Pinckney man takes home $19K after Major League Fishing win on Detroit River

PINCKNEY — Boater Michael Sitko of Pinckney caught five bass — weighing 24 pounds, 15 ounces — on Saturday, Aug. 26, to win MLF's Phoenix Bass Fishing League on the Detroit River.

MLF (Major League Fishing) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events per year at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world. The 2023 Phoenix BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season and five qualifying tournaments in each division. According to MLF, the most recent tournament was the fourth event of the season for the Michigan Division.

The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the top five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six regional tournaments, where they compete 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.

Sitko earned $12,146 and a $7,000 contingency bonus for his victory. To date, Sitko has five career MLF wins on the Detroit River.“I can’t explain how good it feels to get this win, because the guys competing in this are so good,” Sitko wrote in a press release. “You have guys that guide out here daily, and they’re just so good. This never gets old, and I can’t wait to win the next one.”Sitko said he caught around 10 keepers, which is dependent on size, throughout the day on a drop-shot rig tipped with a tube. The majority of his fish came late in the morning, and he didn’t remove or release any fish after that.“I did have one that jumped off later in the day that I thought would have helped, but I ended up not needing it,” Sitko said. “I truly thought that fish was going to cost me.“There’s never a point in this division when you think you’re going to win,” Sitko added. “I’ve had tournaments where I’ve had really big bags and not won because you get 26-pound bags from Erie a lot. This group of anglers is just so good.”

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Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit majorleaguefishing.com.

— Contact reporter Patricia Alvord at palvord@livingstondaily.com.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Pinckney man takes home $19K after Major League Fishing win on Detroit River