SUMMERTON, S.C. (Feb. 24, 2025) – Boater Brent Riley of Cross, South Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 35 pounds, 3 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament at Santee Cooper Lakes. The tournament was the third tournament of the season for the BFL South Carolina Division. Riley earned $2,890 for his victory.
Before diving into the incredible 35-plus-pound limit – the 12th largest limit in BFL history – that Riley caught on Santee, take a minute to think about this: His limit could’ve very easily approached 40. Riley, a local who lives on the lower lake, lost a big one at the boat early in the morning.
“I just had one of those days,” Riley said. “The first spot, I caught an 8-pounder. Second spot, I caught an 8-pounder and I lost two good ones – one about 7 pounds. Third spot, I caught one about 8. And fourth spot I caught one about 8. I had four right at 8 pounds and another one that was about 3 1/2. Then I culled twice for very little difference.
“What was crazy was watching the one that I lost that was right at the boat with my partner trying to get to it with the net. It got into a little bit of grass, and we watched it just spit out the lure and swim away. That was like my second fish, and I thought, ‘Woah, there it goes. There’s no recovering from that.’ And then it just got better and better. I thought, ‘Wow, how good a day am I having here?’”
Riley has had some pretty epic experiences in bass tournaments. He and a partner once weighed in a 60-pound 10-bass limit in a tournament. He also won an old Red Man tournament – the precursor to the BFL series – with an impressive mid-30s limit. And while catching 35-3 to kick off the 2025 season doesn’t quite compare to fishing the BFL All-American and the Bassmaster Classic, each of which Riley has done, it’s a pretty awesome milestone in a great grassroots bass fishing career. Especially since, according to Riley, who’s on the verge of turning 64, winning bass tournaments is getting tougher by the season. And last year was a pretty mediocre season by his standards. That all makes this win so much sweeter.
“I’m starting this year off with a bang,” Riley said.
As for the fishing, Santee Cooper is coming on strong with healthy grass growth, and this is the prime time of the year for catching big fish. Prior to the tournament, the bass were starting to move up. Then a cold front knocked them back a little bit. Riley and others expected the weather change to shut down the fish, but it was the exact opposite.
“They bit, and they bit good,” Riley said. “The fish had pulled back in the ditches, and when I caught that first one, it was a big one, and it was still shallow. They were in that 3 foot to where it dropped into 5 or 6 foot.”
Riley spent the tournament hopping around a handful of spots picking off a fish or two here and there, always focusing on areas where the bass are eventually going to spawn. He caught them pretty evenly from both lakes in the system – weighing three from Lake Moultrie and two from Lake Marion.
“I caught most of them on a Berkley Slobberknocker,” Riley said. “I had two on a Berkley Frittside, but the Slobberknocker is what the studs were on – all the big ones. They were in eelgrass more than anything. In the ditches, where it drops from 3 to 6, that grass seems to have survived, and it’s thicker there than anywhere else. I was just bumping the top of the grass. It took some touch keeping it out of the grass and in the strike zone.”
Reflecting on his remarkable day, Riley offered a special thanks to the team at Berkeley Outdoors, his boat dealer, for keeping him on the water and competing at a high level. And what a level it was on Saturday – one of the most impressive BFL victories in recent seasons.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Brent Riley, Cross, S.C., five bass, 35-3, $2,890
2nd: James Gibbons, Timmonsville, S.C., five bass, 31-3, $1,445
3rd: Lucas Murphy, West Columbia, S.C., five bass, 27-12, $1,464 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th: Kyle Austin, Ridgeville, S.C., five bass, 27-11, $674
5th: Chad Sims, Lancaster, S.C., five bass, 26-11, $578
6th: Robert Clarke III, Pineville, S.C., five bass, 26-5, $530
7th: Gary Pope, Georgetown, S.C., four bass, 25-10, $812
8th: Wendell Causey Jr., Irmo, S.C., five bass, 24-11, $433
9th: Lane Clark, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 23-6, $385
10th: Sandy Montgomery, Irmo, S.C., five bass, 21-13, $337
In addition to the huge limit weighed in by the winner, boater Gary Pope of Georgetown, South Carolina, also had an extremely memorable day on Saturday. Pope caught a bass that weighed 13 pounds, 6 ounces – tying the record for largest bass ever weighed in MLF Bass Fishing League history. For his feat, Pope earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $330.
Chuck Bagwell of Laurens, South Carolina, won the co-angler division and $1,445 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Chuck Bagwell, Laurens, S.C., three bass, 11-2, $1,445
2nd: Bobby Smith, Asheville, N.C., three bass, 11-0, $722
3rd: Troy Crippen, Lancaster, S.C., three bass, 10-11, $480
4th: Brendan Yeckley, Monroe, N.C., three bass, 10-8, $337
5th: Nathan Sipes, Laurens, S.C., three bass, 10-4, $289
6th: Davy Goodman, Sumter, S.C., three bass, 9-6, $265
7th: Roger McKee, Columbia, S.C., two bass, 8-10, $406
8th: Tim Chadwick, Mount Pleasant, S.C., two bass, 8-9, $217
9th: Thomas Pennell III, Boiling Springs, S.C., three bass, 8-3, $193
10th: Joshua Brogden, Sumter, S.C., three bass, 8-1, $169
Roger McKee of Columbia, South Carolina, earned the Big Bass co-angler award of $165, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After three events, Lucas Murphy of West Columbia, South Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash South Carolina Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 735 points, while Thomas Pennell III of Boiling Springs, South Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash South Carolina Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 724 points.
The next event for BFL South Carolina Division anglers will be held June 21, at Clarks Hill Lake out of Appling, Georgia.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-cooper-22425.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News