Dixon Wins Bass Fishing League Tournament on the Potomac

MARBURY, Md. (May 9, 2022) – Boater Aaron Dixon of Bel Alton, Maryland, caught five bass Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 2 ounces, to win the MLF Bass Fishing League tournament on the Potomac River. The tournament, hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners, was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League Northeast Division. Dixon earned $4,127 for his victory.

“I took a long run in rough water to get to where I had located them on beds in practice,” Dixon said. “I had figured out how to get them to react to a bait on the beds, but I knew when the tournament came the tide wouldn’t be right to see them anymore, so I just stuck to the area, kept my bait in the water and kept it slow.”

Dixon said he focused on a stretch of about 75 yards of water and used a 4-inch swimbait with a small hook bass couldn’t see. He said his method resulted in 20 fish, seven of which were keepers, during the course of the day. Dixon said he shared the stretch of water with a fellow competitor.

“The bait made the biggest difference for me to get the bigger ones,” Dixon said. “I actually caught more behind the guy fishing the same area on casts after he had already fished through there.”

Dixon said the victory had a special meaning to him, as he added his second BFL win to his resume.

“This feels pretty cool, especially since this win came five years after my first BFL win here,” he said.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Aaron Dixon, Bel Alton, Md., five bass, 18-2, $4,127
                2nd:       Michael Duarte, Baltimore, Md., five bass, 17-13, $2,639
                3rd:       Randy Caruso, Liberty, N.Y., five bass, 16-14, $1,377
                4th:        John Lorenzo, Kane, Pa., five bass, 16-12, $963
                5th:        Jessie Moore, Severn, Md., five bass, 16-8, $1,325
                6th:        Jason Shipton, Muncy, Pa., five bass, 16-6, $757
                7th:        Ernie Freeman, Broad Run, Va., five bass, 16-5, $1,188 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
                8th:        Robert Henderson, King George, Va., five bass, 16-1, $619
                9th:        Charles Peart, King of Prussia, Pa., five bass, 16-0, $550
                10th:     Damian Szlachta, Center Valley, Pa., five bass, 15-10, $482

Duarte had a largemouth that weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $575. Jeffrey Ivey of Fairfax, Virginia, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,064 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 17 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Jeffrey Ivey, Fairfax, Va., five bass, 17-1, $2,064
                2nd:       Rumnea Kelly, Boyds, Md., five bass, 15-13, $1,032
                3rd:       Matthew Noraas, Pamplin, Va., five bass, 15-11, $788
                4th:        Richard Jensen, Virginia Beach, Va., five bass, 15-8, $482
                5th:        Aaron Wilkie, North Bennington, Vt., five bass, 15-5, $763
                6th:        Tyler Burriss, Stafford, Va., five bass, 15-0, $378
                7th:        Ahmed Behery, Farmington, Conn., five bass, 14-4, $344
                8th:        Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Pa., five bass, 13-9, $292
                8th:        Cody Lunceford, Hanover, Pa., five bass, 13-9, $292
                10th:     James Obrien Sr., Southampton, N.Y., five bass, 13-8, $241

Max Meister of Atco, New Jersey, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $287.