| Boater winner Cody Miller of Shell Knob, Missouri, and co-angler winner Jarod Shelton of Centralia, Missouri. |
| Missouri’s Shelton Wins Co-Angler Division OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Feb. 23, 2026) – Boater Cody Miller of Shell Knob, Missouri, caught a total of five bass weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake of the Ozarks Presented by Suzuki Marine. The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Miller earned $3,340 for his victory. “I went out without a game plan,” Miller said. “I haven’t been on Lake of the Ozarks since September. I didn’t prefish, I just drove up the morning of the tournament. “I started out without my (Garmin) LiveScope for the first hour and caught a 4-pounder, a 3-pounder and another keeper,” Miller went on to say. “Once the sun got up a little bit and my line stopped freezing to my eyelets, I started my forward-facing sonar period and pushed my weight up to 17 or 18 pounds.” Miller stayed in the Gravois Arm area and said he targeted brush with his electronics, because he could see the bass holding near the brush. Once Miller’s forward-facing sonar period expired, he began fishing windy points he knew featured chunk rock. There he caught his biggest bass of the day and culled up one last time to have his final weight. Miller said he threw a Megabass 110+1 jerkbait when he wasn’t using LiveScope, and when he was using LiveScope he added an Alabama rig to the jerkbait presentation. “I didn’t have any expectations going into this, to be honest,” Miller said. “I didn’t really think I would catch them before or after the LiveScope period, because that’s what I really like to do. “I was pretty shocked to win,” Miller added. “Out of all the tournaments I thought I’d have shot at, this was definitely not one of them. This win was pretty random, but pretty awesome.” The top 10 boaters finished the tournament: 1st: Cody Miller, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 19-7, $3,340 2nd: Ronnie Dobbs, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 18-4, $1,680 3rd: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., five bass, 17-2, $1,650 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus) 4th: Tyler Bower, Fenton, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $680 5th: Randy Doman, Jefferson City, Mo., five bass, 16-1, $600 6th: Darrin Marcure, Long Grove, Iowa, five bass, 15-15, $520 7th: Kyle Kitts, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 15-10, $490 7th: Justin Luetkemeyer, Lake Ozark, Mo., five bass, 15-10, $490 9th: Lance Williams, Billings, Mo., five bass, 15-7, $460 10th: Bradley Rumfelt, Lebanon, Mo., five bass, 14-11, $430 Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Dennis Berhorst of Holts Summit, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass worth $200.  Jarod Shelton of Centralia, Missouri, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,670 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 5 ounces. The top 10 co-anglers finished: 1st: Jarod Shelton, Centralia, Mo., three bass, 10-5, $1,670 2nd: Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., three bass, 9-13, $840 3rd: Kirk Short, Saint Clair, Mo., three bass, 9-12, $425 4th: Dave Bess, Oakville, Mo., three bass, 9-3, $340 5th: Brett Krassinger, Byrnes Mill, Mo., three bass, 9-1, $300 6th: Winston Moulder, Blue Springs, Mo., two bass, 8-6, $255 6th: Gary Huber, Saint Charles, Mo., three bass, 8-6, $255 8th: Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., three bass, 8-5, $340 9th: Tyler Williams, Farmington, Mo., three bass, 8-3, $230 10th: Caleb Welch, Springfield, Mo., three bass, 8-1, $215 Brian Davis of Bethalto, Illinois, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 2-ounce bass worth $100. 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. |