{"id":63014,"date":"2026-02-23T20:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63014"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:55:19","slug":"polk-citys-young-targets-canal-for-win-at-phoenix-bass-fishing-league-event-at-harris-chain-of-lakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/02\/23\/polk-citys-young-targets-canal-for-win-at-phoenix-bass-fishing-league-event-at-harris-chain-of-lakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk City\u2019s Young Targets Canal for Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Harris Chain of Lakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Boater winner\u00a0Travis Young of Polk City, Florida, and co-angler winner Tim Endris of Salt Springs, Florida.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boater\u00a0Travis Young of Polk City, Florida<\/a>, caught five bass weighing 28 pounds even to win the\u00a0MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Harris Chain of Lakes\u00a0<\/a>. The tournament, hosted by Discover Lake County Florida, was the second of five events of the season for the BFL Gator Division Presented by Merman\u2019s Revenge. Young earned $7,640, including a $2,500 Phoenix bonus, for his victory.

Young said when he wants to fish for fun he heads to the Kissimmee Chain, but has put in hours at the Harris Chain as well \u2013 a \u2018decent bit, but not a ton\u2019. He\u00a0said he found fish during practice holding in a canal in Little Lake Harris and he decided that would be his starting spot.

Saturday morning, he started the tournament in the canal and by 8:20 a.m. had more than 20 pounds of bass in the livewell. By 9:20 he had more than 22 pounds. At that point, he decided that canal was pretty good and decided to stay there all day.

\u201cI was junk fishing,\u201d Young said. \u201cI was fishing seawall mainly. I also threw around natural stuff. I threw the tackle box \u2013 a wacky rig, buzzbait, frog, ChatterBait, underspin. I actually threw a grub for a little while, and a shaky-head rig.\u201d

Young said he caught 20 bass during the course of the tournament, and he weighed in two bass that fell for a Chatterbait, two on a frog and one on the buzzbait.

\u201cI knew it was going to take a bag to win,\u201d Young went on to say. \u201cI was thinking I needed 15 pounds for a check. I was surprised at how low the weights were. At 20 pounds, my co-angler said, \u2018You should be in the top 10.\u2019 When I hit 25 pounds he said, \u2018Ok, you\u2019ve got a trophy.\u2019 When I hit 27 or 28, he said I should have first place, and I agreed.\u201d

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Travis Young, Polk City, Fla., five bass, 28-0, $7,640 (includes $2,500 Phoenix bonus)
2nd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sean Wooten, Umatilla, Fla., five bass, 26-11, $2,480
3rd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tyler Sheppard, Yulee, Fla., five bass, 20-14, $1,200
4th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kennie Steverson, Umatilla, Fla., five bass, 19-4, $950
5th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tyler Nekolny, Coral Springs, Fla., five bass, 19-3, $1,020
6th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Roger Wheeler, Chipley, Fla., five bass, 17-7, $675
6th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Evrett Hunter, Nokomis, Fla., five bass, 17-7, $675
8th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Danny Inabnett, De Leon Springs, Fla., five bass, 16-13, $630
9th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gage Foster, St. Cloud, Fla., five bass, 16-8, $590
10th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Robert Burlew, Inverness, Fla., five bass, 16-6, $560

Complete results can be found at\u00a0MajorLeagueFishing.com<\/a>.

Tyler Nekolny of Coral Springs, Florida, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 9-pound, 12-ounce bass worth $200.

Tim Endris of Salt Springs, Florida, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $2,520 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 15 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tim Endris, Salt Springs, Fla., three bass, 15-10, $2,520
2nd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chris Nickle, Sanford, Fla., three bass, 13-5, $1,340
3rd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Steve Roller, Fort Thomas, Ky., three bass, 12-14, $600
4th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Steve Cornell, Crestview, Fla., three bass, 11-5, $625
5th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jordan Elmore, Saint Petersburg, Fla., three bass, 11-4, $410
6th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anthony Valachovic, Coral Springs, Fla., three bass, 11-2, $345
7th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mike Tucker, Yalaha, Fla., three bass, 10-8, $330
8th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 William Norris II, Ocoee, Fla., three bass, 10-5, $315
9th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dorian Weber, Wellington, Fla, three bass, 10-3, $300
10th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pat Herolt, Citrus Springs, Fla., three bass, 10-1, $280

Steve Cornell of Crestview, Florida, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing an 8-pound, 4-ounce bass worth $100.

After two events, Dylan Quilatan of Windermere, Florida, now leads the 7 Brew Gator Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 485 points, while Jordan Elmore of Saint Petersburg, Florida, leads the Gator Division Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 495 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. 8-10 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama. 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 \u2013 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.\u00a0\u00a0

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\u2019Reilly 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\u00a0MajorLeagueFishing.com<\/a>. For regular BFL updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5\u2019s social media outlets at\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.

About Major League Fishing<\/u><\/strong>
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world\u2019s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America\u2019s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boater winner\u00a0Travis Young of Polk City, Florida, and co-angler winner Tim Endris of Salt Springs, Florida. Boater\u00a0Travis Young of Polk City, Florida, caught five bass weighing 28 pounds even to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDJcL3VubmFtZWQtMS0zLndlYnA_Zml0PTEwMjQlMkM3Njgmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJQb2xrIENpdHlcdTIwMTlzIFlvdW5nIFRhcmdldHMgQ2FuYWwgZm9yIFdpbiBhdCBQaG9lbml4IEJhc3MgRmlzaGluZyBMZWFndWUgRXZlbnQgYXQgSGFycmlzIENoYWluIG9mIExha2VzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.y7Tlu59uXhPbudk2VB-5UYnb-ZzNtTST-y1EbRD8qVQMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":63015,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/unnamed-1-3.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13807],"class_list":["post-63014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-polk-citys-young-targets-canal-for-win-at-phoenix-bass-fishing-league-event-at-harris-chain-of-lakes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63017,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63014\/revisions\/63017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}