| Boater winner Ben Yarbrough of Athens, Alabama, and co-angler winner Kade Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. |
| Tennessee’s Suratt Earns Title in Co-Angler Division SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Feb. 16, 2026) – Boater Ben Yarbrough of Athens, Alabama, caught a total of five bass weighing 24 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Guntersville. The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Yarbrough earned $7,750 for his victory. Yarbrough’s practice paid off, as he approached the tournament patiently with a wait-for-it approach. “I sat in one pocket where there were about 15 boats until about 10 o’clock,” Yarbrough said. “I had pre-fished, and I knew the fish weren’t going to be right until the sun got to a certain position, whether it was cloudy or not.” Time passed and Yarbrough sat patiently waiting on the sun. The deepest water the pocket had was 8 feet and was covered in grass. He said he knew the fish were out in the middle in the morning feeding on shad, but they were smaller fish. His bait of choice for the bass was a BOOYAH lipless crankbait. “I sat there and didn’t catch a fish, a couple of boats left, and then the sun pulled up and the big fish turned on, and I caught five fish in 30 minutes,” Yarbrough said. “They were almost on the surface. I imagine you could almost catch them on a topwater bait. Once the sun pulled up, the bigger fish would come up to 4 feet, and I could burn that bait across the grass. As soon as my bait hit the water, I had to reel it fast with an 8:1 ratio reel. And that’s just typical Guntersville. “I used my scoping period the last three hours of the day,” Yarbrough went on to say. “I wanted to save that as my last resort. I needed to upgrade. I had 20 pounds at that point and knew I needed 22 to 23 pounds to even have a chance at a top-5 finish. I caught two more that helped me out.” Yarbrough relocated closer to the weigh-in ramp and had a chance to put a giant kicker in his livewell. “I missed a 10-pounder,” Yarbrough said. “It rolled up on the water and straightened my hooks out.” The missed fish was a heartbreaker for Yarbrough, but it turned out he didn’t need it to secure his first BFL win. “This is wonderful,” Yarbrough said. “I’ve been trying to win a BFL for four years now. I told somebody, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but I’m more tickled about the trophy than the money.’” The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Ben Yarbrough, Athens, Ala., five bass, 24-13, $7,750 2nd: Cal Lane, Grant, Ala., five bass, 23-9, $4,190 (includes $500 Phoenix Bonus) 3rd: Hunter Davidson, Reform, Ala., five bass, 23-5, $1,660 4th: Jed Lamb, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 22-1, $1,155 4th: Tyler Pendergrass, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 22-1, $1,255 6th: Bo Quinnie, Duncanville, Ala., five bass, 22-0, $860 7th: Walt Roberts, Gautier, Miss., five bass, 21-14, $810 8th: Kade Harper, Section, Ala., five bass, 21-12, $760 9th: Sam Morgan, Coalmont, Tenn., five bass, 21-10, $710 10th: Jimmy Neece Jr., Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 21-9, $535 10th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., five bass, 21-9, $535 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Austin Smith of Attalla, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 8-pound, 14-ounce bass worth $200.  Kade Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $3,875 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 17 pounds, 8 ounces. The top 10 co-anglers finished: 1st: Kade Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 17-8, $3,875 2nd: Tyson Giesbrecht, Gurley, Ala., three bass, 16-12, $1,845 3rd: Kevin McWithey, Flintville, Tenn., three bass, 15-14, $830 4th: Jeff Collins, Albertville, Ala., three bass, 14-2, $630 5th: Josh Moore, Decatur, Ala., three bass, 13-1, $675 6th: Elliott Gault, Leesburg, Ala., three bass, 12-13, $430 7th: Jonathan Majors, Chelsea, Ala., three bass, 12-3, $410 8th: Isaac Brown, Lexington, Ala., three bass, 11-14, $380 9th: Joe Gionti, Stevenson, Ala., three bass, 11-13, $360 10th: Zac Brewer, Scottsboro, Ala., three bass, 11-8, $330 Josh Moore of Decatur, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 7-pound, 7-ounce bass worth $100. The top 45 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. 8-10 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama. 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 prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500. The 2026 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 co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2026 BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism. Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, Mystik Lubricants, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling. For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular BFL updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. |