| Boater winner Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, and Strike-King co-angler winner Jaxson Thomas of Texarkana, Arkansas. |
| Arkansas’ Thomas Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division BROOKELAND, Texas (Jan. 6, 2025) – Boater Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 29 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir . The tournament, hosted by Jasper County Development District, was the first event of the season for the BFL and the Cowboy Division. Frankens earned $4,796 for his victory. According to Frankens, fishing and the conditions had been consistent at Rayburn ahead of the tournament, but a recent water level rise changed things pretty quickly. “I wasn’t even sure I was going to get to fish the event,” he said. “And thankfully I did last minute and was able to get in. So I didn’t get to practice a ton for the event. That probably ended up working in my favor since I wasn’t out there getting dialed on something as it was changing. I was able to fish free and adapt, and I was able to learn some things as I fished today. That ended up helping out a ton.” Frankens relied on forward-facing sonar to find and catch his fish. His primary lures included a 6th Sense Ozzie, a 6th Sense Crush 300DD Crankbait and a 6th Sense Divine Hybrid Jig . Because he didn’t have much practice, Frankens had to cover a ton of water throughout the tournament. He primarily targeted timber in creek channels, ditches and drains, and he says he ran around enough that he nearly saw the entire lake. Frankens prefers to hunt big bites, which is obviously a good strategy if you want to catch 29-plus pounds and win at Rayburn. But it’s also a gamble, and at first, it looked like he might be holding the losing hand. “I didn’t have a great start to the day,” he added. “I think I was just a little too deep. Just like Rayburn fish do, they kind of moved up with the rising water. Once I figured that out at about 9:30 or 10, that’s when I started getting some of my bigger ones. It wasn’t easy. I started picking up one here, one there.” “Shallower,” in this case, was 10 to 15 feet of water, rather than mid-20s, which would be pretty standard for Frankens this time of year at Rayburn. In addition to the fish on timber, Frankens also caught some “floaters,” or suspended nomadic fish. Ultimately, it was keeping an open mind and his strategic use of forward-facing sonar that earned him the W. “Using that tool to learn is a big deal,” Frankens said. “I’m not just randomly running around scoping in the middle of nowhere. That’s just not how it works. Using that technology to learn and let the fish show you what they’re doing is a big deal.” Once he got a couple better bites and started to piece together that the fish were shallower, Frankens was able to capitalize on his history on the lake to piece together an impressive limit. Altogether, he caught about 10 keepers. That included a 2 1/2-pounder that was among the five bass he weighed in. A 2 1/2 in a 29-pound, 1-ounce limit means Franken’s other four weigh-in fish averaged more than 6 1/2 pounds apiece – a great way to kick off the 2025 BFL season. The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, five bass, 29-1, $4,796 2nd: Wesley Baxley, Cypress, Texas, five bass, 23-15, $2,398 3rd: Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., five bass, 19-0, $1,595 4th: Hayden Heck, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 17-15, $1,119 5th: Ian Leybas, McAlester, Okla., five bass, 17-12, $959 6th: Tommy Mackey, Bryan, Texas, five bass, 16-15, $879 7th: James Laramore, Vidor, Texas, five bass, 16-11, $1,514 8th: Zane Parker, Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 16-6, $719 9th: Tater Reynolds, Florien, La., five bass, 16-4, $639 10th: J.D. Chandler, Liberty, Texas, five bass, 15-15, $560 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. James Laramore of Vidor, Texas, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $715.  Jaxson Thomas of Texarkana, Arkansas, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,576 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 6 ounces. The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished: 1st: Jaxson Thomas, Texarkana, Arkansas, three bass, 11-6, $2,576 2nd: Aaron Willis, Broken Bow, Okla., three bass, 9-1, $1,199 3rd: Michael Glynn, Boerne, Texas, three bass, 8-8, $795 4th: Logan Slaughter, Dallas, Texas, two bass, 8-1, $493 4th: Gary Medley, Vidor, Texas, one bass, 8-1, $671 4th: Ronald Leist, Onalaska, Texas, three bass, 8-1, $493 7th: Richard Garcia, Hemphill, Texas, three bass, 7-13, $400 8th: Mitch Powers, Pineland, Texas, three bass, 7-12, $320 8th: Kasen Clark, Coldspring, Texas, three bass, 7-12, $320 8th: Dustin Berry, Dayton, Texas, one bass, 7-12, $320 Jaxson Thomas of Texarkana, Arkansas, and Gary Medley of Vidor, Texas, tied for the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award, each catching a bass that weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce. They each took home $178 for their share of the prize. In addition to earning the win, Frankens has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while co-angler winner Thomas leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Co-Angler of the Year race, also with 250 points. The next event for BFL Cowboy Division anglers will be held January 18, at Toledo Bend out of Many, Louisiana 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. 24-25 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, 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 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 Strike King 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, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Vosker, 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. |
