Bainbridge’s Conley Pulls Oconee BFL Win

Michael Conley (left), of Bainbridge, found Lake Oconee bass on deeper docks during a warming trend in late September to win the BFL tournament. The co-angler winner was Joseph Chilcott (right), of Williamson.

Boater Michael Conley, of Bainbridge, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 25-lbs., 10-ozs., to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine Super Tournament on Lake Oconee. The tournament, which concluded Sept. 22, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Conley earned $4,869 for his victory.

According to Conley, fall experienced a false start around Lake Oconee, and that has the fish in a bit of a funk.

“Right now, being fall of the year, the temperature normally starts dropping on the water, but the weather is kind of backed up a little bit,” he said. “We’ve had some cooler weather the last couple weeks to drop the water temperature some, and all the sudden in the last week it has gotten extremely hot.”

The weekend before the tournament when he was pre-practicing for the tournament, Conley saw water temperatures around 74 degrees on Oconee. When he finished the tournament on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23, the water temperature was 88.

That sudden turnaround halted the fall transition, at least for now.

“The fish just kind of slammed on the brakes from moving up shallow, and then they started kind of backing out, from what I could tell,” he said.

Conley basically went with them. Oconee is full of docks and seawalls. Once he realized the fish weren’t making their push shallow into creeks, Conley backed off and targeted the deeper docks on the main lake, in areas where the water had a little bit of stain. He also stuck to one area to maximize his fishing time.

Fishing was slow in the mornings for Conley, but as they say, he “made hay while the sun was shining.”

“When the sun got up, they’d hold tight on certain docks. I did not have a keeper fish in the boat at 10 o’clock yesterday (Saturday),” he said. “I caught my first fish at 10, and I had a limit by 11:30. Once I got dialed into how they were sitting on the docks, I had a limit in an hour and a half.”

Conley made the most of the midday, and he eventually culled out three of those keepers between 1 and 3 p.m. in what turned out to be the peak window of activity. On Day 2, he fished the same areas, but he changed up his timing so that he was hitting the docks with the best quality bass within that key afternoon window. That move produced a 5-lb. largemouth that helped seal the win.

Making accurate casts was another key for Conley. The Bainbridge boater caught fish on a mix of soft-plastic lures, including a Zoom Brush Hog, Zoom Trick Worm and Yamamoto Senko, but he said the lure was less important than the presentation.

“It really didn’t seem to matter (which bait),” he said. “I caught a 5-pounder on a Senko. My co-angler one dock later caught one over 5 on a Trick Worm. It was just a matter of hitting them on the face. You had to hit them in the head. And when they bit it, you couldn’t really feel it. They were just there. They were not aggressive at all.”

The Top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Michael Conley, Bainbridge, Ga., 10 bass, 25-10, $4,869
2nd:        David Lowery, Milledgeville, Ga., 10 bass, 24-14, $2,934 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
3rd:         Mike Cleveland, Jackson, Ga., 10 bass, 24-12, $1,623
4th:         Grant Kelly, Milledgeville, Ga., 10 bass, 24-2, $1,436
5th:         Emil Wagner, Marietta, Ga., 10 bass, 22-8, $974
6th:         Michael Wilder, Lizella, Ga., 10 bass, 22-1, $893
7th:         Mark Burns, Good Hope, Ga., 10 bass, 21-11, $811
8th:         Brooks Anderson, Marietta, Ga., 10 bass, 21-2, $730
9th:         Matt O’Connell, Brooks, Ga., 10 bass, 20-15, $774
10th:      Joe Eubanks, Marietta, Ga., seven bass, 20-7, $1,153

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Joe Eubanks, of Marietta, caught a bass that weighed 6-lbs., 10-ozs., and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $585.

Joseph Chilcott, of Williamson, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,434 Sunday, after bringing a two-day total of eight bass to the scale that weighed 19-lbs., 2-ozs.

The Top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:          Joseph Chilcott, Williamson, Ga., eight bass, 19-2, $2,434
2nd:        Richard Causey, Perry, Ga., eight bass, 15-10, $1,217
3rd:        Chandler White, Covington, Ga., six bass, 14-10, $1,105
4th:         Jackson Riddle, Watkinsville, Ga., six bass, 14-2, $568
5th:         Steven King, Cumming, Ga., seven bass, 12-8, $487
6th:         Tim Greene, Loganville, Ga., six bass, 12-3, $446
7th:         Brad Mullinax, Lula, Ga., four bass, 11-14, $406
8th:         Ben Brisbois, Jefferson, Ga., six bass, 10-9, $365
9th:         Patrick Watson, Newnan, Ga., six bass, 9-0, $325
10th:      John Battle, Gillville, Ga., four bass, 8-4, $284

Chandler White of Covington, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $292, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 4 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the tournament.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Michael Wilder, of Lizella, was crowned the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Angler of the Year (AOY) with 1,297 points to earn the $1,000 payout, while Steven King of Cumming, won the Fishing Clash Bulldog Division Co-angler of the Year race with 1,280 points and earned the $500 prize.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, have qualified for the Oct. 10-12 BFL Regional tournament on Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The 2024 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 Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, PowerStop Brakes, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters and YETI.For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.