BUCKHEAD, Ga. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Christopher Wilder of Macon, Georgia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Lake Oconee . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Wilder earned $6,641, including the lucrative Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
Wilder found his winning fish on Oconee’s docks during practice, but it took some situational awareness to figure out when and how to catch them in the tournament.
“In practice I was actually catching them mostly on a wacky rig on the walkways of the docks,” he said. “But while I was doing that I was scanning out and looking at the main part of the dock. I could see some big fish out there, but I couldn’t get them to bite anything. I moved out and started throwing an Alabama rig on the ends of the docks. I was able to catch some fish, but they were all small.”
Sunny, bluebird conditions in practice transitioned to overcast and breezy for the tournament. Knowing that the forecast called for a change, Wilder figured those bigger fish might slide out from underneath the shade of the docks and give him a shot to catch them.
“I think that’s what it did because this morning it was cloudy and I was catching them pretty good,” he added. “Then it got sunny in the middle of the day and I went a few hours with only catching a fish here or there, and they were small again like I was catching in practice. It started getting cloudy again later and I started catching them on the edges of docks again.”
Wilder relied on the Alabama rig for most of his weight. His strategy was to target as many docks as he could, keying on docks in pockets.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Christopher Wilder, Macon, Ga., five bass, 18-11, $6,641 (includes $3,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Matt O’Connell, Brooks, Ga., five bass, 16-11, $1,820
3rd: John Kitchens, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 16-5, $1,507
3rd: David Lowery, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 16-5, $1,032
5th: Brad Stalnaker, Eatonton, Ga., five bass, 16-0, $728
6th: Matt Henry, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 15-8, $668
7th: Kenneth Cash, Covington, Ga., five bass, 15-6, $607
8th: Jon Lawson, Alpharetta, Ga., five bass, 15-2, $546
9th: Josh George, Monroe, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $455
9th: Weston Parker, Mansfield, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $455
John Kitchens of Cumming, Georgia, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $475.cJames Griffin of Pelham, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $2,057 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 9 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: James Griffin, Pelham, Ga., three bass, 14-9, $2,057
2nd: Robert Holliday, White Plains, Ga., three bass, 11-1, $910
3rd: Jerry Bryant, Douglas, Ga., three bass, 10-8, $607
4th: Scott Williams, Canton, Ga., three bass, 10-5, $525
5th: Luther Jackson, Byron, Ga., three bass, 9-9, $364
6th: Robert Ash, Buford, Ga., three bass, 9-6, $334
7th: Clifford Avery, Bonaire, Ga., three bass, 9-2, $303
8th: David Gibson, Atlanta, Ga., three bass, 8-13, $273
9th: Justin Guck, Winder, Ga., three bass, 8-9, $243
10th: Rowen Vandergriff, Covington, Ga., three bass, 8-7, $212
Griffin also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $237, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After two events, Michael Wilder of Lizella, Georgia, now leads the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 482 points, while David Gibson of Atlanta, Georgia, leads the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 486 points.
The next event for BFL Bulldog Division anglers will be held May 3, at Lake Eufaula out of Eufaula, Alabama.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-oconee-33125.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News