| Boater winner Christian Nash of Allons, Tennessee, and Strike-King co-angler winner Caleb Edgerton of Dayton, Ohio. |
| Ohio’s Edgerton Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (March 25, 2024) – Boater Christian Nash of Allons, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces, Sunday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Dale Hollow Lake . Hosted by Star Point Resort, the tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Music City Division. Nash earned $10,842, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory. It was a solid weekend of BFL competition all around for Nash. He finished fourth in Saturday’s BFL Mountain Division event on Dale Hollow, then came back Sunday to get the win in the Music City event on the same lake. “I had two pretty good, solid days. I can’t complain,” Nash said. A key adjustment proved to make the difference in locking up Sunday’s win. On Saturday, Nash tried to stay out of the wind to make it easier to cast his Damiki rig to fish he spied with his Lowrance ActiveTarget. Sunday, he purposely sought out windblown areas area where baitfish were being pushed in by the wind. His winning limit included four largemouth bass and one smallmouth. “I caught them all on a Zorro Booza Zonar jighead that I actually designed,” he said. “It’s a ‘scoping’ jighead.” The Booza Zonar is a Damiki-style jighead designed to stay level in the water column. According to Nash, a common trick anglers use to achieve the same presentation is to use a loop knot to tie on the jighead. He wanted a jighead that would stay level with a more standard Palomar knot. The Booza Zonar is it. He also made sure it had a quality Gamakatsu hook – he carries jigs with 2/0 and 3/0 hook sizes. “When you’re reeling it over one’s head, it stays horizontal. You don’t want it leaning down,” he explained. “If you get a lethargic fish, you want it looking more natural.” In addition to staying in the wind, another adjustment from Saturday to Sunday was the type of bank Nash fished. He fished bluff banks on Saturday. On Sunday, he targeted flatter gravelly banks where prespawn bass were feeding on balls of bait. He caught about 15 pounds first thing in the morning while fishing in the back of a creek with his boat in less than 30 feet of water. From there, he upgraded throughout the day by moving to slightly deeper stretches. “I was sitting in about 50 feet, but the fish were anywhere from 10 to 25 to 30 feet deep,” he said. “You just had to look around the bait and you’d fine one here or there. The fish were coming off the bottom from these flats, and you’d just catch them as they’d come up to eat the bait. “It (the spot) had to have a little bit of bait. If you weren’t around bait, you weren’t catching any fish.” The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Christian Nash, Allons, Tenn., five bass, 22-8, $10,842 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus) 2nd: Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 21-15, $1,921 3rd: Lee Sinclair, Albany, Ky., five bass, 21-12, $1,282 4th: Blake Smith, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 21-6, $896 5th: Tanner Rich, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 21-2, $1,703 6th: Chris Halfacre, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 19-14, $704 7th: Dylan Wright, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 19-13, $640 8th: Gavin Cloutier, Jonesboro, Tenn., five bass, 19-8, $576 9th: Jacob Woods, Loudon, Tenn., five bass, 19-5, $512 10th: Grant Adams, Campbellsville, Ky., five bass, 19-4, $448 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Tanner Rich caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $510.  Caleb Edgerton of Dayton, Ohio, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,990 Sunday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 15 ounces. The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished: 1st: Caleb Edgerton, Dayton, Ohio, five bass, 14-15, $1,990 2nd: David Dickson, Cookeville, Tenn., four bass, 13-10, $920 3rd: Kevin Jones, Fort Campbell, Ky., five bass, 13-2, $612 4th: Wayne Crouch, Jamestown, Tenn., four bass, 11-2, $529 5th: Kevin Barton, Portland, Tenn., three bass, 10-4, $368 6th: Ethan Elliott, East Point, Ky., three bass, 9-15, $337 7th: John Riddle, Erwin, Tenn., four bass, 9-12, $307 8th: James Proffitt, Celina, Tenn., three bass, 9-7, $276 9th: Nathan Nester, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 9-0, $245 10th: Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn, four bass, 8-12, $215 Strike King co-angler Steve Greene of Lebanon, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $240, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 13 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day. The next event for BFL Music City Division anglers will be held April 20, at Tims Ford in Winchester, Tennessee. 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. 17-19 BFL Regional tournament on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Georgia. 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. |
