HENRICO, Va. (July 18, 2022) – Boater Rob Uzzle of Hampton, Virginia, caught five bass Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on the James River . Uzzle earned $7,152, including a $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
“I had a major change in plans during the tournament,” Uzzle said. “I had planned on staying up on the James River instead of running down to the Chickahominy River, but after checking the tides and seeing it would be low tide at 10:30, I felt like I needed to go on down to Gordon’s Creek and do my normal milk run. It ended up being the right decision.”
Uzzle said his approach varied greatly during the day, but it resulted in a quality five-fish limit that included four fish that weighed more than four pounds each and one that weighed more than 3 pounds. The fish fell for a buzzbait, a square-bill crankbait, a Profound Outdoors crankbait and a topwater popping bait.
“My four quality fish came on four different baits,” Uzzle said. “It was junk fishing at its finest. There was no topwater bite or crankbait bite. It was just me fishing the moment.
“To come out of the Chickahominy with more than 17 pounds at 11 o‘clock… not a bad place to be,” Uzzle added with a laugh.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Rob Uzzle, Hampton, Va., five bass, 17-15, $7,152 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Harrison McCall, Salisbury, N.C., five bass, 17-6, $2,526
3rd: Cullen Hoover, Chesterfield, Va., five bass, 16-1, $1,551
4th: Bryan Elrod, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 15-4, $1,086
5th: Frank Poirier, North Prince George, Va., five bass, 15-3, $930
6th: Scott Rogers, Midlothian, Va., five bass, 15-1, $853
7th: Kevin Chandler, New London, N.C., five bass, 14-13, $1,460
8th: Jason Agpalza, Woodbridge, Va., five bass, 14-11, $698
9th: Tim Chaffin, Quinton, Va., five bass, 14-4, $620
10th: Todd Langford, Great Falls, Va., five bass, 14-0, $543
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Chandler had a largemouth that weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Big Bass Boater award of $685. Dustin Riddle of Hiwassee, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,326 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 12 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Dustin Riddle, Hiwassee, Va., five bass, 12-7, $2,326
2nd: Justin Faison, South Prince George, Va., five bass, 11-9, $1,163
3rd: Micah Mitten, Powhatan, Va., five bass, 10-6, $777
4th: Nathan Pulley, Chester, Va., five bass, 10-4, $578
4th: Gerrit Vanvoorhees, Lenexa, Va., five bass, 10-4, $628
4th: Greg Ravitsky, Palmyra, Va., two bass, 10-4, $820
7th: Callahan Cochran, Chantilly, Va., three bass, 10-2, $388
8th: Shaquille Freeman, Meherrin, Va., five bass, 10-1, $349
9th: Brandon Miskell, Vienna, Va., five bass, 9-14, $310
10th: Maurice Curley, Prince George, Va., five bass, 9-13, $257
Ravitsky caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $342.
After four events, Todd Langford of Great Falls, Virginia, leads the Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 935 points, while David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 952 points.
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