Alabama’s Cook Tops Co-Angler Division
DAYTON, Tenn. (March 10, 2025) – Boater Tripp Berlinsky of St. Cloud, Florida, caught a five-bass limit weighing 32 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Chickamauga. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Berlinsky earned $3,794 for his victory.
As far as competitive fishing goes, Berlinsky stays pretty busy. He’s a member of the bass fishing team at the University of North Alabama. Plus, he competes in BFL and Toyota Series events. Spending all that time on the water paid off big time on Lake Chickamauga.
“I was planning on fishing the Toyota Series here on the 18th of March, and while I was practicing I was doing pretty good,” he said. “So I decided Thursday night to hop in the (BFL) tournament.”
He more than hopped. Berlinsky jumped in and immediately crushed a big bag of fish.
“It was the best day of my career,” he said. “In practice I just figured out that they were keying in on a certain area of current breaks on the main lake. I really just homed in on finding as many replicates of that as possible. In practice, I was catching some small ones, but Saturday I got in an area and I was just seeing a bunch of big ones. So I just hunkered down and hoped I could get five to bite, and I did.”
Using live sonar and an Alabama rig, Berlinsky went to town. He pulled in at 7:35 a.m. and caught a 4 1/2-pounder on his first cast. It got better from there. His first three keepers totaled about 12 pounds. Berlinsky followed up with a 10-pound, 2-ounce kicker. On the very next cast, he landed an 8-9.
“I had 32 pounds at 9 o’clock this morning,” he said.
After the morning flurry, Berlinsky caught a few more before leaving his primary area and bouncing around to a few other main-lake current breaks. He made a couple small culls to eventually get to his winning limit. Interestingly, Berlinsky estimates he saw about 300 bass on sonar during the day, adding to a memorable tournament all around.
“It was God’s doing for sure,” Berlinsky said. “He was looking out for me today.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Tripp Berlinsky, St. Cloud, Fla., five bass, 32-9, $3,794
2nd: Broderick Luckey, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 28-12, $1,897
3rd: Jackson Rollins, Town Creek, Ala., five bass, 25-13, $1,265
4th: John-Dalton Miller, Albertville, Ala., five bass, 22-11, $1,380
5th: Kevin Drake, Cleveland, Tenn., five bass, 20-14, $1,259 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
6th: Lake Johnson, Trinity, Ala., five bass, 20-12, $696
7th: Scott Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., five bass, 20-8, $632
8th: Mike Lowry, Hixson, Tenn., five bass, 19-15, $537
8th: Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 19-15, $537
10th: Chip Wammack, Muscle Shoals, Ala., five bass, 19-5, $443
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
John-Dalton Miller of Albertville, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 11 pounds, 10 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $495.
Brent Cook of Gardendale, Alabama, won the co-angler division and $1,897 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Brent Cook, Gardendale, Ala., three bass, 11-2, $1,897
2nd: John Daniel, Waynesboro, Tenn., three bass, 10-5, $949
3rd: Kevin McWithey, Flintville, Tenn., three bass, 10-3, $633
4th: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 9-6, $443
5th: Reagan Eldridge, Fayetteville, Tenn., three bass, 9-5, $379
6th: Alex Roberts, Columbia, Tenn., three bass, 9-0, $332
6th: Tyson Giesbrecht, Gurley, Ala., three bass, 9-0, $332
8th: Chris Wade, Acworth, Ga., three bass, 8-15, $285
9th: Mike Pewitt, Mount Juliet, Tenn., two bass, 8-7, $253
10th: Chad Hill, Flemingsburg, Ky., two bass, 8-0, $221
Bradley Pruiett of Farragut, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $247, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After two events, Mike Lowry of Hixson, Tennessee, now leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 491 points, while James Ramsey of Boaz, Alabama, leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 477 points.
The next event for BFL Choo Choo Division anglers will be held March 29, at Wheeler Lake out of Rogersville, Alabama. 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 Logan Martin Lake in Lincoln, Alabama. 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.
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