BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 2, 2022) – Boater Doug Austin of Bristol, Virginia, caught five bass Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on South Holston Reservoir. The tournament was the second event for the Bass Fishing League Volunteer Division. Austin earned $5,024 for his victory.
“I had two or three fish I had located before the tournament that I thought I could catch, and that was my main plan – to catch them right at the start and then settle in on the bank and go from there,” Austin said. “I caught two out of the three pretty quickly, and then the rest of the day was spent just jumping from here to there, catching little ones and every now and then a good one. It was real spotty.”
Austin said he used a green-pumpkin Berkley Powerbait Power Worm on a 1/0 hook with a 1/8-ounce weight on 7-pound-test line. He said the light line was key to helping the rig get down deeper more quickly. Austin said the rig resulted in 10 or 12 fish – nine of which were keepers.
“We’d hit a bank and get a good one, and then I’d catch two or three 2-pounders,” Austin said. “The last fish I caught that I weighed I caught with 30 or 45 minutes to spare.”
Austin said he expected the winning weight to be 19 or 19½ pounds.
“When I came in, I was thinking I had a top-5 finish,” Austin said. “It was at the end of the spawn, and the weights tend to go down.”
Austin said his longtime fishing companion passed away days before the tournament, with memorial services scheduled the day of competition. His friends encouraged him to fish on.
“They told me he would want me to go ahead and fish today, and I did,” Austin said. “To win it was a special thing. When I found out I had won, I just went off and had myself a moment and cried and talked to him.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Doug Austin, Bristol, Va., five bass, 18-4, $5,024
2nd: J.R. Henard, Rogersville, Tenn., five bass, 17-1, $2,512
3rd: Tyler Altizer, Abingdon, Va., five bass, 16-10, $1,674
4th: Colton Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 16-7, $1,172
5th: Jimmy Neece Jr., Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 16-4, $1,463 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
5th: Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., five bass, 16-4, $963
7th: Bryan Leonard, Blountville, Tenn., five bass, 16-3, $837
8th: Clayton Winebarger, Abingdon, Va., five bass, 16-1, $754
9th: Brian Barnett, Bluff City, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $628
9th: Brandon Stanley, Johnson City, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $628
Joshua Short of Bean Station, Tennessee, and Tim Smiley of White Pine, Tennessee, both caught largemouth that weighed 4 pounds, 12 ounces in the Boater Division and split the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $774. Konnor Sweet of Abingdon, Virginia, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,419 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 12 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Konnor Sweet, Abingdon, Va., five bass, 15-12, $2,419
2nd: Ryan Lee, Pound, Va., five bass, 15-8, $1,210
3rd: Kevin King, Blountville, Tenn., five bass, 15-7, $807
4th: Stephen Brady, Woodlawn, Va., five bass, 15-5, $524
4th: Travis Malone, Wartburg, Tenn., five bass, 15-5, $524
6th: Brian Bailey, Austinville, Va., five bass, 15-2, $444
7th: Brad Barton, Middlesboro, Ky., five bass, 14-11, $403
8th: Mike Roten, Creston, N.C., five bass, 14-7, $363
9th: Joshua Rasnake, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 13-14, $323
10th: Rod Grayson, Oxford, Iowa, five bass, 13-10, $282
James Reece of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $365.
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