SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Sept. 25, 2023) – Boater Phillip Dutra of Arab, Alabama, caught 10 bass weighing 39 pounds, 10 ounces to win the two-day MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Lake Guntersville in Scottsboro, Alabama. The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event for the Bass Fishing League Choo Choo Division. Dutra earned $7,717 for his victory.
“I fished a mixture of baits, mainly topwater and flipping,” said Dutra, who earned his first career victory after eight previous top-10 finishes in MLF competition. “I fished up and down the lake and located a couple of areas that had quality fish. Then I just cycled through those areas.”
A longtime Toyota Series Western division pro, Dutra recently moved to Alabama and was competing in his first ever Phoenix BFL tournament.
“I think that was the key to my win – pretty much just fishing the way I used to fish out west at the California Delta,” Dutra said. “I covered a lot of water and fished all throughout the lake. I didn’t have one spot, or one area.”
Dutra estimated that he had around 15 bites on Day 1, and around nine or 10 on Day 2.
“I threw quite a few different baits, but a Damiki Rambler, Damiki Knockout, a Snag Proof Bobby’s Perfect Frog and a Bobby D Buzzbait all got me some bites,” Dutra said. “I was using the brand new SEVIIN reels from St. Croix and was blown away at how far my casts were going. I paired that with 50-pound P-Line X-Braid for my topwater and flipping, and my equipment, no doubt, made a huge difference in how I ended up.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Phillip Dutra, Arab, Ala., 10 bass, 39-10, $7,717
2nd: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 38-10, $3,709
3rd: Terry Fisher, Decatur, Ala., 10 bass, 37-12, $2,674
4th: Logan Dyar, Cleveland, Ala., 10 bass, 35-6, $1,731
5th: Fisher Anaya, Eva, Ala., 10 bass, 35-2, $1,115, $1,483
6th: Scott Wiley, Jr., Bay Minette, Ala., 10 bass, 33-15, $1,360
7th: Kent Ware, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 33-7, $1,736 (includes $500 Phoenix Bonus)
8th: Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., 10 bass, 33-5, $1,113
9th: Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 10 bass, 33-2, $989
10th: Chandler Brewer, Meridianville, Ala, 10 bass, 32-11, $865
John Janick of Adams, Tennessee, caught the heaviest bass in the boater division, a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces to win the Big Bass Boater award of $1,132. John Davenport of Huntsville, Alabama, won the Co-angler Division and $3,652 Sunday after catching a two-day total of nine bass weighing 30 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: John Davenport, Huntsville, Ala., nine bass, 20-1, $3,652
2nd: Cy Matlock, Crump, Tenn., seven bass, 17-15, $1,826
3rd: Rich Frey, Guntersville, Ala., seven bass, 16-11, $1,218
4th: Scott Mascadri, Southside, Ala., five bass, 14-1, $852
5th: Chris Allen, Bremen, Ga., seven bass, 13-7, $730
6th: Toby Lawson, Trussville, Ala., five bass, 13-7, $669
7th: Tony Pendley, Oakman, Ala., five bass, 13-4, $609
8th: Christian Jones, Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 11-13, $548
9th: Larry Franks, Jr., Wilsonville, Ala., five bass, 11-0, $487
10th: Jamie Bladow, Houston, Ala., four bass, 9-4, $426
Alex Ross of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Brian Carroll of Glencoe, Alabama, tie for the largest bass in the Strike King Co-angler Division, as each caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces. They split the $550 Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award and each brought home $275.
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