| Boater winner Mike Brueggen of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Strike-King co-angler winner Brent Jones of Okeana, Ohio. |
| Ohio’s Brent Jones Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division QUAD CITIES, Ill. (Oct. 14, 2024) – Boater Mike Brueggen of La Crosse, Wisconsin, caught a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 42 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine Regional on Pools 13-17 of the Mississippi River . The tournament, which was hosted by Visit Quad Cities, concluded Saturday. For his win, Brueggen earned a prize package valued at $59,200, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200hp Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000. The Mississippi River event served as Regional championship for BFL Region 3. The field included the top 45 boaters and co-anglers based on point standings, plus each of the tournament winners, from the 2024 Great Lakes, Hoosier, Illini and Michigan divisions. The top six boaters and co-anglers have qualified for the 2025 BFL All-American, which will be held on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, May 29-31. Winning this tournament earned Brueggen an incredible 10th BFL All-American qualification, adding to an already stellar BFL career that includes 11 victories and 67 top-10 finishes in 155 events fished since 2002. Brueggen has been a mainstay of the Great Lakes Division the entire time, earning Angler of the Year honors six times in a 12-season span from 2009 to 2020. This season, he finished runner-up in the AOY race to earn his shot at the Regional in Quad Cities. All but one of Brueggen’s tournament wins have come on river systems – mostly the Mississippi River out of his hometown on La Crosse. He put all that river knowhow to work early preparing for this year’s Regional. “I started figuring it (the winning pattern) out a year ago when the schedule came out,” he said. “I came down and practiced. And I came down before cutoff and practiced. I figured out that I could try to fish shallower than everybody to possibly get an advantage.” The biggest challenge he encountered was the fact that this stretch of river doesn’t have the weeds that he’s used to fishing in La Crosse. He ended up deciphering a milk run of shallow main-river current-related spots. “I didn’t think I could win,” he added. “I caught enough keepers (in practice) that I knew there were groups of fish up shallow. This week I caught bigger fish than I expected to catch. I did not hook many in practice, and I did not realize I was on that many fish.” On day one, Brueggen caught 13 pounds, 3 ounces from some logs using a Texas rig. He felt like 12 pounds per day would be enough for a high finish, so he laid off the fish early. On day two, he caught some big ones early and filled out a limit of 15-1, which was the biggest single-day weight of the event. With a good limit in the box, he quit fishing early again. “Because I caught a good weight every day early, I didn’t expand, so I hadn’t seen my other water in four or five days,” Brueggen said. “So Saturday it was really weird when I didn’t have them early and had to go fishing again. I didn’t catch my last two decent ones until 1:30.” A final-day weight of 14-4 gave Brueggen the win with a cushion of more than 3 pounds. With next season’s Regional also scheduled for the Quad Cities stretch of the Mississippi River, the champ was hesitant to reveal too much about where he caught his fish, other than the spots were small. He actually thought they’d be one-fish spots, but he was able to catch multiple keepers off some of them. He used the Texas rig on day one because he couldn’t fish the logs the way he wanted to with a shallow crankbait. From there, his primary lures were a crankbait and a Head Hunter Nasty 50/50 spinnerbait. The spinnerbait produced nine of his keepers in three days. Looking ahead to All-American No. 10, Brueggen, who clearly has a fierce competitive streak, shared how he feels about the opportunity: “Pressure, honestly. The last couple I haven’t made top 10s in, and it bothers me.” As if he has anything to prove, he’ll get a chance to right the top-10 ship next May. The top six boaters who qualified for the 2025 Phoenix BFL All-American finished: 1st: Mike Brueggen, La Crosse, Wis., 15 bass, 42-8, $59,200 2nd: Adam Crigger, Le Claire, Iowa, 15 bass, 39-1, $10,200 3rd: Travis Boley, Weldon, Ill., 15 bass, 38-15, $5,602 4th: Cody Kelley, Plainwell, Mich., 15 bass, 37-10, $3,760 5th: Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., 15 bass, 36-15, $2,640 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus) 6th: Grant Neubauer, Medford, Wis., 15 bass, 35-13, $1,656 The rest of the top 12 who made the cut to fish on Saturday finished: 7th: Jeremy Mull, Pawnee, Ill., 15 bass, 35-1, $1,472 8th: Hunter Litchfield, Macomb, Ill., 15 bass, 34-2, $1,288 9th: Drake van Dike, Livonia, Mich., 15 bass, 33-2, $2,104 10th: Daniel Franklin, Davenport, Iowa, 15 bass, 33-0, $1,012 11th: Mario Rossi, Granite City, Ill., 13 bass, 31-13, $920 12th: William Briere, Mooresville, Ind., 15 bass, 31-5, $1,920 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. The top-finishing boater (not including the winner) from each division earned a $1,000 bonus for placing highest in the event. Those anglers included: Great Lakes: Adam Crigger, LeClaire, Iowa, 2nd Place, $1,000 Hoosier: William Briere, Mooresville, Ind., 12th Place, $1,000 Illini: Travis Boley, Weldon, Ill., 3rd Place, $1,000 Michigan: Cody Kelley, Plainwell, Mich., 4th Place $1,000 Drake van Dike of Livonia, Michigan, won the Berkley Big Bass Boater award and $1,000 for landing a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces, the biggest of the tournament.  Brent Jones of Okeana, Ohio, won the Strike King co-angler division Saturday after bringing a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 30 pounds, 6 ounces, to the scale. His $50,000 prize package included a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200hp Mercury or Suzuki outboard. The top six Strike King co-anglers who qualified for the 2025 Phoenix BFL All-American finished: 1st: Brent Jones, Okeana, Ohio, 13 bass, 30-6, $50,000 2nd: Ross Davis, St. Elmo, Ill., 13 bass, 28-9, $5,219 3rd: Brian Townley, Wyoming, Mich., 10 bass, 25-15, $2,857 4th: Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, 11 bass, 24-5, $2,166 5th: Mark Folsom, Waterville, Iowa, 13 bass, 24-1, $1,444 6th: Chase Johnson, Quincy, Ill., 11 bass, 24-1, $849 The rest of the top 12 who made the cut to fish on Saturday finished: 7th: Dominick Dinovo, Joliet, Ill., 12 bass, 23-4, $755 8th: Thomas Bridges, Kankakee, Ill., 11 bass, 22-13, $661 9th: Kim Sapetti, Chatham, Ill., nine bass, 20-3, $566 10th: Timothy Wittren, Ontario, Wis., nine bass, 18-1, $519 11th: Hayden Swain, Tamaroa, Ill., six bass, 14-13, $472 12th: David Ondrla, Elmhurst, Ill., seven bass, 13-15, $472 The top-finishing co-angler (not including the winner) from each division earned a $500 bonus for placing highest in the event. Those anglers included: Great Lakes: Mark Folsom, Waterville, Iowa, 5th Place, $500 Hoosier: Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, 4th Place, $500 Illini: Ross Davis, St. Elmo, Ill., 2nd Place, $500 Michigan: Brian Townley, Wyoming, Mich., 3rd Place $500 Dante Johnson of Gurnee, Illinois, caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award worth $500. The 2024 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing 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. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, PowerStop Brakes, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters and YETI. For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. |
