| Boater winner Jake Sisavath of Duluth, Georgia, and co-angler winner Tom Healan of Jefferson, Georgia. |
| Georgia’s Healan Earns Victory in Co-Angler Division GAINESVILLE, Ga. (March 2, 2026) – Boater Jake Sisavath of Duluth, Georgia, caught five bass weighing 23 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Lanier. The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Sisavath, fishing in his first career BFL event, earned $5,040 for his victory. “I had a late boat draw and worried about the morning bite because I had caught them good the day before in the morning,” Sisavath said. “So I decided to use my (Garmin) LiveScope as soon as I started fishing for the first three hours of the day and ended up catching about 21½ pounds by 10:30.” Sisavath said he knew he was off to a good start, so he then ran the south end of the lake, below Brown’s Bridge, for the next two hours looking for a kicker fish to anchor his limit. “I ended up stumbling into one about 1:30 in the afternoon,” Sisavath said. “It was my biggest fish of the day – about a 5½-pound spot. I knew after I caught that one that I had a decent chance to take home the win. You’re never safe with 23 pounds at tournaments on Lanier, but you have a shot.” Sisavath said he spent the day targeting rocks that staging prespawn bass were setting up on and probing the rocky banks with a shaky-head tipped with a soft-plastic stickbait. This was my first BFL, and to win feels amazing,” Sisavath said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect. Before this I had only fished team tournaments with my brother. This was my first big solo tournament, so it feels amazing to have that hard work and time on the water pay off. “It was also amazing to catch that big one at 1:30 in the afternoon without the ’Scope, to prove to myself that even though I just started fishing a few years ago with LiveScope, the old days of pond-hopping in the jon boat didn’t do me wrong,” Sisavath went on to say. The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Jake Sisavath, Duluth, Ga., five bass, 23-4, $5,040 2nd: Brian Jamison, Greensboro, Ga., five bass, 23-3, $2,680 3rd: Luke Lamb, Nicholasville, Ky., five bass, 21-0, $1,075 3rd: Ethan Wiley, Lula, Ga., five bass, 21-0, $1,075 5th: Emil Wagner, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 19-7, $1,320 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus) 6th: Joe Eubanks, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 19-6, $690 7th: Brandon Martin, Lula, Ga., five bass, 19-4, $645 7th: Noah Abernanthy, Dahlonega, Ga., five bass, 19-4, $645 9th: Nicholas Tunney, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 19-1, $590 10th: Blake Friend, Winder, Ga., five bass, 18-4, $430 10th: Chris Gould, Grovetown, Ga., five bass, 18-4, $430 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Brian Jamison of Greensboro, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 4-ounce bass worth $200.  Tom Healan of Jefferson, Georgia, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $2,570 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 7 ounces. The top 10 co-anglers finished: 1st: Tom Healan, Jefferson, Ga., three bass, 14-7, $2,570 2nd: Richard Causey, Perry, Ga., three bass, 13-7, $1,340 3rd: Robert McNear, Warner Robins, Ga., three bass, 12-14, $600 4th: Andrew Dean, Newnan, Ga., three bass, 12-2, $475 5th: John Battle, Gillville, Ga., three bass, 12-0, $410 6th: Jaquas Dobbs, Conyers, Ga., three bass, 11-7, $345 7th: Tony Hall, Athens, Ga., three bass, 10-2, $330 8th: Justin Lemaster, Royston, Ga., three bass, 10-0, $315 9th: Richard Jordan, Gainesville, Ga, three bass, 9-12, $300 10th: Chandler White, Covington, Ga., three bass, 9-10, $280 Richard Causey of Perry, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass worth $100. The top 45 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. 15-17 BFL Regional tournament on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Georgia. 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 prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500. The 2026 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 co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2026 BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism. |