HENRICO, Va. (July 20, 2026) – Boater Chris Baldwin of Lexington, North Carolina, caught a total of five bass weighing 18 pounds, 3 ounces, 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 Shenandoah Division. Baldwin earned $3,280 for his victory.
Baldwin said that after an unproductive practice he decided to fish a brand new area that he hadn’t tried during practice. The decision paid off for Baldwin, as three of his final weigh fish – including one that weighed 4 pounds and one that came close to 5 – came from that area.
“I fished some other areas and caught a 3-pounder up the river near Richmond earlier in the morning,” said Baldwin. “I had three good fish at 8 or 9 o’clock. I said, ‘Man, if I put two more 2-pounders with it, I’ll be in good shape.’
“I ended up putting two more 2-pounders with it, and then at the end of the day I caught a 5-pounder with 10 minutes to go,” Baldwin went on to say.
Baldwin said during practice he had success flipping and also caught fish on a bladed jig “when the tide got right.”
“We started out the tournament with a high tide, and it fell all day, instead of starting out low and getting higher,” Baldwin said. “I think that really helped the flipping bite. No (Garmin) LiveScope was involved, no Coikes, just old-school flipping a (Zoom) Brush Hog.”
Continuing his unconventional “old-school” methods of catching fish, Baldwin said late in the day he broke off a crankbait, then broke off a Brush Hog and grabbed the last rig he had on his deck – a spinning rod with a drop-shot rig. He cast it and caught the 5-pounder with tournament time running out.
“I thought I had a chance then,” Baldwin said. “My co-angler said, ‘Man, that’s a big one. You won this thing.’ I just told him I had a chance.
“This feels great,” Baldwin added. “It’s been 13 years since I’ve won one of these.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Chris Baldwin, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 18-3, $3,280
2nd: Brian Laclair, Denton, Md., five bass, 17-11, $1,420
3rd: Eric Picucci, Midlothian, Va., five bass, 17-4, $740
4th: Thomas Milton, Chester, Va., five bass, 17-1, $700
5th: Zachary Bodsford, North Chesterfield, Va., five bass, 15-0, $530
6th: Ron Rousseau, Raleigh, N.C., four bass, 14-0, $460
7th: Michael McCrickard, Smithfield, Va., five bass, 13-6, $450
8th: Rodney French, Virginia Beach, Va., five bass, 13-4, $630
9th: Frank Poirier, North Prince George, Va., five bass, 13-1, $410
10th: Louis Martinez, Warrenton, Va., five bass, 12-7, $400
Rodney French of Virginia Beach, Virginia, earned the Big Bass Boater award after landing a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass worth $200. Zach Picucci of Powhatan, Virginia, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,540 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 11 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Zach Picucci, Powhatan, Va., three bass, 9-11, $1,540
2nd: Larry Freeman Jr., La Crosse, Va., three bass, 8-11, $710
3rd: Frank Daniels, Dover, Del., three bass, 8-8, $370
4th: Chris Moore, Mechanicsville, Va., three bass, 7-12, $300
5th: Michael Garrett, Buena Vista, Va., three bass, 7-9, $265
6th: Dante Gray, Ruther Glen, Va., three bass, 7-7, $230
7th: Nathan Sullivan, Fredericksburg, Va., three bass, 7-5, $330
8th: Stephen Barr, Wilmington, N.C., three bass, 7-0, $215
9th: Shaquille Freeman, Farmville, Va., three bass, 6-14, $210
10th: Joshua Torres, Port Tobacco, Md., three bass, 6-13, $200
Co-angler winner Picucci also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass worth $100.
After four events, Brian Laclair of Denton, Maryland, now leads the 7 Brew Shenandoah Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 977 points, while Michael Garrett of Buena Vista, Virginia, leads the Shenandoah Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 951 points.
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