the first 10 minutes of competition to catapult into the early lead.

“I honestly expected to find a lot more schooling fish on this Canada side of Lake St. Clair, but that has not been the case,” said Lee. “I’ve basically just been practicing all day since we couldn’t fish over here during practice. I know it’s all about finding a good area, so I’ve been running around all over, bouncing here and there. The size of fish is just a little bit better over here, though, which is what I was hoping for.

“When you get around them, you catch some smaller ones, but they look healthy – they aren’t paper-thin,” Lee continued. “I also caught a couple bigger fish (today), which is key.”

Lee said his Lowrance ActiveTarget was critical to his success, and he caught his bass on several different baits, including a hair jig and drop-shot rig, a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General on a 3/8-ounce Ned Head and a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Lil’ General.  

“I’m not sure what to expect on Monday with the winds that are being forecast, but maybe the bite will be better,” said Lee. “I thought they would be a lot hungrier than they were because these fish haven’t seen a bait in a long time. The slick calm weather we’ve had today was great for being able to move around on the water, but it’s notorious for making fishing more difficult.  

“If we get a little wind on Monday, I think the bite will pick up,” Lee continued. “They just weren’t firing today, but I’ll definitely take it. Maybe I can learn a little something and just take it day by day. Winning the first day doesn’t really mean a lot in the grand scheme of the tournament, but it feels great to get off to a good start.”

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Lake St. Clair are:

1^st:           Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 22-8
2^nd:          Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 22-7
3^rd:          Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, five bass, 21-5
4^th:           Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 20-12
5^th:           Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., five bass, 20-9
6^th:           Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 20-9
7^th:           Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., five bass, 20-5
8^th:           Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, five bass, 19-11
9^th:           Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., five bass, 19-6
10^th:        David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 19-4
11^th:        Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., five bass, 19-4
12^th:        Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, five bass, 18-14
13^th:        Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 18-12
14^th:        Andy Morgan, Dayton Tenn., five bass, 18-12
15^th:        Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 18-9
16^th:        James Watson, Lampe, Mo., five bass, 18-4
17^th:        Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., five bass, 17-13
18^th:        Randall Tharp, Port St. Joe, Fla., five bass, 17-12
19^th:        Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., five bass, 17-10
20^th:        Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., five bass, 17-10

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Lee’s 5-pound, 14-ounce smallmouth in Period 1 was the biggest fish of the day, earning him the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award of the event. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the top 20 anglers from each group advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 40 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will launch each day at 7:20 a.m. ET from Lake St. Clair Metropark, located at 31300 Metro Parkway in Harrison Township. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the Metropark, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

On Championship Thursday, June 29, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., MLF will welcome fans of all ages to celebrate the top 10 and crown the General Tire Stage Six at Lake St. Clair Champion at the Watch Party and Trophy Presentation. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The General Tire Stage Six at Lake St. Clair Presented by John Deere Utility Vehicles features anglers competing using the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, with each angler’s five (5) heaviest bass per day tallied as their day’s weight. Anglers strive to catch their heaviest five fish each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the live scoring SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, fishing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2024, the Bass Pro Tour championship, held March 13-17, 2024, on Lay Lake in Birmingham, Alabama.  

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com  and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Television coverage of the General Tire Stage Six at Lake St. Clair Presented by John Deere Utility Vehicles Championship Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, November 4 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, Ark Fishing, ATG by Wrangler, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bally Bet, Bass Cat Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, Daiwa, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Ferguson, Fox Rent A Car, General Tire, Grundéns, Humminbird, Lowrance, Minn Kota, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Power-Pole, Rapala, Star tron, T-H Marine, TORO, Toyota, U.S. Air Force, Yellowstone Bourbon, Yo-Zuri and Zoom Baits.

BENTON, Ky. (June 22, 2023) – Major League Fishing (MLF), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, announced today the results of the 2023 General Tire Team Series Draft, which took place Wednesday in Harrison Township, Michigan. During the second annual General Tire Team Series Draft, the top 27 Bass Pro Tour anglers – based on 2022 Angler of the Year (AOY) point standings – selected two additional Bass Pro Tour anglers to create 27 three-man teams that will compete over three qualifying events.

