Tennessee’s Peavyhouse claims victory at Phoenix Bass Fishing League event at Barren River
Ross Jr. wins Strike King co-angler Division
SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. – Boater Isaac Peavyhouse of Jamestown, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Barren River. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Mountain Division. Peavyhouse earned $12,802, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
“I had maybe 20 to 25 offshore schools marked,” said Peavyhouse, who recently posted a BFL win on Dale Hollow Lake in March. “I pretty much rotated those schools all day long and got the fish I could. I ended up catching nine keepers.”
Peavyhouse said he caught all of his fish on a spoon in 10 to 15 feet of water on main-lake points. He said he had a limit by 9:20 a.m., and spent the rest of his day trying to upgrade his final weight.
“I ended up culling two times in the last 20 minutes, and that really sealed the deal,” Peavyhouse said. “I knew I needed one big one, and when I culled the last one, I called it quits.”
Peavyhouse said he hadn’t fished Barren River before 2022, when he posted a 17th-place BFL finish. He said he approached this tournament with the intention of redeeming himself.
“Things just went my way this time,” Peavyhouse said. “I threw off several fish, but that’s just part of throwing a bait like that. This feels great after what happened the last time I was here.”
The Top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
- 1st: Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 18-11, $12,802 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
- 2nd: Blake Smith, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 17-2, $2,041
- 3rd: Billy Parrish, Bloomfield, Ky., four bass, 17-0, $1,922
- 4th: Nick Ratliff, Vine Grove, Ky., five bass, 16-2, $952
- 5th: Eldon Newcomb, Mount Vernon, Ky., five bass, 14-15, $816
- 6th: Michael Bean, Bowling Green, Ky., five bass, 14-8, $748
- 7th: Grant Adams, Campbellsville, Ky., five bass, 14-7, $680
- 8th: Brian Wade, Stanford, Ky., five bass, 13-0, $612
- 9th: Clint Knight, Lewisburg, Ky., five bass, 12-14, $744
- 10th: Joe Haunert, West Chester, Ohio, five bass, 12-10, $476
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Billy Parrish of Bloomfield, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $560.
Earl Ross Jr. of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,041 Saturday, after bringing four bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 14 ounces.
The Top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:
- 1st: Earl Ross Jr., Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., four bass, 11-14, $2,041
- 2nd: Zach Jefferson, Lancaster, Ky., three bass, 11-3, $1,021
- 3rd: Joshua Mounce, Somerset, Ky., four bass, 8-14, $683
- 4th: Lucas Devere, Berea, Ky., four bass, 8-11, $476
- 5th: Christopher Stites Sr., Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 8-5, $408
- 6th: James Warren, Flat Lick, Ky., three bass, 8-2, $374
- 7th: Noah Morgan, Sharon Grove, Ky., three bass, 7-4, $340
- 8th: Mark Redman, Bowling Green, Ky., two bass, 7-3, $306
- 9th: John Fitzpatrick, Baxter, Tenn., two bass, 6-7, $272
- 10th: Billy Hughes, Eubank, Ky., two bass, 5-12, $238
Charles Smith of Bowling Green, Kentucky, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $280, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 13 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After four events, Christian Nash of Allons, Tennessee, leads the BFL Mountain Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 953 points, while John Fitzpatrick of Baxter, Tennessee, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 924 points.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 19-21 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.
The 2023 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American.
Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, General Tire, Grundéns, Gill, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.
For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.