Danville’s Payne Earns Victory in Co-Angler Division

EATONTON, Ga. (March 30, 2026) – Boater Emery Burnett of Appling, Georgia, caught a total of five bass weighing 22 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Sinclair. The tournament was the second of five events of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Burnett earned $4,480 for his victory.

Burnett said he wanted to focus on fishing Sinclair’s shad spawn, and he sought out clear water midlake, away from the tournament takeoff site.

“I pulled up to my first spot and in 15 minutes caught a 5½ to get my day going,” Burnett said. “I fished around some more and went to my second area that I had caught one or two in during practice. It was a spot where I’d fish it for about 15 minutes, catch one, then leave it and come back and I could catch another one. I did that, and by 11 o’clock I had 18 pounds. Then around noon I caught a 6-pounder that got me to 22 pounds.”

Burnett said he targeted bass in two to three feet of water with a Megabass Magdraft swimbait as well as a Greenfish Bad Little Blade spinnerbait with a Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Caffeine Shad trailer dipped in Spike It Dip-N-Glo chartreuse dye.

“Going into the tournament I told my co-angler, ‘If I can catch 18 to 20 (pounds) I’ll have a good chance,’” Burnett said. “Lo and behold I came up with 22.”

Burnett’s Sinclair win comes on the heels of a Valentine’s Day BFL win on the Savannah River Division’s event on Clarks Hill Lake.

“This win feels really good since it’s not my home lake,” Burnett said.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Emery Burnett, Appling, Ga., five bass, 22-11, $4,480
2nd:      Brayden Batchelor, Greensboro, Ga., five bass, 22-8, $2,220
3rd:       Tom Rubbo, Ridgeway, S.C., five bass, 20-6, $1,090
4th:        John Duvall, Madison, Ga., five bass, 20-5, $860
5th:        Jeff Hendricks, Hull, Ga., five bass, 20-3, $950
6th:        Kip Carter, Covington, Ga., five bass, 19-4, $640
7th:        Scott Hayes, Wedowee, Ala., five bass, 18-14, $1,110 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
8th:        David Lowery, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 18-7, $580
9th:        Nolan Holloway, Madison, Ga., five bass, 18-3, $550
10th:     Ryan Thomas, Madison, Ga., five bass, 17-15, $520

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Jeff Hendricks of Hull, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 5-ounce bass worth $200.

Jeffrey Payne of Danville, Georgia, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $2,240 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Jeffrey Payne, Danville, Ga., three bass, 13-5, $2,240
2nd:      Albert McNair, Watkinsville, Ga., three bass, 11-15, $1,210
3rd:       Winston Codling, Boston, Ga., three bass, 10-14, $545
4th:        Dennis McGouirk, Carrollton, Ga., three bass, 10-0, $430
5th:        Jaquas Dobbs, Conyers, Ga., three bass, 9-11, $375
6th:        Jeff Stone, Jackson, Ga., three bass, 9-8, $320
7th:        Stephen Waldon, Ellenwood, Ga., three bass, 9-6, $310
8th:        Mark Carlson, Peachtree City, Ga., three bass, 9-5, $340
9th:        Conery Williams, Macon, Ga., three bass, 8-14, $280
10th:     Chris Highland, Gainesville, Ga., three bass, 8-12, $260

Albert McNair of Watkinsville, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 6-pound, 7-ounce bass worth $100.

After two events, John Duvall of Madison, Georgia, now leads the 7 Brew Bulldog Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 486 points, while Jaquas Dobbs of Conyers, Georgia, leads the Bulldog Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 491 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. 15-17 BFL Regional tournament on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Georgia. 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.