| Boater winner Clint Knight of Russellville, Kentucky, and co-angler winner Tim Rampaul of Dickson, Tennessee. |
| Tennessee’s Rampaul Tops Co-Angler Division GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (July 14, 2025) – Boater Clint Knight of Russellville, Kentucky, caught a three-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes. The tournament, hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, was the fourth event of the season for the BFL LBL Division. Knight earned $3,779 for his victory. Knight is absolutely on fire on the Kentucky-Barkley system. He won the LBL Division Angler of the Year title in 2023, finished runner-up in 2024 and is now in second place again for 2025. Plus, he’s now won two LBL Division tournaments in a row to cap a streak of three consecutive top-three finishes. “Today, we fished from the dam all the way to the Paris bridge,” he said. “Last month, I won the BFL, but it was completely different and things have changed a lot in the last month or so. I had 31 schools and now on all 31 of those spots, all my fish have moved. I went back and re-idled a lot of the stuff. I came down and practiced Friday, and all the way from the dam to the Paris bridge I only had seven legit schools. And when I say a school, I’m considering a school of 25 fish or more.” In practice and in the tournament, Knight noticed his fish moving around on him. They’d move 250 or 300 feet overnight or even during the same day, often sliding up on top of the bar instead of setting up on the edge of the ledge. He attributes that to the fishing pressure and slow current. As a result, he had to make a shift midday during the tournament. “I fished ledges until 10 or 11,” he said. “After that, I realized everything had been beat on pretty good. So I got on top of the bars. I caught a 5-opunder in the last hour in 4 foot of water, and it really surprised me because I started out the morning catching fish in 22 feet. It shows that true transition factor of Kentucky Lake in July.” While Knight’s best school was in 8 to 10 feet of water, he spent the rest of his day targeting fish up on the bars where they were feeding on massive schools of fry. He worked through a pretty typical ledge-fishing lure rotation, except he left out a crankbait because he says it busts the schools up too much this time of year. Key lures included a Carolina rig, spoon and 5-inch minnow – ledge fishing staples for one of the hottest hands in ledge fishing right now. “It feels weird because I’ve been second through 10th in the BFLs here, and now I finally can win two of them,” Knight said. “I’ll take it any way I can get it. I’m just gonna enjoy the ride.” The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Clint Knight, Russellville, Ky., three bass, 13-9, $3,779 2nd: Sam Lashlee, Camden, Tenn., three bass, 13-2, $1,840 3rd: Levi Kohl, Edinburg, Ill., three bass, 12-6, $1,225 4th: Dustin Vaal, Farmington, Ky., three bass, 11-14, $859 5th: Matt Robertson, Kuttawa, Ky., three bass, 11-12, $736 6th: Ron Smith, Walton, Ky., three bass, 11-9, $644 6th: Drew Morgan, Murray, Ky., three bass, 11-9, $644 8th: Harlan Thomas, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 11-7, $552 9th: David Hames, Trezevant, Tenn., three bass, 11-5, $491 10th: Kane Hackemack, Georgetown, Ind., three bass, 11-2, $429 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Ben Wade of South Fulton, Tennessee, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $480.  Tim Rampaul of Dickson, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and $2,090 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 12 ounces. The top 11 co-anglers finished: 1st: Tim Rampaul, Dickson, Tenn., three bass, 11-12, $2,090 2nd: Dave Willmore, West Frankfort, Ill., three bass, 10-10, $920 3rd: Trent Gooch, Yuma, Tenn., three bass, 9-10, $612 4th: Joshua Smith, Benton, Ky., three bass, 9-6, $429 5th: Gary Huber II, Saint Charles, Mo., two bass, 8-15, $368 6th: Brendan Murphy, Cape Girardeau, Mo., three bass, 8-11, $337 7th: Kyle Cavitt, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 8-4, $307 8th: Wesley Jennings, Clarksville, Tenn., three bass, 8-2, $276 9th: Corey Green, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 7-7, $245 10th: Peyton Nolen, Lexington, Tenn., three bass, 7-1, $204 10th: Cowboy Tidwell, Madisonville, Ky., three bass, 7-1, $204 Jeff Johnston of Nashville, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $240, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day. After four events, Levi Kohl of Edinburg, Illinois, now leads the Fishing Clash LBL Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 995 points, while Zach Falder of Sedalia, Kentucky, leads the Fishing Clash LBL Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 942 points. The next event for BFL LBL Division anglers will be held Sept. 27-28, at Kentucky-Barkley Lakes out of Gilbertsville, Kentucky. 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 Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, 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. 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. 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. |