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Tanner Hadden Nabs Second In BFL All-American
GON Staff | June 4, 2025
One of Georgia’s top young guns on the pro bass fishing circuit, Tanner Hadden, of Appling, boated a final-day limit of five bass that weighed 20-lbs., 3-ozs.—the best catch of the three-day tournament by any angler—to vault up the standings for a second-place finish in the BLF All-American at Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Ark. Tanner’s total weight of 53-lbs., 7-ozs. was about 3 pounds below the winning weight, and almost 5 pounds above third place.
Tanner earned $35,000, plus a $10,000 Phoenix bonus, and he also qualified for the Toyota Series Championship as the top finisher in the All-American from BFL Region 5. Buddy Benson, of Dahlonega, placed fifth with 44-lbs., 10-ozs. Finishing 12th was Jeremy York, of Conyers, and Brad Stalnaker, of Eatonton, placed 15th.
Tanner has been featured in GON numerous times, first as a college freshman—gon.com/fishing/july-bass-clarks-hill
The All-American champion was Matteo Turano, who recently moved from Illinois to Tennessee. Matteo earned $120,000 for first place, plus a $20,000 Phoenix bonus.
According to Major League Fishing coverage of the event, Turano backed his LiveScope range down to 80 feet, which allowed him to see more detail close to the bottom and tell the size of fish better. Between brush, grass and some stumps, Lake Hamilton is loaded with shallow to mid-depth cover, but Turano had to constantly expand his horizons as the event went on.
“It seemed like everybody else in the Top 10 was also fishing a similar area, and the fish that were left were just super smart, and it was really hard to get them to bite,” Turano said. “Part of the key this week, I think I caught all three big fish on three completely different stretches, and I just felt like I needed to keep fishing new water and try to find something nobody else had found. It started off on really obvious points, and then it turned to just me running down a contour line and staying in that 10- to 12-foot range when I was looking for a big one.”
Turano used a few different minnow lures on a Buckeye G-Stroll head, with either a 7-foot, 6-inch, medium light or a 7-7, medium Phenix K2 Torzite spinning stick.
| 1st | Matteo Turano | 19 – 10 (5) | 19 – 13 (5) | 17 – 04 (5) | 56 – 11 (15) | ||
| 2nd | Tanner Hadden | 18 – 08 (5) | 14 – 12 (5) | 20 – 03 (5) | 53 – 07 (15) | $35,000 (includes $15,000 Phoenix Bonus) | |
| 3rd | Caz Anderson | 10 – 12 (5) | 19 – 05 (5) | 18 – 11 (5) | 48 – 12 (15) | $25,000 (includes $10,000 Phoenix Bonus) | |
| 4th | Clint Knight | 18 – 01 (5) | 17 – 15 (5) | 9 – 07 (5) | 45 – 07 (15) | $14,000 | |
| 5th | Buddy Benson | 20 – 03 (5) | 10 – 14 (5) | 13 – 09 (5) | 44 – 10 (15) | $18,000 (includes $5,000 Phoenix Bonus) | |
| 6th | Jake Lawrence | 14 – 15 (5) | 14 – 02 (5) | 15 – 08 (5) | 44 – 09 (15) | $14,500 (includes $2,000 Phoenix Bonus) | |
| 7th | Dillon Falardeau | 12 – 10 (5) | 16 – 05 (5) | 14 – 03 (5) | 43 – 02 (15) | $11,000 | |
| 8th | Harbor Lovin | 15 – 04 (5) | 14 – 00 (5) | 13 – 10 (5) | 42 – 14 (15) | $10,000 | |
| 9th | Cody Ross | 12 – 15 (5) | 18 – 03 (5) | 11 – 07 (5) | 42 – 09 (15) | $9,000 | |
| 10th | Zack Fogle | 17 – 15 (5) | 10 – 10 (5) | 12 – 09 (5) | 41 – 02 (15) | $8,000 | |
| 11th | Bradley Sullivan | 10 – 02 (5) | 17 – 09 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 27 – 11 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 12th | Jeremy York | 12 – 04 (5) | 14 – 09 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 26 – 13 (10) | $3,500 | |
| 13th | Logan Anderson | 11 – 11 (5) | 14 – 11 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 26 – 06 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 14th | Mike Brueggen | 13 – 12 (5) | 11 – 06 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 25 – 02 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 15th | Brad Stalnaker | 12 – 02 (5) | 12 – 15 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 25 – 01 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 16th | Chad Sykes | 10 – 02 (5) | 14 – 09 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 24 – 11 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 17th | Gavin Clevenger | 10 – 00 (5) | 14 – 01 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 24 – 01 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 18th | Jeremy West | 8 – 12 (4) | 14 – 02 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 22 – 14 (9) | $3,000 | |
| 19th | Yeej Moua | 12 – 03 (5) | 10 – 03 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 22 – 06 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 20th | Jonathan Lang | 11 – 04 (5) | 11 – 01 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 22 – 05 (10) | $3,000 | |
| 21st | Tyler Campbell | 10 – 00 (5) | 12 – 00 (5) | 0 – 00 (0) | 22 – 00 (10) | $2,000 |
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