“My day started off pretty rough,” said Anderson, who now has 10 career Phoenix Bass Fishing League wins. “I made a long run up the river where I thought I could catch a quick limit finesse fishing, but after 3½ hours I only had two bites and I didn’t have a keeper.

“I ran back down to a stretch in the mid-lake area where I had caught one good fish in practice,” Anderson added. “I just took a look at the conditions and started focusing on wind-blown points on the main lake.”

Anderson said he used a white Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer and a homemade white and chartreuse spinnerbait to target bass sitting in three to five feet of water. He said he would cast to the bank and slow roll the bait down the point. Anderson said he caught 20 fish, including 15 keepers, during the course of the day.

“Once I figured out the pattern I’d catch fish every stop,” Anderson said.

Anderson said his inexperience on Dale Hollow, combined with the slow start to his day, had him doubting his chances for a quality finish in the tournament.

“At 12:30 if you would have asked me if I was ready to put the boat on the trailer, I would have probably left,” Anderson said. “I was that far beat mentally. And then a light went off. I said, ‘Dude, it’s easy. It’s 70 degrees and the wind is crashing these banks. You know the fish are going to be sitting up shallow.’ I made the right stop, then looked at my map and kept duplicating it. By the end of the day I was calling my shots. Talk about going from zero to hero.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:        Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., five bass, 24-2, $15,000 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Tristan Abbott, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 19-4, $3,000
3rd:       Greg Perry, Lost Creek, W.V., five bass, 18-12, $2,500
4th:        Mike Bryant, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 17-15, $1,400
5th:        Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 17-10, $1,150
5th:        Kelly Readhimer, Beech Bluff, Tenn., five bass, 17-10, $1,150
7th:        Colton Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 17-4, $1,000
8th:        Billy Baugus, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 16-12, $900
9th:        Mitchell Major, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 16-10, $800
10th:     Jake Cross, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 16-3, $700

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Anderson had a 9-pound, 10-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,000.

Gilbert Jolley of Livingston, Tennessee, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $3,200 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

1st:        Gilbert Jolley, Livingston, Tenn., five bass, 18-7, $3,200
2nd:       Grant Frazier, Manchester, Tenn., five bass, 17-5, $1,500
3rd:       Jordan Garrett, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 14-0, $1,000
4th:        Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 13-15, $700
5th:        Robert Pepiot III, Lexington, Ky., four bass, 13-14, $1,100
6th:        Bradley Yaden, London, Ky., five bass, 13-13, $550
7th:        Kenny Botts, Alvaton, Ky., five bass, 13-10, $500
8th:        Ben Pridemore, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 13-6, $425
8th:        Caleb Barnes, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 13-6, $425
10th:     Casey Carpenter, Gallatin, Tenn., five bass, 13-3, $350

Pepiot caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $500.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 13-5 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Pickwick Lake in Counce, Tennessee. Boaters will compete 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 fish for a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

The 2022 Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six Regional Championships 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 Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American. The 2022 All-American will be held June 2-4 at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs.

The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers plus tournament winners from each Phoenix Bass Fishing League division will also earn priority entry into the MLF Toyota Series, the pathway to the MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit and ultimately the MLF Bass Pro Tour.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, AFTCO, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Revital Outdoors, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X, YETI and Yo-Zuri.
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.