BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (March 2, 2024) – Boater Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Dale Hollow Lake. Becker earned $11,610, including the lucrative $7,000 MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
Becker is fresh off a top-10 finish at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event on Santee Cooper Lakes. Back home in Tennessee, he had plans to pre-practice for April’s Bass Pro Tour Stage Three on Dale Hollow, and realized he could combine pre-practice with a shot at a BFL win on one of his favorite “fun-fishing” lakes.
Becker caught his winning fish using a Damiki rig with a 3-inch Yamamoto Scope Shad in his signature Becker’s grape juice color. He rigged it on a 3/8-ounce Queen Tackle L.S. Tungsten Jig Head, and he tied it to an 8-pound-test leader of Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon connected to 15-pound-test braided main line. His go-to rod was a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium Favorite Hex spinning model.
According to Becker, who is the reigning Angler of the Year on the Bass Pro Tour, the farther he could stay off the fish, the better. Becker used Garmin LiveScope to spot and accurately target his bass. He caught a quick limit, then experienced a lull for several hours, before culling out most of his keepers with bigger fish in the afternoon. Most of his fish came in the mouths of creeks, where they’re staging prior to spawning.
“The main thing was just batifish,” Becker said about his winning program. “Just looking for where the population of bait was at.
“I worked pretty much from the takeoff to the dam and back, bouncing around in the morning until I settled down in the mid-lake region for the afternoon.”
As for his next Dale Hollow tournament, Becker is excited about the potential for a Bass Pro Tour smallmouth slugfest. In the BFL, anglers could keep only one smallmouth bass under 16 inches and one smallmouth bass over 21 inches. That made it primarily a largemouth bass tournament. When the Bass Pro Tour comes to town in April, anglers will be able to record any scorable bass of at least 2 pounds – including smallmouths – thanks to the catch-weigh-release format.
“It has the potential to set records for the most weighed in a day, and it’s going to really get to showcase the lake,” Becker said.
The top 12 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., five bass, 22-12, $11,610 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Jacob Woods, Loudon, Tenn., five bass, 22-8, $2,305
3rd: Michael Morrison, Stamping Ground, Ky., five bass, 22-3, $1,661
4th: Evan Fields, Shelbyville, Ky., five bass, 21-10, $1,076
5th: Lee Sinclair, Albany, Ky., five bass, 21-7, $922
6th: Tanner Rich, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 21-3, $845
7th: Gavin Cloutier, Jonesboro, Tenn., five bass, 20-15, $768
8th: Blake Smith, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 20-4, $691
9th: Ryan Lachniet, Gum Spring, Va., five bass, 20-2, $615
10th: Wyatt Pearman, Hodgenville, Ky., five bass, 19-10, $489
10th: Bailey Gay, Union, Ky., five bass, 19-10, $489
10th: Chris Halfacre, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 19-10, $489
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Grant Adams of Campbellsville, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $670. David Carey of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, won the co-angler division and $2,305 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 15 pounds, 3 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: David Carey, Harrodsburg, Ky., five bass, 15-3, $2,305
2nd: Corbin Ward, Glasgow, Ky., five bass, 15-2, $1,152
3rd: Dan Basham, Taylorsville, Ky., five bass, 12-3, $768
4th: Barry King, Liberty, Ky., four bass, 11-1, $538
5th: Elijah Adkins, Monticello, Ky., four bass, 10-2, $461
6th: Jerry Hogue, Danville, Ky., five bass, 9-13, $423
7th: Nathan Nester, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 8-15, $384
8th: Joshua Cloutier, Hilham, Tenn., three bass, 8-13, $346
9th: Nathan Kallstrand, Naperville, Ill., three bass, 7-14, $307
10th: Gabriel Fishlock, Cincinnati, Ohio, two bass, 7-10, $269
Robbie Mattingly of Junction City, Kentucky, earned the Big Bass co-angler award of $335, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
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