The General Tire Team Series will showcase the 80 anglers that compete on the Bass Pro Tour, joined by the next available highest-ranking 2022 MLF champion, competing as three-man teams across four events for more than $700,000 in cash payouts.

“After a successful transition from the extremely popular MLF Cup events in 2022, it was exciting to watch our Bass Pro Tour anglers work together again and strategize to create their winning lineups,” said Kathy Fennel, Executive Vice President and General Manager of MLF. “We look forward to another round of exciting programming again this fall.”

2023 General Tire Team Series Draft Results:

CAPTAIN: Josh Bertrand, TEAMMATES: Edwin Evers and Marty Robinson
CAPTAIN: Greg Vinson, TEAMMATES: Bradley Roy and David Dudley
CAPTAIN: Chris Lane, TEAMMATES: Jared Lintner and John Hunter
CAPTAIN: Wesley Strader, TEAMMATES: Scott Suggs and Matt Becker
CAPTAIN: Todd Faircloth, TEAMMATES: Jeff Sprague and Jeff Kriet
CAPTAIN: Ott DeFoe, TEAMMATES: Andy Montgomery and Brandon Coulter
CAPTAIN: Stephen Browning, TEAMMATES: Anthony Gagliardi and Keith Poche
CAPTAIN: Casey Ashley, TEAMMATES: Terry Scroggins and Jacob Wall
CAPTAIN: Jonathon VanDam, TEAMMATES: James Elam and Matt Lee
CAPTAIN: Bryan Thrift, TEAMMATES: Luke Clausen and Josh Butler
CAPTAIN: Brent Ehrler, TEAMMATES: Brett Hite and John Murray
CAPTAIN: Alton Jones Jr., TEAMMATES: Nick LeBrun and Britt Myers
CAPTAIN: Randall Tharp, TEAMMATES: Gerald Spohrer and Russ Lane
CAPTAIN: Jeremy Lawyer, TEAMMATES: Cody Meyer and Shin Fukae
CAPTAIN: Dustin Connell, TEAMMATES: Cole Floyd and Roy Hawk
CAPTAIN: Adrian Avena, TEAMMATES: Spencer Shuffield and Ryan Salzman
CAPTAIN: Andy Morgan, TEAMMATES: Fletcher Shryock and James Watson
CAPTAIN: Michael Neal, TEAMMATES: Takahiro Omori and Dean Rojas
CAPTAIN: Mark Daniels Jr., TEAMMATES: Randy Howell and Cliff Crochet
CAPTAIN: Justin Lucas, TEAMMATES: Skeet Reese and Fred Roumbanis
CAPTAIN: Zack Birge, TEAMMATES: Mark Rose and Cliff Pace
CAPTAIN: Jesse Wiggins, TEAMMATES: Kyle Hall and Gary Klein
CAPTAIN: Kevin VanDam, TEAMMATES: David Walker and Kelly Jordon
CAPTAIN: Dakota Ebare, TEAMMATES: Mitch Crane and Tommy Biffle
CAPTAIN: Alton Jones Sr., TEAMMATES: Brent Chapman and Dave Lefebre
CAPTAIN: Jordan Lee, TEAMMATES: Mark Davis and Timmy Horton

CAPTAIN: Jacob Wheeler, TEAMMATES: Dylan Hays and Boyd Duckett

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the MLF General Tire Team Series events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter,  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, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the 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 13 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.

MARBURY, Md. (June 19, 2023) – Pro Nick Hatfield of Greeneville, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit Monday weighing 20 pounds, 11 ounces – the largest limit weighed throughout the three-day tournament – to win the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational T-H Marine Stop 5 at the Potomac River . Hatfield’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 53 pounds, 12 ounces, earned him the win by a 5-pound, 3-ounce margin over Bass Pro Tour angler Cody Meyer of Star, Idaho, who finished second with a three day total of 15 bass weighing 48-9, good for the $50,000 runner-up payout.

