| Boater winners Lucas Reagan of Byrdstown, Tennessee, and Hunter Bouldin of McMinnville, Tennessee, and co-angler winner Thomas ‘Doc’ Legassie of Kingsport, Tennessee. |
| Kingsport’s Legassie Tops Co-Angler Division BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (March 24, 2025) – Boaters Lucas Reagan of Byrdstown, Tennessee, and Hunter Bouldin of McMinnville, Tennessee, tied for the win in the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Dale Hollow Lake Presented by Suzuki Marine on Sunday. They both caught five-bass limits weighing 21 pounds, 3 ounces, and each earned $2,233 for their share of the victory. The tournament, hosted by Star Point Resort, was the second event of the season for the BFL Music City Division. Not surprisingly, the joint winners at Dale Hollow caught all of their fish using forward-facing sonar. The technology has dominated on the clear mountain reservoir over the last few years, as local anglers continue to expertly refine how to use it to catch suspended largemouth bass. Reagan and Bouldin were the most effective and efficient at adapting to the conditions on Sunday. For Reagan, that meant abandoning his starting areas down the lake because of heavy winds, and then abandoning his backup water up the lake because it was blown out by muddy water. With Plans A and B both a flop, he went into “practice mode” and wound up catching his fish from a couple of areas he hadn’t even checked until the tournament. His primary lures were a Berkley Stunna 112+2 jerkbait and a Queen Tackle tungsten jighead with a Zoom Fluke . “I had to find places the wind wasn’t blowing into really hard, where I could make decent casts on them, and some areas that weren’t just completely mud,” Reagan said. Reagan tracked down enough fish to put together a pretty solid limit in the morning. Midday, his bite slowed until he applied some old-fashioned outdoors knowhow. “Later in the day I looked across the lake. I was in a really windy area,” Reagan said. “I looked over at just a little pocket and I saw like four or five loons sitting there, and it was really calm. I thought, ‘There’ll be some bait there.’ I ran over and ended up making my last cull around 2:30. It was a 4.07 (pound bass). And I lost one more.” Bouldin’s day started off much quicker. He caught a limit in the first 30 minutes. “Then for whatever reason, where I was on that stretch, it was like they got kicked in the head,” Bouldin said. “They just quit. I made one more stop and there wasn’t really anything on it. So I ran around to this pocket in the Wolf (River), and there were fish suspended everywhere. I caught a 5-10, and then just a couple minutes later I caught two 4-pounders almost back to back.” After his flurry, Bouldin figures he had 20 pounds by 10 o’clock. He made one last cull and lost a fish that might’ve gotten him the outright win. His catch came on a Burtek Tackle Wrangler soft-plastic minnow and a Rapala Crush City Freeloader. Bouldin shouted out his buddy, Steven Heady, who did all the electronics rigging on Bouldin’s boat. Heady’s expertise ensured Bouldin would have clean power and the clearest, crispest sonar returns. The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Lucas Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 21-3, $2,233 1st: Hunter Bouldin, McMinnville, Tenn., five bass, 21-3, $2,233 3rd: Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 21-1, $843 3rd: Christian Nash, Allons, Tenn., five bass, 21-1, $843 5th: Bryce McDonald, Paintsville, Ky., five bass, 20-13, $595 6th: Tanner Rich, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 20-2, $546 7th: Wyatt Pearman, Hodgenville, Ky. five bass, 19-4, $496 8th: Gavin Cloutier, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 19-3, $947 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus) 9th: Logan Vicars, Corinth, Ky., five bass, 18-13, $372 9th: Nathan Reynolds, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 18-13, $372 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.  Brady Duncan of Lebanon, Tennessee, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $340. Thomas Doc Legassie of Kingsport, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and $1,498 Sunday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 11 ounces. The top 11 co-anglers finished: 1st: Thomas Doc Legassie, Kingsport, Tenn., three bass, 10-11, $1,489 2nd: Gary Haraguchi, Murfreesboro, Tenn., three bass, 10-2, $914 3rd: Joshua Cloutier, Glasgow, Ky., three bass, 9-7, $497 4th: Parker Burgess, Granville, Tenn., three bass, 9-3, $347 5th: Lucas Brown, Albany, Ky., three bass, 9-2, $298 6th: Tommy Pritchard, Bargersville, Ind., three bass, 9-1, $273 7th: Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 8-15, $248 8th: Bobby Hannah, Brandon, Miss., three bass, 8-10, $323 9th: Wayne Crouch, Jamestown, Tenn., three bass, 8-6, $198 10th: Cole Mann, Crossville, Tenn., three bass, 8-4, $165 10th: Darryl Lee, Portland, Tenn., three bass, 8-4, $165 Gary Haraguchi of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $170, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 13 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day. After two events, Gavin Cloutier of Jonesborough, Tennessee, now leads the Fishing Clash Music City Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 492 points, while Tommy Pritchard of Bargersville, Indiana, leads the Fishing Clash Music City Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 494 points. The next event for BFL Music City Division anglers will be held April 26, at Center Hill Lake in Sparta, Tennessee. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000. The top 60 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. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Douglas Lake in Dandridge, Tennessee. 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 award of $20,000. The 2025 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 134 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 60 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of 12 BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top three, 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 2025 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Deep Dive App, E3 Sports Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Li Time Batteries, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, 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. |
