Quaintance Wins Bass Fishing League Super Tournament on Pickwick Lake

IUKA, Miss. (Sept. 19, 2022) – Boater Chris Quaintance of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, caught 10 bass weighing 36 pounds even to win the two-day MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Pickwick Lake in Iuka, Mississippi. The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event for the Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division. Quaintance earned $7,007 for his victory.

Quaintance said his tournament started off well Saturday morning with four fish, then slowed down around midday, and it took him a while to catch his fifth keeper. However, Quaintance said his catch rate improved on Sunday.

“It was steady catching on Day 2,” Quaintance said. “I caught fish all day long, a lot of quality bass on long, tapering points that featured light points in the mid-lake area.”

Quaintance said he caught his bass on a NetBait T-Mac Straight-Tail Worm and a green pumpkin jig in six to eight feet of water, and a Strike King Swim Jig in shallow grass.

“The bass were just roaming,” Quaintance said. “A lot of them weren’t even in brush. There was a lot of shad in the area, and each spot was just about the size of a football field, and I just pounded it out until I got what I needed.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Chris Quaintance, Muscle Shoals, Ala., 10 bass, 36-0, $7,007
                2nd:       Jimmy Mason, Rogersville, Ala., 10 bass, 30-12, $4,099 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF5 contingency bonus)
                3rd:       Justin Bussey, Fulton, Miss., 10 bass, 28-11, $1,997
                4th:        Charles Watts, Corinth, Miss., 10 bass, 26-1, $1,399
                5th:        Clint Pegg, Caledonia, Miss., nine bass, 25-12, $1,199
                6th:        Alan Langford, Tupelo, Miss., nine bass, 25-10, $1,100
                7th:        Michael Brewer, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 10 bass, 24-12, $1,000
                8th:        Michael Wooley, Booneville, Miss., eight bass, 24-2, $900
                9th:        Roger Stegall, Iuka, Miss., 10 bass, 23-15, $800
                10th:     Mark Willins, Como, Miss., 10 bass, 23-15, $700

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Quaintance also had a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $810. Harry Barber of Earlington, Kentucky, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,971 Sunday after catching a two-day total of six bass weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Harry Barber, Earlington, Ky., six bass, 16-5, $2,971
                2nd:       Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., seven bass, 14-14, $1,486
                3rd:       Keith Ramage, Raleigh, Miss., six bass, 13-2, $989
                4th:        Clint Horton, Falkner, Miss., five bass, 12-3, $693
                5th:        Mike Ellis, Tupelo, Miss., four bass, 11-11, $594
                6th:        Michael Petras, Biloxi, Miss., five bass, 11-9, $995
                7th:        Shan Payne, Saltillo, Miss., five bass, 10-15, $495
                8th:        Thomas Sanderson, Amory, Miss., five bass, 10-15, $446
                9th:        Steve Ruth, Columbus, Miss., five bass, 10-9, $396
                10th:     Lance Spencer, Donalsonville, Ga., five bass, 9-13, $347

Bubba Wright of Ridgeland, Mississippi, caught the largest bass in the Strike King Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 6 ounces. The catch earned him the Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $401.