After a Polaris Rookie of the Year win in 2021 on the Pro Circuit, Hatfield signed on to the new-look Invitationals for another go-round. After finishing 101st at Lake of the Ozarks in May, it looked like his Bass Pro Tour dreams may have gone by the wayside; but winning the Potomac vaulted him back into the Top 10 in points and may prove to be a key moment in a long career.

Starting the day in second behind Martin Villa, Hatfield knew he was close to a win. Still, the Top 10 was about as stacked as can be on the Potomac, and he also knew he needed to do more than just hold serve.

“Today I decided to scrap where I’ve been starting because it sucked yesterday,” Hatfield said. “I didn’t want to try to go in there and scrap out 14 or 15 pounds, I wanted to go for the win.”

So, he rolled into Chicamuxen Creek and started fishing in a recently opened spawning sanctuary.

“I knew it hadn’t had the pressure; I didn’t know if I could catch them in there, but I figured it hadn’t had the pressure like everywhere else,” Hatfield said. “So, I went in there and started catching them pretty quick. I got in a few areas there and caught them on a bunch of different things, but there was one little area in there that was a bream bed, and most of the big ones I caught, I caught off of it. When it went down it was pretty crazy.”

After catching a few swimming a jig and frogging in a marshy creek, Hatfield pulled out a popper as he roamed around. Things happened in a hurry after that.

“I stumbled into it as I was fishing, just going down the bank,” he said. “I threw a popper up close to the point, and one engulfed it. I kept throwing over there, and upon further inspection, after I caught some, I saw it was a bream bed. So, I actually went back to it later in the day and caught another 4-pounder off of it.”

Running bream beds has gotten a bit trendy recently, and the Top 10 definitely added them into the mix with the usual Potomac staples. For Hatfield, a big patch of spawning bluegill in Quantico Creek did a lot of the heavy lifting.
“I saw the one in Quantico the second day of practice and I saw there were a bunch of big ones swimming on it and it was easy to get bites,” Hatfield said. “I never found another one until today.

“I’d say out of 15 bass I weighed, maybe four or five came off something else,” he said. “Swimming a jig, a frog, ChatterBait, something like that. It was all on bream beds, basically.”

For his bream beds, Hatfield’s primary weapon was a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senko with a No. 1 Hayabusa WRM. He also mixed in a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer, a 3/8-ounce  Hayabusa Lil’ Schmitty Swim Jig , a popping frog and a bone Lobina Rio Rico. He used Doomsday rods for all of his techniques, opting for a 7-foot, medium-heavy model for the wacky rig.

“I’ve wanted to win one of these, I’ve tried hard,” Hatfield went on to say. “I knew that I could do it, and today just shows that I can. I can’t wait for the next one, I’m ready to go right now.”

The top 50 pros at the T-H Marine Stop 5 at the Potomac River finished:

