HUDDLESTON, Va. (March 23, 2026) – Boater Greg Stallings of Dry Fork, Virginia, caught five bass weighing 24 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Smith Mountain Lake. The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Stallings earned $3,530 for his victory.
“I practiced for two days, and I was on them,” Stallings said. “I went in there Friday and had five good bites. So, Saturday I went in there and fished for an hour and never got a bite. So, I left there and started hitting spots that have always been good to me.”
Stallings began adding fish to the livewell – first a 2-pounder, then a 3-pounder and then his day got interesting.
“I got a bite, and I caught a 7-1,” Stallings said. “That was my third fish. I kept catching fish and added a couple of 5-pounders, and that was it. I had that weight at 2 o’clock.”
Stallings said he focused on Smith Mountain’s lower-lake docks and caught two of his weigh-in fish on a jig and three on a spinnerbait, but he never thought the weight he had in his livewell was enough for a win.
“You can come in with 24 pounds on this lake and finish fourth or fifth,” said Stallings, who earned his first career BFL win in 55 attempts. “When I had my 24 pounds my co-angler said, ‘Man, you’ve got this thing won.’ I said, ‘Man, you don’t know this lake.’”
“This win is a monkey off my back,” Stallings said.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Greg Stallings, Dry Fork, Va., five bass, 24-5, $3,530
2nd: Louis Monetti, Huntersville, N.C., five bass, 20-14, $1,770
3rd: Shannon Breeding, Moneta, Va., five bass, 19-9, $990
4th: William Croteau, Hiwassee, Va., five bass, 19-3, $710
5th: Matt McCluskey, Ashburn, Va., five bass, 18-13, $630
6th: Christopher Milton, Prince George, Va., five bass, 18-7, $540
7th: Steve Allender, Fallston, Md., five bass, 16-14, $520
8th: Todd Langford, Great Falls, Va., five bass, 16-8, $490
9th: Travis Donaldson, Cleveland, N.C., five bass, 15-11, $470
10th: Ron Rousseau III, Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 15-10, $450
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Tim Macknair of Guntersville, Alabama, earned the Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 3-ounce bass worth $200. Ronald Tracy of Marlton, New Jersey, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,915 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 16 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Ronald Tracy, Marlton, N.J., three bass, 16-2, $1,915
2nd: Zach Picucci, Powhatan, Va., three bass, 12-13, $885
3rd: Richard Williams, Sutherland, Va., three bass, 10-1, $445
4th: Scott Howard, Bedford, Va., three bass, 9-10, $355
5th: Ben Meisinger, West Chester, Pa., three bass, 9-6, $315
6th: Jim Freeland, Youngsville, N.C., two bass, 8-10, $270
7th: Andrew Hostler, Tyrone, Pa., three bass, 8-1, $260
8th: Johnnie Hopkins, Greensboro, N.C., three bass, 7-14, $245
9th: Timothy King, Fallston, Md., three bass, 7-13, $240
10th: Troy Mitten, Cumberland, Va., three bass, 7-5, $225
Ronald Tracy of Marlton, New Jersey, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award catching a 7-pound, 15-ounce bass, good for $100.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-smith-mountain-32326.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News