Dublin’s Decker Earns First Career Victory at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Kerr Lake

Prospect Hill’s Haigh Wins Co-Angler Division

HENDERSON, N.C. – Boater Christopher Decker of Dublin, Virginia, brought five bass to the scale weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Kerr Lake . The tournament, hosted by the Vance County Tourism Development Authority, was the second of five events of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Decker earned $3,150 for his victory.

Decker leaned on a power-fishing approach to earn his first career BFL victory, committing to a spinnerbait pattern that produced from start to finish. Covering a wide range of depths, he targeted fish from extremely shallow areas out to deeper zones, adjusting to changing conditions throughout the day.

“I fished everything – anywhere from six inches to 10 foot,” Decker said of the depths he focused on.

Rather than mixing techniques, Decker stayed locked in with the spinnerbait and trusted it to generate enough quality bites to get the job done.

“Sticking to a spinnerbait, not putting it down,” he said when asked about his key to victory. “All day.”

Decker also made subtle adjustments to match the conditions.

“The spinnerbait was chartreuse and white,” he said. “I just switched it up depending on how the conditions looked.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Christopher Decker, Dublin, Va., five bass, 15-10, $3,150
2nd:      Chris Baldwin, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 15-4, $1,840
3rd:       Jason Dew, Hallsboro, N.C., five bass, 15-0, $810
4th:        Michael Belter, Reidsville, N.C., five bass, 14-15, $650
5th:        Kaden Buchmann, Troutman, N.C., five bass, 14-13, $580
6th:        Conrad Manuel, Pilot Mountain, N.C., five bass, 14-10, $500
7th:        Louis Monetti, Huntersville, N.C., five bass, 14-7, $680
8th:        Colin McGough, Glen Allen, Va., five bass, 14-3, $460
9th:        Ron Rousseau, Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 14-0, $440
10th:     Chris Brummett, Lynch Station, Va., five bass, 13-15, $420

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Monetti earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater $200 award with a 4-pound, 10-ouncer.

Allen Haigh of Prospect Hill, North Carolina, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,625 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that weighed 9 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Allen Haigh, Prospect Hill, N.C., three bass, 9-13, $1,625
2nd:      Phillip Ragland Jr., Rustburg, Va., three bass, 9-0, $995
3rd:       Donald Lee, Emporia, Va., three bass, 8-2, $405
4th:        Greg Ravitsky, Fork Union, Va., three bass, 7-15, $325
5th:        Robert Wedding, Welcome, Md., three bass, 7-11, $260
5th:        David Lewis, Abingdon, Md., three bass, 7-11, $260
5th:        Scott Williford, Zebulon, N.C., three bass, 7-11, $260
8th:        Travis Ruff, Connelly Springs, N.C., three bass, 7-5, $230
9th:        David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., three bass, 7-4, $215
9th:        Eric Nelson, Gainesville, Ga., three bass, 7-4, $215

Ragland Jr. earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award worth $100 after landing a bass weighing in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces.

After two events, Louis Monetti of Huntersville, North Carolina, now leads the 7 Brew Piedmont Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 493 points, while Allen Haigh of Prospect Hill, North Carolina, leads the Piedmont Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 488 points.

The top 45 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. 8-10 BFL Regional tournament on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. 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 prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500.

The 2026 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 co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2026 BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, Mystik Lubricants, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular BFL updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.