ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (Feb. 13, 2023) – Boater Garrett Warren of Hoover, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Tournament on Lake Martin . The tournament was the first event for the BFL Bama Division. Warren earned $4,394 for his victory. Warren’s winning weight was good enough to win by one ounce over second-place finisher Brady Vernon of Sterrett, Alabama, and two ounces ahead of the third-place angler, Warren’s College Fishing teammate at the University of Auburn, Connor Jacob of Peoria, Illinois.
“The conditions were so good today,” Warren said. “I had probably 60 bites and only landed about 20. I lost a 4-pounder and another 4- to 5-pounder that I saw. So I knew the conditions were fire for good fishing, if you knew what you were doing.
“A lot of the guys in that field were hammers, so I thought it was going to take 16 or 17 pounds to win,” Warren added.
Warren, a self-proclaimed “river rat,” said fishing Lake Martin doesn’t fit his style very well, but he adapted to the river bank-fishing techniques and situations that Lake Martin presented. The 22-year-old Auburn University senior said he focused on docks on the lower end of the lake with a Hornet swimbait.
“I caught my fifth keeper with maybe 15 minutes left to fish and it culled a small one that weighed maybe a pound and a quarter,” said Warren. “All of my fish were solid today. When I caught that last fish I was really pumped up because I knew I had a solid bag and was going to cut a solid check. The win was really unexpected, but I have accomplished a big goal.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Garrett Warren, Hoover, Ala., five bass, 13-6, $4,394
2nd: Brady Vernon, Sterrett, Ala., five bass, 13-5, $2,197
3rd: Connor Jacob, Peoria, Ill., five bass, 13-4, $1,464
4th: Robbie Robinson, Mobile, Ala., five bass, 12-13, $1,655
5th: Matthew Welcher, Opelika, Ala., five bass, 12-11, $879
6th: Austin Shields, Lake View, Ala., five bass, 12-0, $805
7th: Robbie Pritchard, Dadeville, Ala., five bass, 11-12, $732
8th: Jake Akin, Heflin, Ala., five bass, 11-3, $659
9th: Jonathan Powell, Elmore, Ala., five bass, 11-2, $586
10th: Donald Griffith, Robertsdale, Ala., five bass, 10-13, $513
Robinson caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $630. Robinson Cruz of Montgomery, Alabama, won the co-angler division and a total of $2,197 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Robinson Cruz, Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 9-5, $2,197
2nd: Cameron Petras, Biloxi, Miss., five bass, 8-15, $915
2nd: O’Brien Brown, Pinson, Ala., five bass, 8-15, $1,230
4th: Jared Turnbloom, Calera, Ala., five bass, 8-7, $513
5th: Ethan McDonald, Livingston, Tenn., five bass, 8-6, $439
6th: Larry Harvey, Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 8-5, $403
7th: Turner Carlisle, Columbus, Ga., five bass, 8-2, $366
8th: Don Reeves, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 7-13, $311
8th: Ervin Heard, Brent, Ala., five bass, 7-13, $311
10th: James Lehman, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., five bass, 7-12, $256
Brown earned the Big Bass co-angler award of $315, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
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