| Boater winner Todd Robertson of Youngsville, Louisiana, and co-angler winner Allen Musser of Ada, Oklahoma. |
| Oklahoma’s Musser Wins Co-Angler Division ZWOLLE, La. (Feb. 23, 2026) – Boater Todd Robertson of Youngsville, Louisiana, caught a total of five bass weighing 26 pounds, 9 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Toledo Bend. The tournament was the second of five events of the season for the BFL Cowboy Division. Robertson earned $4,490 for his victory. “We had a rough ride to our starting spot, so it didn’t start out awesome, but we made it to our starting spot,” said Robertson, who was competing in his first career BFL event as a boater. “I was expecting there to be a lot more boats there, but there wasn’t. I attributed that to the muddier water conditions, which I actually prefer. That’s the kind of water I see on a day-to-day basis in south Louisiana.” After catching a few bass, Robertson relocated to a creek drain area he was familiar with and threw a small crankbait, one of his confidence baits on any water. The creek drain held a lot of wood, and Robertson said he hit what he thought was a stump. “The bait just stopped,” Robertson said. “I was trolling over to it thinking, ‘This might be a fish.’ Then the line started moving. Then about 10 reel rotations in, it really started moving. And I knew I had a good one. I was in three feet of water, and I saw it from the side and as soon as I saw it, I yelled out a really loud plea of ‘Net!’ Because I had a giant. It dove, and popped up again, and my co-angler was Johnny-on-the-spot with the net. That was the 10-13 fish, and it was hooked with both trebles. It was crazy. It’s the biggest fish I’ve ever seen in person.” Robertson said he moved to a secondary spot that featured dirty water and was blocked from the wind. He approached the area with a weightless soft plastic bait and soon hooked into another bass that went 8½ pounds. “After that, during the next couple of hours, nothing happened,” Robertson said. “I circled out of the area and headed back. “Back at weigh-in, everybody started congratulating me and telling me I would win,” Robertson said. “I told them, ‘No way.’ But then the emcee announced it, and I thought, ‘I actually did it.’ “I had zero expectation to win,” Robertson went on to say. “I told my friends, ‘I’m one and done. I’m not coming back.’ But I am.” The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Todd Robertson, Youngsville, La., five bass, 26-9, $4,490 2nd: Nick Kincaid, Brookeland, Texas, five bass, 23-8, $2,630 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus) 3rd: Lane Olson, Grove, Ore., five bass, 22-7, $1,050 4th: Tater Reynolds, Florien, La., five bass, 22-3, $830 5th: Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, five bass, 20-14, $720 6th: John Pearce, Frierson, La., five bass, 20-13, $720 7th: Tim Coyle, College Station, Texas, five bass, 20-8, $590 8th: Barrett Bennefield, San Augustine, Texas, five bass, 20-6, $560 9th: Ted Marodis, Biloxi, Miss., five bass, 20-0, $540 10th: Hank Harrison, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 19-10, $510 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Robertson’s 10-13 also earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $200.  Allen Musser of Ada, Oklahoma, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $2,145 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 13 ounces. The top 10 co-anglers finished: 1st: Allen Musser, Ada, Okla., three bass, 14-13, $2,145 2nd: Cody Laird, Corrigan, Texas, three bass, 13-12, $1,065 3rd: Dustin Berry, Dayton, Texas, three bass, 10-3, $525 4th: Brandon Pent, Deridder, La., three bass, 10-0, $415 5th: Danny Giacomo, McAlester, Okla., three bass, 9-13, $360 6th: Blake Defoor, Waldron, Ark., three bass, 8-15, $410 7th: Lee Anne Powell, Lake Jackson, Texas, three bass, 8-9, $350 8th: Tres Segler, Woodway, Texas, three bass, 8-5, $280 9th: Robert Joslin, Fort Smith, Ark., three bass, 8-2, $262 9th: Demarcus Armstrong, Pittsburg, Texas, three bass, 8-2, $262 Jonathan Dotson of Dover, Arkansas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass worth $100. After two events, Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, now leads the 7 Brew Cowboy Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 495 points, while Jeremy Edwards of Lufkin, Texas, leads the Cowboy Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 485 points. 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. 22-24 BFL Regional tournament on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. 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. |