HUDDLESTON, Va. (March 6, 2023) – Boater Dennis Burdette of Pembroke, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Tournament on Smith Mountain Lake. The tournament was the first event for the BFL Piedmont Division. Burdette earned $12,981, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
“I started out mid-lake around the state park and fished wind-blown banks and points,” said Burdette. “Really, anything that had rock on it that the wind was beating. It was all about the wind; I chased it all day.”
Burdette said his baits of choice during the tournament were a Rapala DT6 crankbait, a Megabass jerkbait and an Alabama rig, and he caught most of his 12 keepers in two to six feet of water.
“They were all right on the bank,” Burdette said. “You’d crank the crankbait two or three times and they were on it. It slowed down later in the day, but thankfully I caught the right ones early on.
“To be on my home lake with all the great fishermen that fish here in the BFLs … it just feels great to win this,” Burdette added.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Dennis Burdette, Pembroke, Va., five bass, 22-15, $12,981 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Dennis Stump, Madison Heights, Va., five bass, 22-5, $2,490
3rd: Paul Worthington, Benson, N.C., five bass, 20-3, $1,662
4th: Chris Brummett, Lynch Station, Va., five bass, 18-0, $2,642
5th: Ian Branson, Salem, Va., five bass, 17-12, $996
6th: Broderick Luckey, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 17-5, $913
7th: Hunter Smith, Williamsburg, Va., five bass, 17-0, $830
8th: Scott Banton, Midlothian, Va., five bass, 16-8, $747
9th: Adam White, Graham, N.C., five bass, 16-4, $664
10th: Tyler Trent, Nathalie, Va., five bass, 16-3, $581
Chris Brummett of Lynch Station, Virginia, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $760. Dylan Gray of Goode, Virginia, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,490 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 16 pounds, 3 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:
1st: Dylan Gray, Goode, Va., five bass, 16-3, $2,490
2nd: Dustin Riddle, Hiwassee, Va., five bass, 14-14, $1,245
3rd: Jacob Waller, Chatham, Va., three bass, 11-5, $1,029
4th: Scott Howard, Bedford, Va., five bass, 10-9, $539
4th: Brandon Miskell, Vienna, Va., two bass, 10-9, $729
6th: Dakoda Lucy, South Hill, Va., three bass, 10-5, $647
7th: Trevor Holman, Durham, N.C., four bass, 9-3, $394
7th: Patrick Hash, Roanoke, Va., three bass, 9-3, $394
9th: Brian Byrd, Roanoke, Va., three bass, 9-0, $332
10th: Timothy Kinder, Fairfax, Va., four bass, 8-10, $441
Dakoda Lucy of South Hill, Virginia, and Brandon Miskell of Vienna, Virginia, both caught bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 3 ounces to split the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $380.
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