| Boater winner Chris Leclere of Cannelton, Indiana, and co-angler winner Garrett Deal of Evansville, Indiana. |
| Indiana’s Deal Takes Co-Angler Division CANNELTON, Ind. (Aug. 18, 2025) – After back-to-back Ohio River BFL wins in 2018 and 2019, boater Chris Leclere of Cannelton, Indiana, had to wait a few years, but Saturday he made his return to the winner’s circle. Leclere caught a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 15 ounces to win his third career BFL title at the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Ohio River at Rocky Point . The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Hoosier Division. Leclere earned $3,679 for his victory. “It was really a pretty slow day for me,” Leclere said. “I only got like six keeper bites all day. I only had one keeper at 9 o’clock. It was just typical Ohio River creek fishing. I just kept grinding, pitching and flipping stumps and laydowns, and I ended up coming up with the right bites.” Leclere said he focused his efforts during the tournament in a creek upriver from takeoff at Rocky Point Marina. A couple of bass fell for a topwater bait, but the majority came pitching a soft-plastic craw. “It feels pretty good to win this one,” Leclere said. “It’s my third one (on the Ohio River) I had a good day, a good practice this week. I felt great going into this tournament and my confidence was high.” The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Chris Leclere, Cannelton, Ind., five bass, 9-15, $3,679 2nd: Frank McClain, Scottsburg, Ind, five bass, 9-8, $1,840 3rd: Allen Boyd, Salem, Ind., five bass, 9-7, $1,725 (includes $500 Phoenix Bonus) 4th: Brian Funkhouser, Bloomington, Ind., five bass, 9-4, $859 5th: Ryan Deal, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 9-0, $986 6th: Jeremy Knepp, Montgomery, Ind., four bass, 8-14, $1,155 7th: Scott Bateman, Jasper, Ind., five bass, 8-12, $613 8th: Adrian Urso, Union, Ky., five bass, 8-9, $552 9th: Justin Berger, Murray, Ky., five bass, 7-12, $491 10th: Jeramiah Sifers, Sellersburg, Ind., five bass, 7-8, $429 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Jeremy Knepp of Montgomery, Indiana, caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $480.  Garrett Deal of Evansville, Indiana, won the co-angler division and $1,840 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 6 ounces. The top 10 co-anglers finished: 1st: Garrett Deal, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 8-6, $1,840 2nd: Brant Gish, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 6-10, $1,040 3rd: Dan Pardue, Morgantown, Ind., three bass, 5-15, $662 4th: Jarrod Pickel, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 5-14, $429 5th: Paul Dehart, Franklin, Ind., three bass, 5-5, $368 6th: Scottie Davis, Martinsville, Ind., two bass, 4-14, $457 7th: Derek Jackson, New Albany, Ind., three bass, 4-10, $307 8th: David Rector, Brazil, Ind., three bass, 4-7, $276 9th: Don Bessler Jr, Coatesville, Ind., two bass, 4-5, $245 10th: Kade Oliver, Muncie, Ind., three bass, 4-0, $215 Brant Gish of Evansville, Indiana, and Scottie Davis of Martinsville, Indiana, each caught a bass that weighed 3 pounds, 5 ounces, to split the Berkley Big Bass Co-boater award of $240. The next event for BFL Hoosier Division anglers will be the two-day Super Tournament, held Sept. 20-21, at Ohio River-Tanners Creek in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. 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. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Kentucky/Barkley Lake in Buchanan, 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. 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