| Boater winner Gary Colasessano of Indianapolis, Indiana, and co-angler winner Jeremy Stoute of Bedford, Indiana. |
| Bedford’s Stoute Tops Co-Angler Division BIRDSEYE, Ind. (May 12, 2025) – Boater Gary Colasessano of Indianapolis, Indiana, caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Patoka. The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Hoosier Division. Colasessano earned $4,415 for his victory. “It was a lot of trial and error,” Colasessano said about his day. “I didn’t end up fishing the way I thought I was going to fish. The water was about 8 feet high. There was so much stuff in the water – trees, bushes, you name it. “I tend to like to power fish, and I wasn’t getting any bites when I was fishing that shallow stuff. Because I ultimately was fishing too fast.” After starting his day tossing a jerkbait on main-lake rocky points, Colasessano got a helpful clue from his co-angler, Gary Higgins. Both anglers were throwing Yamamoto Senkos. Colasessano was fishing his on a Texas rig. Higgins was throwing a wacky rig. Higgins caught a couple short fish, which showed his boater partner that slowing down could get him more bites. Colasessano made the switch, and the day turned around. “For the next four hours in this one cove, I just did a circle two times around,” Colasessano said. “We’d get one bite every 45 minutes basically. “Literally, you just soaked that worm or you weren’t going to get bit,” he added. “You just let that thing sink slowly to the bottom and they’d pick it up. The same areas I threw creature baits with a weight in them are the same areas we caught them on Senkos. It just took forever.” Prior to the tournament, there was some buzz that this event might take a big limit to win. Colasessano was so sure he hadn’t won that he didn’t stick around for the whole weigh-in. After weighing in among the first six or so anglers, Colasessano loaded his boat on the trailer and headed for home, happy to have a decent showing. “I was probably 30, 45 minutes from home and Leroy (Hensley, the tournament director) called me and said, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m going home.’ He said, ‘Well, you won.’ You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. “The funny thing is in those huge smashmouth tournaments where there are a lot of big weights, I don’t do very well,” he added. “The ones I tend to do well in are like this – really tough. I’m pleased. I was very surprised and happy.” As for the drive back to get his trophy, Colasessano was cool with that, too. “I would’ve driven 10 hours to go back and get my trophy,” he joked. The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Gary Colasessano, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 12-15, $4,415 2nd: Jamil Abdullah, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 12-10, $2,157 3rd: Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 12-6, $2,064 4th: Rob Flowers, West Harrison, Ind., five bass, 11-6, $1,007 5th: Thomas Foster, Terre Haute, Ind., four bass, 11-5, $863 6th: Mark Dunn, Trafalgar, Ind., three bass, 10-13, $1,255 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus) 6th: Braxton Munson, Anderson, Ind., four bass, 10-13, $755 8th: Blake Albertson, Bloomington, Ind., five bass, 10-8, $647 9th: Nick Uebelhor, Jasper, Ind., three bass, 10-0, $575 10th: Dayton Land, Coatesville, Ind., three bass, 9-8, $503 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Kevin Spivey of Hamilton, Ohio, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $610.  Jeremy Stoute of Bedford, Indiana, won the co-angler division and $2,157 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 6 pounds, 5 ounces. The top 10 co-anglers finished: 1st: Jeremy Stoute, Bedford, Ind., three bass, 6-5, $2,157 2nd: Akshay Verma, Franklin, Ind., two bass, 5-3, $1,079 3rd: Austin Herbst, Hamilton, Ohio, two bass, 5-2, $717 4th: Rob Campbell, Martinsville, Ind., one bass, 5-1, $808 5th: Bryan Wampler, Georgetown, Ky., two bass, 4-14, $431 6th: Darrell Duke, Hawesville, Ky., two bass, 4-12, $396 7th: Mark Bouchie, Evansville, Ind., one bass, 4-8, $342 7th: Derek Jackson, New Albany, Ind., two bass, 4-8, $342 9th: Mark Sollman, Haubstadt, Ind., one bass, 4-6, $288 10th: Martin Bryant, North Vernon, Ind., one bass, 4-4, $252 Rob Campbell of Martinsville, Indiana, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $305, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 1 ounce – the largest co-angler catch of the day. In addition to earning the win, Gary Colasessano of Indianapolis, Indiana, has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Hoosier Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Jeremy Stoute of Bedford, Indiana, leads the Fishing Clash Hoosier Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points. The next event for BFL Hoosier Division anglers will be held June 7, at Ohio River-Rocky Point out of Cannelton, Indiana. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000. The top 60 boaters and co-anglers in the division based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes out of Paris, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard worth $50,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $20,000. The 2025 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 134 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 60 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of 12 BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top three, 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 2025 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Deep Dive App, E3 Sport Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Li Time Batteries, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters and YETI. |