1st:        Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 15 bass, 53-12, $117,500 (includes $35,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2nd:       Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, 15 bass, 48-9, $50,000
3rd:       Eric Panzironi, Longwood, Fla., 15 bass, 48-8, $20,000
4th:        Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, 15 bass, 46-9, $18,000
5th:        Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 46-8, $17,000
6th:        Blake Hall, Rogersville, Ala., 15 bass, 46-1, $17,000
7th:        Andrew Loberg, Rocklin, Calif., 15 bass, 46-0, $15,000
8th:        Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 45-13, $14,000
9th:        Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 15 bass, 45-12, $13,000
10th:     Kyle Weisenburger, Columbus Grove, Ohio, 15 bass, 44-11, $12,000
11th:     Pete Ponds, Madison, Miss., 15 bass, 44-8, $10,000
12th:     Jim Moynagh, Shakopee, Minn., 15 bass, 44-5, $10,000
13th:     Jordan Collom, Canyon Lake, Calif., 15 bass, 44-4, $10,000
14th:     Troy Stokes, Trenton, Mich., 15 bass, 44-1, $10,000
15th:     Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 43-13, $10,000
16th:     Cody Spetz, Hollister, Mo., 15 bass, 43-12, $10,000
17th:     Flint Davis, Leesburg, Ga., 15 bass, 43-11, $10,000
18th:     Hunter Eubanks, Inman, S.C., 15 bass, 43-11, $10,000
19th:     Cole Hewett, Orange Park, Fla., 15 bass, 43-10, $10,000
20th:     Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 15 bass, 43-9, $10,000
21st:      David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., 15 bass, 43-7, $10,000
22nd:    Jeremy Southerly, Fulks Run, Va., 15 bass, 43-6, $10,000
23rd:     Robert Nakatomi, Sacramento, Calif., 15 bass, 42-14, $10,000
24th:     Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 15 bass, 42-13, $10,000
25th:     Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 42-11, $10,000
26th:     Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 15 bass, 42-7, $10,000
27th:     Charlie Reed Jr., Gloucester, Va., 15 bass, 42-5, $10,000
28th:     Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 15 bass, 42-4, $10,000
29th:     Wayne Vaughan, Chester, Va., 15 bass, 42-3, $10,000
30th:     Mike McClelland, Blue Eye, Mo., 15 bass, 42-2, $10,000
31st:      Blake Felix, Warsaw, Mo., 15 bass, 42-1, $8,000
32nd:    Cody Pike, Powhatan, Va., 15 bass, 42-1, $8,000
33rd:     Michael Catt, Jacksonville, Fla., 15 bass, 41-14, $8,000
34th:     Tyler Stewart, Dubach, La., 15 bass, 41-14, $8,000
35th:     Christian Greico, Tampa, Fla., 15 bass, 41-13, $8,000
36th:     Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 15 bass, 41-11, $8,000
37th:     Joe Wieberg, Freeburg, Mo., 15 bass, 41-9, $8,000
38th:     Matt Greenblatt, Port Saint Lucie, Fla., 15 bass, 41-4, $8,000
39th:     John Duarte, Middle River, Md., 15 bass, 41-2, $8,000
40th:     Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 40-15, $8,000
41st:      Braxton Setzer, Wetumpka, Ala., 15 bass, 40-15, $8,000
42nd:    Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 15 bass, 40-10, $8,000
43rd:     Terry Olinger, Louisa, Va., 15 bass, 40-9, $8,000
44th:     Eddie Carper, Valliant, Okla., 14 bass, 39-11, $8,000
45th:     Travis Harriman, Huntsville, Ark., 15 bass, 39-4, $8,000
46th:     Austin Culbertson, Moberly, Mo., 14 bass, 39-2, $8,000
47th:     Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., 15 bass, 38-4, $8,000
48th:     Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 15 bass, 37-7, $8,000
49th:     Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 15 bass, 36-15, $8,000
50th:     Kyle Minke, Lindstrom, Minn., 14 bass, 36-12, $8,000

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 247 bass weighing 663 pounds, 3 ounces caught by the 50 pros Monday. The catch included 47 five-bass limits.

The three-day tournament was hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners and featured a roster of 150 pro anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024. The next Tackle Warehouse Invitational event will take place July 25-27 at the Tackle Warehouse Invitational at the Mississippi River Presented by Mercury in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

In MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Saturday and Sunday in a traditional five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 50 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight advanced to the final round on Championship Monday, where they competed for the grand prize of up to $115,000, including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus for qualified anglers. The winner of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational T-H Marine Stop 5 at the Potomac River was determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and will now receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024.

The season-long Invitational Bally Bet Angler of the Year (AOY) will also earn a berth into REDCREST and the Top 8 anglers in the season-long Invitational AOY point standings will qualify for the 2024 Bass Pro Tour. After four events in the six-event Qualifying Circuit, pro Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, leads the AOY race with 953 points. Charlottesville, Virginia, pro Martin Villa sits in second place with 929 points, while Keith Carson of DeBary, Florida, is in third with 911 points. Pro Michael Neal of Dayton, Tennessee, is in fourth place with 905 points, while Junction City, Wisconsin’s Matthew Stefan rounds out the top five with 874 points.

The MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational T-H Marine Stop 5 at the Potomac River will feature live on-the-water coverage and a two-hour action-packed television show that will premiere on the CBS Sports Network on Saturday, October 28.

Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches to Kick Off First Season of Major League Fishing’s General Tire Team Series on Outdoor Channel, New Episodes Premiere Every Saturday from 2-4 p.m. ET

BENTON, Ky. (Dec. 29, 2022) – The first season of Major League Fishing’s (MLF) General Tire Team Series is set to premiere this Saturday, Dec. 31, at 2 p.m. ET, with a two-hour episode on the Outdoor Channel – Match No. 1 of the Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches. The event was filmed this fall in Alexandria, Minnesota. 

The General Tire Team Series showcases the superstars from the Bass Pro Tour competing as teams across four events for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payouts. Each episode will feature nine MLF anglers competing as three, three-man teams. 

The anglers on each team wear wireless earpieces, which provide constant communication with their teammates. This communication allows each team to work together and strategize in real time on the water, shifting baits, techniques and areas as needed.

Each Qualifier is broken down into three matches. Saturday’s two-hour premiere will feature three teams visiting the Le Homme Dieu Chain of Lakes in Alexandria, Minnesota. The anglers do not learn where they are competing until they arrive to the launch ramp each morning of competition.

The complete premiere schedule for the 2023 General Tire Team Series on the Outdoor Channel is:

– Dec. 31 Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 1 – Day 1 (Alexandria, Minn.)

– Jan. 7 Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 1 – Day 2 (Alexandria, Minn.)

– Jan. 14 Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 2 – Day 1 (Alexandria, Minn.)

– Jan. 21 Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 2 – Day 2 (Alexandria, Minn.)

– Jan. 28 Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 3 – Day 1 (Alexandria, Minn.)

– Feb. 4 Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 3 – Day 2 (Alexandria, Minn.)

– Feb. 11 Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota: Match 1 – Day 1 (Stockton Lake, Mo.)

– Feb. 18 Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota: Match 1 – Day 2 (Stockton Lake, Mo.)

– Feb. 25 Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota: Match 2 – Day 1 (Stockton Lake, Mo.)

– March 4 Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota: Match 2 – Day 2 (Stockton Lake, Mo.)

– March 11 Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota: Match 3 – Day 1 (Stockton Lake, Mo.)

– March 18 Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota: Match 3 – Day 2 (Stockton Lake, Mo.)

– March 25 Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley: Match 1 – Day 1 (College Station, Texas)

– March 31 Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley: Match 1 – Day 2 (College Station, Texas)

– April 8 Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley: Match 2 – Day 1 (College Station, Texas)

– April 15 Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley: Match 2 – Day 2 (College Station, Texas)

– April 22 Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley: Match 3 – Day 1 (College Station, Texas)

– April 29 Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley: Match 3 – Day 2 (College Station, Texas)

– May 6 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 1 – Day 1 (Lake County, Fla.)

– May 13 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 1 – Day 2 (Lake County, Fla.)

– May 20 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 2 – Day 1 (Lake County, Fla.)

– May 27 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 2 – Day 2 (Lake County, Fla.)

– June 3 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 3 – Day 1 (Lake County, Fla.)

– June 10 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Match 3 – Day 2 (Lake County, Fla.)

– June 17 Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Championship Final (Lake County, Fla.)

The winning three-man team in the General Tire Team Series Championship will claim the $300,000 top prize. The second-place team will earn $60,000, and the third-place team will win $30,000. Teams 4-9 in the championship will each earn a $15,000 prize. All anglers receive $3,000 for participating in the no-entry fee qualifying events.

Proud sponsors of the MLF General Tire Team Series include: B&W Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Cat Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Builders FirstSource, C-MAP, Crockett Creek Beef Jerky, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Ferguson, General Tire, Knighten Industries, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Optima Batteries, Phoenix Boats, Power-Pole, Rapala Baits, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff, Star brite, T-H Marine, Toyota, USAA, and YETI.

For complete details and updated information on the General Tire Team Series visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, 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, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the 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 13 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. 

Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing™

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