GALLATIN, Tenn. (Oct. 3, 2022) – Pro Jason Lambert of Michie, Tennessee, caught 10 bass weighing 19 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the two-day MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Old Hickory Lake in Gallatin, Tennessee. The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event for the Bass Fishing League Music City Division. Lambert earned $5,504 for his victory.
“Old Hickory has always been a notoriously tough lake to fish for me,” said Lambert, who earned his seventh career win in MLF competition. “To go up there and fish against the local guys and squeak one out – it’s harder to win a BFL event than a Toyota Series or a Bass Pro Tour event because you’re fishing against every local hammer on the lake.”
Lambert said he focused on outside grass lines - milfoil and hydrilla in particular – on the bottom third of Old Hickory and caught every fish he weighed in on a white ChatterBait with a Green Shad-colored Castaic Baits Jerky J trailer.
“On Saturday I had seven keeper bites and lost two of them,” Lambert said. “Sunday I only had five keeper bites all day. But my first fish Sunday morning was a 3-pounder, which is huge there,” Lambert said.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jason Lambert, Michie, Tenn., 10 bass, 19-14, $5,504
2nd: Kelly Woodruff, Portland, Tenn., nine bass, 19-4, $3,252 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF5 contingency bonus)
3rd: Beau Grissim, Lebanon, Tenn., nine bass, 17-10, $1,835
4th: Anthony Guffie, Lafayette, Tenn., eight bass, 17-10, $1,284
5th: Dylan Wright, Murfreesboro, Tenn., four bass, 17-7, $1,806
6th: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., 10 bass, 16-5, $1,009
7th: Matt Underhill, Lascassas, Tenn., six bass, 16-1, $917
8th: Corey Steakley, Lebanon, Tenn., seven bass, 15-10, $826
9th: John Wilkerson, Nashville, Tenn., eight bass, 15-9, $734
10th: Joe Manley, Bowling Green, Ky., six bass, 15-4, $642
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Dylan Wright of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces – the heaviest in the Boater Division – to earn the Big Bass Boater award of $705. Mike Barton of Lafayette, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $3,104 Sunday after catching a two-day total of six bass weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Mike Barton, Lafayette, Tenn., six bass, 13-11, $3,104
2nd: Darryl Lee, Franklin, Ky., four bass, 9-15, $1,376
3rd: Justin Clark, White House, Tenn., five bass, 8-9, $918
4th: Todd Mowery, Madison, Ala., four bass, 8-8, $642
5th: Casey Carpenter, Gallatin, Tenn., three bass, 7-9, $550
6th: Howard Dowdy, Livingston, Tenn., two bass, 6-15, $505
7th: Gary Haraguchi, Murfreesboro, Tenn., three bass, 6-2, $459
8th: John Lawson, Hampshire, Tenn., two bass, 5-9, $413
9th: Robert Moore, Elkmont, Ala., three bass, 5-2, $467
10th: William McCandless, Lewisburg, Tenn., two bass, 4-6, $321
Barton also caught the largest bass in the Strike King Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $352.