GAINESVILLE, Ga. (March 11, 2024) – Boater Freeman Edwards of Buford, Georgia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Lake Lanier. Edwards earned $7,037, including the lucrative $3,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory. For Edwards, the tournament was an exercise in using Garmin LiveScope technology to junk-fish his way around the lower end of the lake, mostly checking spots where he’s caught fish during springtime in the past.
“Starting out we had a little east wind,” he said. “A lot of the places that I wanted to fish set up more for a west wind, but I still pulled up on some prespawn-type places early, trying to catch them up shallow.”
Edwards used the LiveScope to spot fish on shallow transition areas. He rigged a Keitech 3.8 Swing Impact FAT on a 1/4-ounce ball-head jig, cast it up shallow and rolled it through the fish.
As the wind died down, Edwards went on the hunt. He checked points, brush, deep humps, deep timber – all prespawn staging areas. He caught his biggest bass of the day on standing timber in 45 feet of water using a Neko-rigged Daiwa Yamamoto Neko Worm.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now,” Edwards added. “You can pretty much do whatever you want. I caught another 5-pounder kind of on an edge, and it was just sitting right under the surface on some herring. I picked up my Sebile (Magic Swimmer, now made by Berkley), tossed it out there about 60 feet, and I saw him come up and he just crushed it.
“I caught a lot of fish. I probably caught 30, 35 fish. I probably culled out another 18 (pound) sack. It was just a good day – one of those days where the fish just bit.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Freeman Edwards, Buford, Ga., five bass, 23-2, $7,037 (includes $3,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Spencer Sato, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 22-14, $2,319
3rd: Ty Overmyer, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 22-11, $1,345
4th: Cole Cloud, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 22-2, $942
5th: Maddux Walters, Canton, Ga., five bass, 21-5, $1,352
6th: Buddy Benson, Dahlonega, Ga., five bass, 21-0, $740
7th: Brooks Anderson, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 20-15, $673
8th: Brad Wiley, Alto, Ga., five bass, 20-14, $606
9th: Carter Cunningham, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 18-14, $538
10th: Joe Eubanks, Marieta, Ga., five bass, 18-12, $471
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Maddux Walthers of Canton, Georgia, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $545. Benjie Winkler of Cleveland, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $2,005 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 17 pounds.
The top 11 co-anglers finished:
1st: Benjie Winkler, Cleveland, Ga., five bass, 17-0, $2,005
2nd: Harold Grizzle, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 16-7, $1,002
3rd: Daniel Truitt, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 14-15, $568
3rd: Cameron Sampson, Jackson, Ga., five bass, 14-15, $568
5th: Jared Kutil, Beaufort, S.C., five bass, 14-10, $551
6th: Elijah Moon, Talmo, Ga., five bass, 14-9, $368
7th: Gerald Bennett, Dallas, Ga., four bass, 14-8, $334
8th: Ariska Savior, Atlanta, Ga., four bass, 13-11, $301
9th: Jamie Thompson, Lakemont, Ga., five bass, 13-2, $237
9th: Nick Kight, Gray, Ga., five bass, 13-2, $237
9th: Jaquas Dobbs, Conyers, Ga., five bass, 13-2, $237
John Kennedy of Statham, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $2,675, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
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