CAMDEN, S.C. (Sept. 26, 2022) – Boater Michael Richardson of Elgin, South Carolina, caught 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the two-day MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Lake Wateree in Camden, South Carolina. The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event for the Bass Fishing League South Carolina Division. Richardson earned $4,668 for his victory.
“I started out Saturday morning with a ¼-ounce shaky-head with a green pumpkin worm, as well as a junebug worm,” Richardson said. “I caught a 4 ½-pounder under one of the docks that put me into second place Saturday.”
Richardson said he targeted mid-lake docks and seawalls in two to three feet of water to catch his winning stringers.
“On Sunday we had cloud cover and wind, and it hurt my bite a little bit,” Richardson said. “It stayed cloudy until 11:30 or so, and we had 10 to 15 mile-per-hour winds. I had one fish that came on a popper at 9:30 and another at 10:30 on a popper.”
Richardson said he relocated down the lake and pulled into a pocket and filled his limit for the victory.
“This feels awesome,” Richardson said. “It’s especially nice to win on your home lake.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Michael Richardson, Elgin, S.C., 10 bass, 24-6, $4,668
2nd: Jacob Norris, Lugoff, S.C., nine bass, 21-11, $2,334
3rd: Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., nine bass, 21-4, $2,757 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF5 contingency bonus)
4th: Thomas Steven Phillips, Lugoff, S.C., nine bass, 20-11, $1,089
5th: Chuck Howard, Elloree, S.C., seven bass, 13-15, $934
6th: Chad Sims, Lancaster, S.C., five bass, 13-4, $856
7th: Kameron Harbin, Abbeville, S.C., six bass, 13-0, $778
8th: Fisher Rodgers, Camden, S.C., seven bass, 12-10, $700
9th: Jay Jefferies, Mount Pleasant, S.C., five bass, 12-10, $622
10th: Robert Clarke III, Pineville, S.C., six bass, 11-9, $545
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
James Gibbons of Timmonsville, South Carolina, caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 14 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – to earn the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $547. Rennison Robbins of Jackson, South Carolina, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,608 Sunday after catching a two-day total of eight bass weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Rennison Robbins, Jackson, S.C, eight bass, 16-7, $2,608
2nd: Rodney Tapp, Inman, S.C., five bass, 9-3, $1,167
3rd: Jerry Neuner, Rutherfordton, N.C., three bass, 7-10, $779
4th: Denvelle Ketron, Kingsport, Tenn., four bass, 6-8, $995
5th: Harold Addison II, Columbia, S.C., three bass, 6-5, $667
6th: Terry Jarvis, Inman, S.C., three bass, 5-11, $428
7th: Stephen Britt, Chapin, S.C., two bass, 4-15, $389
8th: Dean Dalton, Keeling, Va., two bass, 4-14, $350
9th: Carter Jefferies, Mount Pleasant, S.C., two bass, 4-13, $311
10th: Rusty Forsyth, Fort Myers, Fla., two bass, 4-1, $272
Robbins also caught the largest bass in the Strike King Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $274.
With the regular season now complete, boater Jason Burroughs of Hodges, South Carolina, won the 2022 Bass Fishing League South Carolina Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with a five-event total of 1,349 points to earn the $1,000 boater AOY award. Thomas Pennell III of Boiling Springs, South Carolina, won the 2022 Strike King Co-Angler South Carolina Division AOY race with