Faulkner Wins Bass Fishing League Super Tournament on Cherokee Lake

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 19, 2022) – Boater Riley Faulkner of Jacksboro, Tennessee, caught nine bass weighing 23 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the two-day MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Cherokee Lake in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event for the Bass Fishing League Mountain Division. Faulkner earned $8,050 for his victory.

Although Faulkner said he had grown up fishing on Cherokee and is very familiar with it, his tournament began slowly Saturday at his first two stops. He then pulled up to his third spot, where his luck changed.

“I ran down the bank and had a limit in about 30 minutes,” Faulkner said. “I lost a 3-pounder, but had about 10 pounds. Then I saw a tree and tossed up to it and caught a 5-pounder.”

On Sunday, Faulkner said he focused on fishing a jig on wood on flats, and his efforts produced three spotted bass and a largemouth to secure the win.

“I missed out on a college fishing tournament this weekend to fish this BFL event, so it feels good to knowing that skipping that college tournament pay off,” Faulkner said.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Riley Faulkner, Jacksboro, Tenn., nine bass, 23-7, $8,050
                2nd:       Tristan Abbott, Somerset, Ky., 10 bass, 22-8, $3,294
                3rd:       Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., 10 bass, 22-6, $2,062
                4th:        Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., 10 bass, 22-0, $1,944 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF5 contingency bonus)
                5th:        Jarrod Conn, Burgin, Ky., eight bass, 21-3, $1,238
                6th:        Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., nine bass, 19-8, $1,134
                7th:        Chip Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., 10 bass, 19-7, $1,031
                8th:        Chase Henley, Kingston, Tenn., seven bass, 16-1, $928
                9th:        Talmadge Marcum, McKee, Ky., eight bass, 15-15, $825
                10th:     Dwight Fox, Gainesboro, Tenn., eight bass, 14-13, $722

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Faulkner also caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 1 ounce, the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $862. Joe Houston of Burlington, Kentucky, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $3,188 Sunday after catching a two-day total of four bass weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Joe Houston, Burlington, Ky., four bass, 9-4, $3,188
                2nd:       Brent Clark, Bowling Green, Ky., four bass, 8-10, $1,544
                3rd:       Kendall Parnell, Monticello, Ky., four bass, 8-4, $1,030
                4th:        Cliff Humphreys, Candler, N.C., four bass, 8-1, $870
                5th:        Andrew Devere, Paint Lick, Ky., four bass, 7-15, $618
                6th:        Kelly Reese, Cartersville, Ga., three bass, 7-8, $766
                7th:        Joshua Jernigan, Rocky Top, Tenn., three bass, 7-4, $515
                8th:        Mark Hogue, Danville, Ky., three bass, 6-13, $463
                9th:        Wayne Crouch, Jamestown, Tenn., four bass, 6-11, $412
                10th:     Tracy Helton, London, Ky., three bass, 6-10, $360

Dustin Perkins of Russell Springs, Kentucky, caught the largest bass in the Strike King Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds even. The catch earned him the Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $424.