HENRICO, Va. (June 29, 2026) – Boater Thomas Milton of Chester, Virginia, caught a total of five bass weighing 26 pounds, 1 ounce, Sunday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on the James River. The tournament was the fourth of five events of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Milton earned $3,080 for his victory.
“I practiced for two days and didn’t really find anything, anywhere,” Milton said. “I figured my best bet with the clouds would be to run down to the Chickahominy (River) and throw a frog all day.”
Milton said he focused his plan of attack at lily pads on the middle section of the Chickahominy and used a bluegill-colored frog as his bait of choice.
“I had a lot of confidence in that color, because at one point I opened my livewell and there were two dead bluegill in there. The frog and the morning bite were key,” Milton said. “The sun came out about 11:00, and I never got another bite.”
Milton said he caught 10 keepers on his home waters during the tournament, and his confidence was running high when at 9 o’clock he put a 6-pounder in the livewell followed by another quality keeper three casts later.
“I was still fishing hard,” Milton said. “I know firsthand this river can be very good to some people, and I kind of tend to fish with the ‘never enough’ mentality.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Thomas Milton, Chester, Va., five bass, 26-1, $3,080
2nd: Brandon Miskell, Vienna, Va., five bass, 17-11, $1,420
3rd: Ron Rousseau, Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 16-10, $740
4th: Ben Dalton, Bracey, Va., five bass, 16-2, $600
5th: Andrew George, Poplar Branch, N.C., five bass, 16-1, $1,030 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
6th: Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 15-8, $460
7th: Conrad Manuel, Pilot Mountain, N.C., five bass, 14-14, $450
8th: Aaron Dixon, Bel Alton, Md., five bass, 14-9, $430
9th: Ben Reynolds, Callands, Va., five bass, 14-4, $410
10th: Steve Allender, Fallston, Md., five bass, 14-2, $400
Tournament winner Milton earned the Big Bass Boater award after landing his 6-pound, 8-ounce bass worth $200. Zach Picucci of Powhatan, Virginia, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,440 Sunday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 10 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Zach Picucci, Powhatan, Va., three bass, 9-10, $1,440
2nd: Timothy Kinder, Fairfax, Va., three bass, 9-1, $810
3rd: Eric Nelson, Gainesville, Va., three bass, 8-14, $370
4th: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., three bass, 8-6, $400
5th: Ryan Spivey, Fairfax, Va., three bass, 8-4, $265
6th: Adam Oxendine, Pembroke, N.C., three bass, 7-7, $230
7th: Lenny Baird, Stafford, Va., three bass, 7-6, $230
8th: Tracey Gravely, Petersburg, Va., three bass, 7-3, $215
9th: Larry Freeman Jr., La Crosse, Va., three bass, 7-1, $205
9th: Michael Abel, Moyock, N.C., three bass, 7-1, $205
Timothy Kinder of Fairfax, Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 4-pound, 8-ounce bass worth $100.
After four events, Conrad Manuel of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, now leads the 7 Brew Piedmont Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 959 points, while Allen Haigh of Prospect Hill, North Carolina, leads the Piedmont Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 977 points.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-james-62926.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News