Boater Mitch Drew of Gold Hill caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on High Rock Lake. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Drew earned $2,648 for his victory.

Drew was dialed in on a bream bed pattern at High Rock. He caught most of his fish on a topwater popper, with a few coming on a spinnerbait.

“The bluegills right now are starting to come to the bed on our lake,” he said. “They like shallow flats and sandy bottoms. I just targeted all kinds of sandy bottoms with shallow flats today. You see a lot of bream and sometimes you catch a few. It was just a good day. That’s all you can say about it.”

Staying on the move was key for Drew. He ran from flat to flat, visually hunting the spawning bream, then caught a crucial break midday.

“We had cloud cover, but we had the sun peaking in and out,” he said. “And finally, the sun peaked out a little bit around noon, which brought the bream closer to the top where they were easier to see. I caught a lot of fish between 12 and 1 o’clock. That’s when I caught three of my big fish, too.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

• 1st: Mitch Drew, Gold Hill, five bass, 22-10, $2,648
• 2nd: Charles Bowman, Kernersville, five bass, 21-4, $1,324
• 3rd: Zac Ridenhour, Salisbury, five bass, 18-7, $882
• 4th: Ricky Bomar, Lynchburg, Virginia, five bass, 16-5, $618
• 5th: Chad Sims, Lancaster, South Carolina, five bass, 16-4, $530
• 6th: Jason Barnes, Concord, five bass, 16-3, $1,395 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
• 7th: Jeff Taylor, Long Island, Virginia, five bass, 15-13, $441
• 8th: Landon Whicker, Winston-Salem, five bass, 15-10, $497
• 9th: David Farrington, Greensboro, five bass, 15-7, $353
• 10th: Keith Roberts, Hurt, Virginia, five bass, 15-5, $309

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Jason Barnes of Concord, North Carolina, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $285. David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, won the co-angler division and $1,324 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

• 1st: David Deciucis, Chester, Virginia, three bass, 14-4, $1,324
• 2nd: Troy Mitten, Cumberland, Virginia, three bass, 11-15, $804
• 3rd: Jason Hinger, Timberlake, three bass, 11-5, $590
• 4th: Larry Freeman Jr., La Crosse, Virginia, three bass, 10-4, $309
• 5th: Charles Wood, Thomasville, three bass, 9-13, $265
• 6th: Kiel Guin, Knoxville, Tennessee, three bass, 9-11, $232
• 6th: James Roten, West Jefferson, three bass, 9-11, $232
• 8th: Alex Moss, Lambsburg, Virginia, three bass, 9-7, $199
• 9th: Dustan Hudson, Grover, three bass, 8-8, $177
• 10th: Grady Stanley, Fuquay-Varina, three bass, 8-3, $154

Troy Mitten of Cumberland, Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $142, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces — the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Chris Brummett of Lynch Station, Virginia, now leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 721 points, while Derek Stanley of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 723 points.

The next event for BFL Piedmont Division anglers will be held July 12, at the James River out of Henrico, Virginia. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, go to MajorLeagueFishing.com or call 270-252-1000.

The top 60 boaters and co-anglers in the division based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 3-4 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Norman in Huntersville. Boaters will fish for a top award of a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard worth $50,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $20,000.

The 2025 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 134 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 60 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of 12 BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top three, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing — the BFL All-American. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Sponsors of the 2025 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Deep Dive App, E3 Sport Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Li Time Batteries, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, go to MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.