Floyd to compete in B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters all-star event

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – One fish. One cast. One hundred thousand dollars. That’s what’s at stake next week when the sixth-annual Major League Fishing all-star event – B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops – hits Smith Mountain Lake, May 17-22.

Hosted by Visit Franklin County, Virginia and Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, the all-star tournament will showcase the 30 pros that qualified from the 2024 Bass Pro Tour season competing for a top prize of $100,000 to the winner. Anglers will also be awarded Berkley Big Bass bonuses during the competition, that pay up to $100,000 for catching the single biggest bass.

To qualify for B&W Heavy Hitters, the weight of an angler’s single-largest bass from each event of the seven 2024 Bass Pro Tour events was recorded. The 30 anglers with the heaviest total from those seven bass qualified to compete in this event.

“We are beyond excited to welcome Major League Fishing’s top big bass anglers to Smith Mountain Lake,” said Kevin Tosh, Director of Tourism and Communications at Visit Franklin County, Virginia. “This prestigious event is a powerful opportunity to showcase not only one of America’s rising top tier bass fisheries but also the vibrant metro-mountain charm of Franklin County, Virginia’s Blue Ridge, and the entire Smith Mountain Lake community. This moment has been years in the making, thanks to the dedication of local anglers, conservationists and partners who’ve invested in sustainable fishery practices. We invite anglers, fans and families alike to experience ‘Virginia’s Big Bass Playground’ and enjoy everything our beautiful destination has to offer.”

While MLF has held 61 tournaments on Smith Mountain Lake in various circuits in the past, this event marks the first time that the Bass Pro Tour will hold a tournament on the fishery.

“Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge and Visit Franklin County, Virginia are excited to co-host the 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters tournament at Smith Mountain Lake,” said John Oney, Vice President of Sports & Sales at Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge. “We’re looking forward to welcoming our friends at Major League Fishing, a premier professional bass fishing brand, to our destination. This all-star Bass Pro Tour event will feature professional anglers, families, staff and other support personnel from across the country in a six-day competition.

“As a result of hosting, our region will be highlighted through ongoing national television coverage on Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel and MLFNOW! live streaming. This tournament will give our region a terrific platform to showcase our outdoor recreation opportunities, arts & culture, attractions and many other metro mountain adventures that we’re known for.”

As the 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters event descends upon Smith Mountain Lake, anticipation is high for what promises to be an unpredictable showdown on one of the east coast’s more underrated bass fisheries. Local pro Martin Villa of Charlottesville, Virginia, who will be among the 30 competitors in this event, said Smith Mountain Lake is fishing better than ever and is more than ready for the spotlight.

“Virginia’s done a phenomenal job on this fishery, and they’ve been stocking it for quite a while,” Villa said. “It’s been a minute since any big event has been here, but it seems like the region is setting up for a series of professional events over the next five years. It’s Virginia’s best fishery, hands down.”

As one of the most scenic and consistent fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic, Smith Mountain Lake is a natural fit for the high-stakes format of Heavy Hitters, where every fish counts – and the biggest bass of each round can net anglers a hefty bonus check. The timing of the event places the field squarely in the middle of a complex seasonal transition, according to Villa, which means anglers will likely see a little bit of everything – spawning fish, fry guarders and shad spawn activity.

“We’re hitting the fishery, for this event, during the second half of the spawn,” Villa explained. “It’s been kind of a strange spawn in Virginia. They jumped on the beds real early and then it stalled out. But the water is warm enough now where the shad spawn will be going on as well. So, it’s a lot like what we ran into at Lake Chickamauga where you’ll have bedding bass and fry guarders as well as shad balls and fish targeting them.”

With no restrictions on forward-facing sonar during the Heavy Hitters event, Villa expects the technology to play a major role in how the tournament shakes out.

“This is an exceptional forward-facing sonar fishery,” he said. “Ever since forward-facing sonar came out, the bar has risen on this lake. There’s been quite a few 7- to 11-pound bass caught over the wintertime and in late spring.”

While many of those big fish slide shallow during the spawn, Villa said forward-facing sonar will likely unlock offshore opportunities all day long.

“With it being allowed the entire day during this event, it’s probably going to dominate,” Villa said. “But this is one of these fisheries that’s everybody’s favorite because anglers can really fish to their strengths. The upper ends are great, but you can really win this thing in any section of the lake.”

Villa also noted that shoals and offshore structure will come into play, depending on how much water is moving through the system. And as a part of the Roanoke River system, Smith Mountain Lake is known for its water clarity and quality – something Villa says anglers shouldn’t overlook.

“Smith Mountain Lake has excellent water quality. You can find muddy water if you want to fish it, but the lake is mostly clear,” he said. “This is one of these fisheries where fish live from one end to the other. You don’t have to go looking for where they are – they’re everywhere. We take that for granted in Virginia, but it’s a good thing.”

With a unique format that emphasizes both quantity and quality, Villa believes strategy will shift over the course of the week – especially with the 3-pound minimum on Championship Day.

“During the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds, catching males will be fine – on this lake they’ll be over 2 pounds,” he said. “But during the Championship Round, anglers are definitely going to need to find the females to get to that 3-pound minimum.

“This is a fishery that’s known for 3- to 6-pound bass, but not necessarily known for lots and lots of bites,” Villa continued. “But I think somebody who puts 15 bass on the board daily – about 40 pounds per day – will advance. But I wouldn’t be surprised if someone finds a big school of fish and runs it way up.”

The Bass Pro Tour trailering policy has been enacted for this event, so anglers will depart Trinity Ecumenical Parish each morning at 6:15 a.m. to one of five launch ramps located around the fishery. Anglers will return to Trinity Ecumenical Parish each evening following the end of competition at 3:45 p.m. Fans are encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW! live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters at Smith Mountain Lake Presented by Bass Pro Shops features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. A bass must meet the 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable in the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds, but for the final day Championship Round a bass must weigh at least 3 pounds to be deemed scorable.

The 15 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday – the 15 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the top eight anglers from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round weights are zeroed, and the remaining 16 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round. In Thursday’s final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

In addition to overall tournament awards, Berkley Big Bass bonuses are awarded in each round of competition with payouts of $10,000 for the single biggest bass on each day of Group A & B Qualifying, $30,000 for the biggest bass in the Knockout Round and $100,000 for the biggest bass in the Championship Round.

The 30 anglers that will compete in B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters at Smith Mountain Lake Presented by Bass Pro Shops are:

Group A:
Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn.
Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La.
Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala.
Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla.
Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill.
Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn.
Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark.
Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas
Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas
Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa.
Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn.
Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn.
Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark.
Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas
Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn.

Group B:
Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla.
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash.
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala.
Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif.
Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio
Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan
Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla.
Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La.
Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala.
Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C.
Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala.
Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C.
Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis.
Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app, and Rumble.

Television coverage of B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters 2025 Presented by Bass Pro Shops will be showcased across six two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, July 26 and running each Saturday through Aug. 30 on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO Boats, Onyx, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Star brite, Toyota, YETI and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.