Concord’s Jason Barnes wins the Lake Gaston BFL finale with 37-13

Jason Barnes of Concord, North Carolina, won the Phoenix Bass Fishing League North Carolina Division finale on Lake Gaston. The two-day weigh-in, reported out of Littleton on Sept. 28, 2026, was 10 bass for 37 pounds, 13 ounces. The paycheck was $10,880, and that figure includes a $7,000 Phoenix bonus. He also took the Berkley Big Bass boater award with a 7-pound, 2-ounce fish worth $300.

Barnes told The Bass Cast he had not been on Gaston in 15 years and did not like what he saw in practice, so he picked one stretch of good-looking water and stayed there. Mornings were a topwater bite. Saturday he leaned on a spinnerbait after a slow start — his first fish came around 10 a.m., and the 7-2 came that afternoon. Sunday he had three keepers by 8:30 on a buzzbait and a jig, then finished a limit in the mid- to lower lake. Evan White of Roanoke Rapids was second at 34-14.

Landon Dorman of White Bluff, Tennessee, won the co-angler division with six bass for 16 pounds, 15 ounces and $1,540. It was the fifth and last qualifier for the division. Barnes also locked up North Carolina Division Angler of the Year with 1,341 points. The regional those anglers are fishing toward is Oct. 15–17 on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Georgia.

Photo: The Bass Cast (Jason Barnes and Landon Dorman, Phoenix BFL Lake Gaston, Sept. 28, 2026).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: The Bass Cast — Concord’s Barnes Claims Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake Gaston (Sept. 28, 2026).