| Boater Nick Trim of Galesville, Wisconsin and Strike-King co-angler Cade Luebben of West Concord, Minnesota. |
| Minnesotan Luebben Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division LA CROSSE, Wis. (May 20, 2024) – Boater Nick Trim of Galesville, Wisconsin, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin . Hosted by Explore La Crosse, the tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Great Lakes Division. Trim earned $10,718, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory. Trim is on a roll on the Mississippi River. Last weekend at the 2024 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier out of La Crosse, he threw down a three-day wire-to-wire win. Then he followed it up with the only 20-pound-plus stringer of the tournament to win the BFL. “I pretty much just kept it rolling,” Trim said. “We put in at Pool 8. I ran up to Pool 7 and caught like 17 pounds, and then I locked down and ended up catching my three biggest fish in Pool 8 after 1 o’clock.” Trim weighed in a limit of smallmouths that he caught off beds using Garmin LiveScope in perspective mode. He located beds in 3- to 5-foot-deep gravel areas out of the current on the main river or just off the main river. Trim said the fish were actually in between spawning waves and catching 20-plus greatly outperformed his expectations. “The problem was the water came up 3 feet, so all the sudden you can’t see them,” he said. “You can’t visually look at them. That’s where the LiveScope comes in. Both events were the same thing. Today (Saturday) it came down a little bit. The first fish I caught was the only good fish I caught in practice. It was a 4-2, and I could visually see it with my eyes. Every other fish I weighed in I caught looking at with my LiveScope.” Trim caught his fish using a variety of common bed-fishing lures, including a drop-shot with a Keitech 2.8 Swing Impact FAT Swimbait, a Missile Baits D Bomb, a Yamamoto Senko and a Ned rig. His kicker fish was a 5-pounder, and after throwing “everything I had in the boat” at it, he finally caught it on the Senko. “The 5-pounder was in an area on Pool 8 I haven’t ever really fished, but I was going along and I just saw this big fish swimming around on my graph,” he said. “It kind of settled in on this dark spot that I assumed was its bed, and I threw in there and caught her within 30 minutes.”  The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Nick Trim, Galesville, Wis., five bass, 20-6, $10,718 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus) 2nd: Clayton Weber, West Salem, Wis., five bass, 19-5, $1,859 3rd: Mark Myers, Cedar Falls, Iowa, five bass, 19-1, $1,238 4th: Dan Mohn, Lansing, Iowa, five bass, 18-9, $1,292 5th: Jackson Perry, Onalaska, Wis., five bass, 18-7, $744 6th: Parker Kratochvill, Onalaska, Wis., five bass, 17-3, $682 7th: Greg Oppegard, West Saint Paul, Minn., five bass, 16-6, $1,105 8th: Aiden Denzer, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 16-5, $527 8th: Kory Rose, Waterloo, Iowa, five bass, 16-5, $527 10th: Chris Aswegan, Tiffin, Iowa, five bass, 16-3, $434 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Greg Oppegard of West Saint Paul, Minnesota, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $485. Cade Luebben of West Concord, Minnesota, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,859 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 15 pounds, 2 ounces. The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished: 1st: Cade Luebben, West Concord, Minn., five bass, 15-2, $1,859 2nd: Chris Stelter, Chisago City, Minn., five bass, 14-7, $929 3rd: Brandon Troupe, Chicago, Ill., five bass, 13-9, $619 4th: Jason Olson, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., five bass, 13-7, $434 5th: Tim Himsl, Moline, Ill., five bass, 13-6, $372 6th: John Kimmes, Hastings, Minn., five bass, 13-1, $341 7th: Brian Billett, Elgin, Ill., five bass, 13-0, $310 8th: Hertz Skaer, Holmen, Wis., five bass, 12-15, $379 9th: Ryan Coon, LeClaire, Iowa, five bass, 12-14, $248 10th: Adam Boyce, Glenview, Ill., five bass, 12-13, $217 Gage Griffin of Lake Forest, Illinois, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $242, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day. After two events, Mark Myers of Cedar Falls, Iowa, leads the Fishing Clash Great Lakes Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 488 points, while Jason Olson of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, leads the Fishing Clash Great Lakes Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 495 points. The next event for BFL Great Lakes Division anglers will be held June 15, at Wolf River Chain in Winneconne, Wisconsin. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 10-12 BFL Regional tournament on Pools 13-17 of the Mississippi River in Quad Cities, Illinois. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard. 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. Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, 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, 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. |
